Research necessary for residency match?

[UnsureClerk]

Hi everyone, I'm currently a third year medical student completing clerkship. I have recently become interested in Radiology and am considering pursuing it for residency. Originally I was planning on either internal medicine or family medicine as career options and had not considered Radiology to be an option. I am a  non-traditional student who came to medicine from a different career field and do not have any meaningful clinical research. I was wondering with how competitive CaRMS is getting for many specialties, how much of an issue is it that I have zero research for my application. I have otherwise done well on my rotations and in medical school so far but I don't really know if that will count for much. I am still trying to decide on what electives to choose for 4th year, but didn't want to go all in on Radiology if my chances of matching are low without any research or meaningful interactions with radiology staff. I really appreciate any input about this. Thank you!

[anonymouspls]

Radiology is becoming more competitive again (0.7 ratio last year, looking similar this year) so I would say not having any research at all is not helpful. Try to get involved with any research, doesnt have to be radiology related. 

[Sceptical]

On 1/9/2023 at 6:45 AM, anonymouspls said:

Radiology is becoming more competitive again (0.7 ratio last year, looking similar this year) so I would say not having any research at all is not helpful. Try to get involved with any research, doesnt have to be radiology related. 

Agree with above. I personally did not do rads research during med school, so relevant research is not an absolute requirement. However, the competitiveness of rads does fluctuate year by year depending on the number of applicants (ratio of 0.74 in 2022, 0.90 in 2021, 0.95 in 2020 as first choice discipline), and it's difficult to anticipate how future cycles will look like. Research might provide a slight edge to your application (of course, in addition to your rads electives, reference letters, interview performance, etc.), and could help to secure a good reference letter in a field that is challenging for some to obtain good letters based on rads elective rotations alone. Also, when the time comes, don't restrict yourself geographically and apply broadly across Canada. 

[Edict]

On 1/9/2023 at 12:25 AM, UnsureClerk said:

Hi everyone, I'm currently a third year medical student completing clerkship. I have recently become interested in Radiology and am considering pursuing it for residency. Originally I was planning on either internal medicine or family medicine as career options and had not considered Radiology to be an option. I am a  non-traditional student who came to medicine from a different career field and do not have any meaningful clinical research. I was wondering with how competitive CaRMS is getting for many specialties, how much of an issue is it that I have zero research for my application. I have otherwise done well on my rotations and in medical school so far but I don't really know if that will count for much. I am still trying to decide on what electives to choose for 4th year, but didn't want to go all in on Radiology if my chances of matching are low without any research or meaningful interactions with radiology staff. I really appreciate any input about this. Thank you!

Really depends on where you want to match. Places like Toronto tend to value research more heavily, most universities I'd say do like to see it but don't value it as much. If you're question is matching to any radiology program in Canada, I don't think research is mandatory. With that being said, getting involved isn't exactly bad either. You don't need to have publications, even if you have projects in the works, or submitted, it still can count. 

[anonymouspls]

Just for reference I have what I thought was an above average application, two first author radiology pubs, multiple posters, good letters (I think) and good MSPR. I've gotten R from half the rads programs i've heard back from so far. Unless there is a red flag that im not seeing I think on years like this where rads is hyper competitive, you really can't neglect any aspect of your application. 

[Hirschsprung]

I think research is really important and will help to distinguish yourself from others. I’ve applied broadly to radiology programs (9 in total) and have gotten 4 interviews so far, waiting for others. 
 

i did have 13 publications at the time of application with 16 poster and oral presentations combined.

[UBCmedclass2022]

On 1/24/2023 at 1:24 PM, anonymouspls said:

Just for reference I have what I thought was an above average application, two first author radiology pubs, multiple posters, good letters (I think) and good MSPR. I've gotten R from half the rads programs i've heard back from so far. Unless there is a red flag that im not seeing I think on years like this where rads is hyper competitive, you really can't neglect any aspect of your application. 

Woah rads seems even more competitive than last year  Good luck guys!