Improving Chances at Radiology Residency

[inspiring-curmudgeon]

Hi everyone,

 

I've become increasingly interested in Radiology since I started medical school (much to my surprise!). The variety of cases, technology, lifestyle, and the opportunity to do procedures are amazing. But I wonder how a medical student can start making themselves competitive for matching to radiology in the future.

 

I read the sticky in one of the subforums about matching, but I'm looking for advice tailored to radiology.

 

I'm currently doing research, but I'm curious as to what kind & quantity of research is considered productive for a medical student. How much weight do presentations hold? I currently have one paper in internal medicine (2nd author on a chart review) and a paper in interventional radiology (1st author on a meta-analysis).

 

Do extracurriculars matter? I enjoy doing them, but I feel like I'm hard pressed to find time to volunteer. And does joining associations make a difference? I saw that on another thread, but to me that seems trivial.

 

Thanks in advance for all your help

[Lactic Folly]

I posted some thoughts here recently:

http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56979

 

- can't give you a number of publications to be considered competitive - will depend on the strength of your cohort to some extent. Presentations are helpful, especially if peer-reviewed or at more well-known meetings.

- weight allotted to ECs likely varies from school to school. They can help show that you are a well-rounded person who works well with others and can juggle a lot on your plate, but remember you can include activities prior to medical school on your CaRMS application as well.

- association membership probably does not make much difference in itself, unless you were actively involved. (who isn't a member of the CMA?). Can provide some evidence of longstanding interest in a field, but that's about it.

[inspiring-curmudgeon]

I posted some thoughts here recently:

http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56979

 

- can't give you a number of publications to be considered competitive - will depend on the strength of your cohort to some extent. Presentations are helpful, especially if peer-reviewed or at more well-known meetings.

- weight allotted to ECs likely varies from school to school. They can help show that you are a well-rounded person who works well with others and can juggle a lot on your plate, but remember you can include activities prior to medical school on your CaRMS application as well.

- association membership probably does not make much difference in itself, unless you were actively involved. (who isn't a member of the CMA?). Can provide some evidence of longstanding interest in a field, but that's about it.

 

Thanks for the quick response.

 

For reference letters, which specialty should these letters be from? From what I hear, you don't do much on a radiology elective.

[Madz25]

I didn't have any radiology related research prior to applying because I discovered it really late in med school (I'm currently a radiology resident). I didn't have any publications (in ANYTHING) either. So research/publications/presentations aren't absolutely mandatory but are helpful to your application regardless of how much or how little you have. I don't think anyone can give you a hard/fast rule as to how much you should do. What does matter is (in my opinion) is whether the program likes you or not and wants to work with you.

 

I had reference letters from radiologists I worked with during electives but I also had a lot of non-radiology reference letters. I chose referees that I worked with directly for several weeks and who, I felt, could comment on me beyond the usual non-specific comments. For each school, I sent 1 rads reference and 2 non-rads references. As you already know, there isn't much you do on a radiology elective so unless you worked with a rads 1 on 1 for research or other non-elective stuff, I find it difficult to believe that they would be able to write you a strong letter based on a 2 week elective.

 

Anyway, just my 2 cents.