Matching into Radiology: nuclear medicine vs research elective?

[Lightform73]

Hi everyone!

 

Long time lurker, first time poster!

I have a simple question for you all and especially for people who just went through the match.

 

If you had to choose between the 2, what do you think would improve the most the chances of matching into Radiology?

1) a Nuclear medicine elective (4 weeks)

OR

2) a Research elective in radiology (4 to 6 weeks)

 

Let's assume you have already done a broad array of the usual suggested electives (eg. one in Radiology, one in IM, one in Surgery...).

Looking forward to hear your thoughts!

[thebouque]

research in rads by far

[rad86]

To maximize your # interviews and the chance of matching to rad in general, I'd recommend doing as many 2-week rad electives at different places as possible to show interest to different schools.

 

Doing a longer elective at one place may potentially hurt your chances at other schools, and might not even help that much with the place you desperately want.

 

Research is important for showing interest in the field and for getting a reference, and I'd do that at the school where you want to match the most. But I'd do that outside of elective time.

 

Nuc med is good if you want to apply to the rad/nuc combined programs, which gives you a few more potential spots.

[NLengr]

To maximize your # interviews and the chance of matching to rad in general, I'd recommend doing as many 2-week rad electives at different places as possible to show interest to different schools.

 

Doing a longer elective at one place may potentially hurt your chances at other schools, and might not even help that much with the place you desperately want.

 

Research is important for showing interest in the field and for getting a reference, and I'd do that at the school where you want to match the most. But I'd do that outside of elective time.

 

Nuc med is good if you want to apply to the rad/nuc combined programs, which gives you a few more potential spots.

 

I'll preface this with saying I'm a surgical subspecialty resident (a field more competative than rads), so I don't know how applicable this is to rads specifically.

 

I disagree with not doing more than 2 weeks. I always advocate that if you really want a place, a three week is a good idea. You get better exposure to the program, residents and staff. The better people know you, providing you are good, the better your chances of matching.

 

However, it's a balance between exposure to programs vs. exposure to a single program. That's why I advocate doing only 1 or 2 three week electives and the rest as 2 weeks.

[rad86]

I'll preface this with saying I'm a surgical subspecialty resident (a field more competative than rads), so I don't know how applicable this is to rads specifically.

 

I disagree with not doing more than 2 weeks. I always advocate that if you really want a place, a three week is a good idea. You get better exposure to the program, residents and staff. The better people know you, providing you are good, the better your chances of matching.

 

However, it's a balance between exposure to programs vs. exposure to a single program. That's why I advocate doing only 1 or 2 three week electives and the rest as 2 weeks.

 

Your point is well taken, and I agree that your suggestion is a better strategy for surgical programs.

 

I do think radiology is a bit different, in that there's relatively little chance to interact with staff through a rotating schedule on electives, unless you can spend a bit more time with one person. Even then you're not doing as much as on a surgical service, and it's very difficult for a medical student to make an impression, let alone impressing anybody. You probably need to do some mini-research or write up a case so that they at least remember your name.

 

For rad electives, in addition to making sure that's what you want to do (although one should really do that through shadowing ahead of time rather than wasting limited elective time for exploration, especially for competitive specialties), their major function lies mostly in you being able to put them on your application.

 

Again, the best way to make yourself known in rad is probably through research, which is why I strongly encourage doing research at places where one wants to match.

[Lactic Folly]

Agree with rad86. Given the OP's two choices, and assuming that he/she is already in clerkship and has little opportunity for research, I'd go with research as well. You've got to produce the goods though.