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Radiology Interview


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Thanks Tbell for the up date. The only English Lang speaking school left is Dal! Hopefully some poeple got some good news before new yr. My time is on Jan 29 around 11, when is urs Tbell?

 

sarakj, you're absolutely killing it with these invites. congrats!

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The letter I got from Western said that the residents are organizing a social for the evening of Feb 2 but didn't give any more information. They said that further information will be forthcoming. No other invitation I have received mentioned social events. I have gotten 5 invites, so I can't comment on the schools where I was rejected.

 

I have a feeling that most of these socials are informal things and usually put together/hosted by the residents, so we will probably hear directly from them closer to the actual date. This is not based on any actual knowledge/information though.

 

On another note, anyone heard anything from Dal or MUN?

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There is a social gathering at Ottawa u as well. Most of the places including queens and u of T will offer informal lunch as well. Mac has a room that runs from the start of the interview till to the end. The room is hosted by residents and lunch is provided as well. I have not heard anything from Dal and I did nor applied for MUN.

Good luck

sarakj

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Wow impressive work guys! Just a question for all of you with so many interviews, how many electives did you do and where? I keep hearing that some schools require/prefer on-site electives (even if they say it's not absolutely required officially) in order to grant an interview, which ones are these in terms of radiology?

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Hey rad86,

 

This is a really good question and one that probably has no perfect answer from what I know. That being said, most previous applicants have told me that interviewee pools at Western and Ottawa tend to consist mainly of students who did on-site electives (although exceptions do exist of course). I think Western states on the CaRMS website that on-site electives are strongly recommended but not mandatory. I knew of one applicant last year, however, who did just a single month-long radiology elective and managed to get 9 interviews....stories like this lend more credence to the theory of reference letters making or breaking your application.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts, loseyourself! Given the relative uncertainty in elective and interview correlation, how would you recommend someone interested in radiology to schedule their electives? 2 week electives at as many schools as possible, covering especially those schools that have more emphasis on on-site electives?

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do at least two weeks in the schools that you really want to match.. b/c if you get an interveiw you want to be able to talk about your experience. Then spread the rest of your time to the schools that they would prefer to have on site elective to grant interview ( Ottawa, Western, Queens).. Again , these are examples and does not apply to all applicants. The other thing is how you do your application.. how you word things and how much details you provide.. First get your electives set up and then we can all give you guys tips when the times come.. do not panic.. have confident and do well during your electives.

Sara kj

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Agree with sarakj - I would encourage people to do electives at the schools that they are most interested in, with some thought to those sites who give preference to previous elective students, if one is undecided between sites.

 

In my opinion, doing all of one's electives in radiology would be excessive. It is the quality of your elective experiences (and rest of your application) that shows your interest, not the mere number of weeks. Keep in mind many schools will see dozens of students rotate through in a year.

 

Radiology relies on knowledge of many clinical specialties that you may not have another opportunity to rotate through and gain firsthand exposure to, once clerkship and PGY-1 are finished. Also, I found extra unused elective time useful for CaRMS preparation.

 

As an aside, unless things have changed, I do not believe Queen's gives special consideration to those applicants who have completed electives.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm just wondering how many rads electives you all have completed prior to CaRMS and whether there is an optimal number for applying to radiology. I've been getting consistent advice from program directors that they prefer students with a variety of electives in different disciplines. However, considering the advantage of getting to know and making yourself known to various rads programs through electives, is it overall a better strategy to dedicate a majority of your elective time to rads?

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Quality over quantity. There may be a few schools that prefer to interview students who have completed electives locally, but a strong application will garner you multiple interviews, including at places you have not visited. Conversely, visiting all schools does not necessarily improve your chances if the rest of your application is not strong..

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  • 2 months later...

I would echo Lactic Folly's advice. I firmly believe variety of electives is important and can be seen as a strength if you can demonstrate those electives will make you a better radiology resident. In addition to my radiology electives, I also did ER, GI, Gen Surg & Ortho electives...all areas that are relatively imaging heavy and which would better prepare me for my PGY-1 year. The key with those off-service electives is to make sure you also go and introduce yourself and get a little face time with the radiology dept.

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