American Academy of Neurology

Fellowship Application Timing

FAQs for Fellowship Directors
February 2020

The AAN has taken the position of supporting a universal timeline for neurology
fellowship applications beginning in March of the PGY-3 year with fellowship
offers beginning no earlier than August of the PGY-4 year.
1. Q. Who wants to move the fellowship timeline later?
A. The overwhelming majority of residents, residency program directors, department chairs, and even
fellowship directors. The main issue is distrust between programs with the concern that some programs
might not sign up and end up hand picking candidates earlier.

2. Q. What are we asking from the fellowship programs?

A. We are asking that subspecialties move their fellowship recruitment to review applications no earlier
than March 1 of the PGY3 adult year and offer positions no earlier than July 1 of the PGY4 year.

3. Q. When are we asking fellowship programs to do this?

A We are requesting that all fellowships change their timeline for next year’s recruitment, recruitment in
spring/summer 2021 with a 2022 start date.

4. Q. Why did we pick these dates?

A. We want to give the residents as much time during training to be able to decide on a subspecialty.
However, we also wanted to make sure that the match or position offers occurred before the October
deadline for J-1 waiver applications and to leave enough time for processing of state licensing and
credentialing. The Internal Medicine subspecialty match occurs in December of final year of training. This
has been operating for over 10 years without significant delays in start times for fellows but does occur
after the waiver deadline which is the reason we chose an earlier date.

5. Q. How can I make my program follow this new timeline?

A. Different subspecialty organizations are actively discussing and planning how to move their timelines,
both with and without being involved in a formal match process.

6. Q. Where can I find more information?

A. Access the AAN position statement here: https://www.aan.com/Fellowship. Eight organizations have
endorsed the AAN’s position statement including the American Headache Society, American Heart
Association/ American Stroke Association, American Neurological Association, Association of University
Professors of Neurology, AAN Consortium of Neurology Program Directors, National MS Society,
Neurocritical Care Society, and United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties.

For more information or to indicate your programs commitment to this timeline please contact
Lucy Persaud Samaroo, Senior Manager, Graduate Education at lpersaud@aan.com.