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!

[1D7]

In terms of what you will absolutely need: 1 decent letter from a radiologist, 2 decent letters from non-radiologists, and demonstration of interest in the field. In most years you can have a bit of research in any field and it is enough to match to radiology. If you're definitely interested in radiology, you should try to find a case report to work on & get to know a few key staff/residents in your current program.

This is a particularly tough year for radiology applicants. That said there are always swings in competitiveness for every specialty. Half a decade back, IM was competitive for the first time and there were applicants who couldn't find a spot even applying broadly.

[queryradiology]

Confirming that this is a difficult cycle. I am very thankful I have more acceptances than rejections but I have received rejections from programs that I did not expect, and acceptances from programs that I did not expect also. Seconding suggestion above to do a case report or review. It will get your foot in the door of your radiology department also.

[RagnarOdinson]

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[queryradiology]

We did, but I feel even worse for anesthesia. They went from reasonably competitive a few years back to "literally not one interview" sort of cycle.

[ryewind]

It's such a crazy cycle, definitely stressed out of my mind. Anyone have a rough idea of the number of interviews to be "safe"/ have a decent chance of matching?

[queryradiology]

NRMP says around 10 for America (very different pools and number of spots though).

My money is probably 5-6?

Regardless, relatively happy with outcomes though definitely disappointed in a few program rejects that I had ranked high post-application.

[Pakoon]

1 hour ago, modiji said:

#1 most competitive non-surgical speciality

#6 most competitive in total

So Dermatology is a surgical specialty now?

[Asphalts]

Definitely do research, get really good at actually reading images, and get letters from IM subspecs, path, and rad onc if possible. Get one or two letters MAX from a radiologist as you are likely not going to be working too in depth with one particular staff.

This year has been absolutely a wrecking ball it seems based on the match data... Likely going to be the same trend for your year as well. Any little thing counts, and what can be the difference between getting ranked higher from one applicant to another might be the smallest difference. CaRMS is not a fair process and it is filled with discrepancies and a lot of the times is based on luck.

Good luck with your application!

[anonymouspls]

On 6/30/2023 at 11:11 AM, Asphalts said:

Definitely do research, get really good at actually reading images, and get letters from IM subspecs, path, and rad onc if possible. Get one or two letters MAX from a radiologist as you are likely not going to be working too in depth with one particular staff.

This year has been absolutely a wrecking ball it seems based on the match data... Likely going to be the same trend for your year as well. Any little thing counts, and what can be the difference between getting ranked higher from one applicant to another might be the smallest difference. CaRMS is not a fair process and it is filled with discrepancies and a lot of the times is based on luck.

Good luck with your application!

I dont know if this advice of having only ony rads letter applies anymore tbh. This year I matched rad onc with rads as a backup. On paper im a strong rads applicant (multippe pubs, residents knew me, excellent rads evals) but I didnt get as many rads interviews as I expected (ended up getting 6 rads across Canada) . I reached out to some of my contacts at schools I didnt get interviews, and they told me they thought my application was clearly geared to rad onc …. Even though all of my research was imaging. But  the kicker is most programs my letters were 2 rad onc and 1 rads, and some 1 rad onc 1 rads one resp.
 

So I think with rads becoming super competitive and likely remaining so for atleast the next few years, you might want to start having 2 rads letters.

[1D7]

22 hours ago, anonymouspls said:

I dont know if this advice of having only ony rads letter applies anymore tbh. This year I matched rad onc with rads as a backup. On paper im a strong rads applicant (multippe pubs, residents knew me, excellent rads evals) but I didnt get as many rads interviews as I expected (ended up getting 6 rads across Canada) . I reached out to some of my contacts at schools I didnt get interviews, and they told me they thought my application was clearly geared to rad onc …. Even though all of my research was imaging. But  the kicker is most programs my letters were 2 rad onc and 1 rads, and some 1 rad onc 1 rads one resp.
 

So I think with rads becoming super competitive and likely remaining so for atleast the next few years, you might want to start having 2 rads letters.

I personally don't think having 2 rad letters is necessarily helpful. The reason only 1 rad letter is wanted traditionally is because the elective is extremely passive, and there is less substance a rad can comment on. That doesn't really change with a more competitive environment.

Confusion over an applicant's main specialty of interest occasionally happens unfortunately. I have known of a few cases over the years (GSx/ENT, EM/ortho, etc.), even though the applicants themselves had a definite preference.