<p>I was wondering if you HAD to declare a subspecialty, and how you'd do that.</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>Here's how it all breaks down:</p>
<p>4-5 years of college
4 years of medical school
3-7 years of residency depending on specialty
Optional 1-5 years of fellowship if you decide to do a subspecialty. </p>
<p>Lets use me as an example. At the moment I'm pretty interested in doing pediatric cardiology. In the coming year I will be applying to two different types of residency programs - combined internal medicine and pediatrics programs and singular pediatric residencies. For simplicity sake, we'll say I match into a regular pediatrics residency. If I were to decide to be a general primary care pediatrician, after I completed my residency, I could go out and look for a job. However, if I maintain my interest in pedi cards, then I would apply for a peds cardiology fellowship during my second year of residency which would begin in post-grad year #4. </p>
<p>Some fellowships participate in a Match program like those used for residencies (including using an electronic application service), others do not, and applications and offers are brokered directly with the programs. </p>
<p>Another example: I have a friend who wants to be a Reproductive Endocrinologist. This is a subspecialty of OB/GYN. She'll complete a 4 year OB/GYN residency and then follow that with a 3 fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. </p>
<p>Another example: another friend is in his second year residency in anesthesia. His PG-1 year (pg=post grad) he had to complete an internship in either pediatrics, internal medicine, general surgery or a broad-based "transitional year" program. This is the year where he learns to really take care of patients in the hospital setting. Now he's starting his anesthesia residency which will take him 4 years for a total of 5. If he wanted to do something like Pain medicine, he could follow that up with a single year fellowship in Pain Medicine.</p>