A Survey of Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program Directors on Selecting Fellowship Applicants

In the 2019-2020 academic year, there were 48 accredited forensic psychiatry fellowship programs in the United States. Programs vary in application requirements and timeline. There are no published objective data on factors that fellowship program directors (PDs) use when selecting fellows. We created an electronic survey that was emailed to PDs via a list from the Association of Directors of Forensic Psychiatry Fellowships. The survey was open November 6, 2019 to December 31, 2019. Twenty-five PDs participated from programs ranging in size from one to six positions, receiving zero to 30 applications. The most important factors when selecting a candidate to interview were "perceived commitment to specialty" and "perceived interest in your program." The most important factors when offering a position were "interpersonal skills" and "interactions during interview." The least important factors in both categories were USMLE/COMLEX scores and honor society membership(s). "Lack of a set timeline" during the application process was the most frequently cited difficulty (via multiple choice) during the application and interview process. Our study is the first to provide quantitative data regarding factors that forensic psychiatry fellowship PDs use to evaluate applicants in decisions regarding offering interviews and positions.