Good Non-Rads Electives When Interested In Applying For Radiology

[schmitty]

I am planning on applying broadly to radiology next cycle and am now planning my electives. I will likely have about 5 out of 6 electives in radiology but many people have suggested I do at least 1 elective not in radiology. Any suggestions for specialties that would work well as a complement? I've had some radiologists tell me that something like anatomic path would be useful, whereas some others have suggested something clinical like surgery (and if so, which one would be best?).

 

Thanks!

[ACHQ]

I am planning on applying broadly to radiology next cycle and am now planning my electives. I will likely have about 5 out of 6 electives in radiology but many people have suggested I do at least 1 elective not in radiology. Any suggestions for specialties that would work well as a complement? I've had some radiologists tell me that something like anatomic path would be useful, whereas some others have suggested something clinical like surgery (and if so, which one would be best?).

 

Thanks!

 

Not a Rads person but from a strategy point of view...

 

If you are not backing up with anything (I'm assuming that given 5/6 of your electives are in rads), then I wouldn't sweat doing an elective in something else. This year Rads was relatively less competitive so most people got lots of interviews even while backing up with other specialties. BUT things change from year to year and Rads is traditionally very competitive so just be weary of that. That being said anything would be useful including: IM, EM, surgery.

 

If you want to back up with something then I would say maybe do 2 electives in that specialty that are also related to rads. (but I doubt this is what you want to do)

[W0lfgang]

5-6 rads electives is good.

 

Do either neurosurg or gen surg acute care service. Definitely do a surgery over medicine.

[Lactic Folly]

Unfortunately, I think the learning yield for something like path would be much greater once you have more background in radiology to help with rad-path correlation.

 

I would go for imaging-heavy subspecialties that you otherwise haven't had exposure to in clerkship, or won't have exposure to in residency -- especially subspecialty surgical specialties (such as cardiac, neuro, ortho, urology), also peds ER and perhaps some imaging-heavy medical subspecialties (such as respirology, GI/hepatology, rad onc).

 

If you have any idea of what radiology subspecialty area you are interested in, more clinical background in that area will always be helpful. Adult EM and gen surg are obviously useful, but you'll already have scheduled rotations in them. General IM not very useful.

[rmorelan]

yeah I mean ER or gen surg are probably the most obvious ones to start with in my opinion. The acute imaging is probably easier to understand early on etc and the highest yield.

[Anythingradiation]

Rad Onc is super chill and utilizes loads of CT and MR imaging.

[rmorelan]

ha, I love the username

 

actually almost went into radiation oncology. It is an interesting field.

[Anythingradiation]

ha, I love the username

 

actually almost went into radiation oncology. It is an interesting field.

Ha thanks

 

I applied to Rad Onc, Radiology and Nuclear Medicine this year. I think I just like radiation.

 

Twas a crazy carms schedule.

 

Ended up ranking Rad Onc first. The job market is turning around and the lifestyle is second to none.

[rmorelan]

ha I am seeing the theme!

 

lifestyle is pretty great, and the work is quite interesting - good luck!

[schmitty]

Hmmm, thanks for all the suggestions! I was thinking of doing a rad onc selective, but maybe I should consider moving that up to one of my electives. Neurosurg also sounds like a good choice. Maybe I'll save the pathology for a selective.

 

Thanks!

[MDLaval]

5-6 electives in Rads? Wow. We at Laval can't do more than 3 in the same specialty and it's mandatory to do at least 1 in a surgical specialty and another in IM/Subspecialty.

 

Hopefully the 2 I'll get to do in Rads will be enough... :/

[rmorelan]

5-6 electives in Rads? Wow. We at Laval can't do more than 3 in the same specialty and it's mandatory to do at least 1 in a surgical specialty and another in IM/Subspecialty.

 

Hopefully the 2 I'll get to do in Rads will be enough... :/

 

that seems a little unfair considering what all the other schools let you do - took 5 for instance.

 

I find it odd when the schools start adding all this diversity requirement right at the end. Your clerkship year is all about diversification. Electives are about matching to a specialty. Don't mess with people trying to get the specialty of their choice.

[feversugar]

5-6 electives in Rads? Wow. We at Laval can't do more than 3 in the same specialty and it's mandatory to do at least 1 in a surgical specialty and another in IM/Subspecialty.

 

Hopefully the 2 I'll get to do in Rads will be enough... :/

 

It's probably because English Canada tends to do 2 week electives instead of 4... So you sort of get the same absolute amount... ish!

[rmorelan]

It's probably because English Canada tends to do 2 week electives instead of 4... So you sort of get the same absolute amount... ish!

 

so they have 20 weeks of electives? That is a fair amount if true

[MDLaval]

so they have 20 weeks of electives? That is a fair amount if true

18 weeks of electives: 6 in year 3 and 12 in the final year.

 

The problem is half the students only get to do 4 weeks of electives in the final year BEFORE CaRMS' invitations are sent out.

 

Would you know if having a confirmed elective scheduled to be done in Rads somewhere between January-March would count when applying to Rads?

 

:/

[feversugar]

18 weeks of electives: 6 in year 3 and 12 in the final year.

 

The problem is half the students only get to do 4 weeks of electives in the final year BEFORE CaRMS' invitations are sent out.

 

Would you know if having a confirmed elective scheduled to be done in Rads somewhere between January-March would count when applying to Rads?

 

:/

I don't think it's that useful to do any rads electives after the interviews especially (so after January) for your application. I mean I guess you can let me them know that you have the intention of doing that but they won't have your clinical evaluation and you won't be able to get a reference letter out of it. Also you'd miss a lot of days to go to interviews if you have many. Are you planning on making rads your only choice? Applying broadly?

[Anythingradiation]

Don't do rads after. I would say that a lot of med student do rads electives post carms because the requirement is just showing up and appearing interested.

[rmorelan]

It is better than nothing but since  you can simply cannot get a letter out of it - or really meaningfully effect your odds of getting in the field it is less than ideal.

[Lactic Folly]

January could still help you if you are going to be interviewing at the school you are rotating at. After that, a rad elective would not really help you unless for some reason you did not have evidence of enough interest in the field on your CaRMS application (which is unlikely to be the case, given that you are already planning your clerkship with this in mind).

[MDLaval]

Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it.

My present situation is: I'll do my mandatory 2-weeks in Rads at my home school and at least a 3-weeks elective in Rads. My plan is to get another 2-weeks elective in another school before Carms' interviews (but probably not before the invitations are sent out - as Lactic Folly said: hoping that I'll be interviewing there).

 

I've decided to do the mandatory IM/Subspecialty electives at the end of my clerkship.

 

I have a proven interest in Rads (previous related activities and exposure, publication and will have the electives done in Rads). Hopefully it'll help to get the interviews (I'll be applying to schools outside of QC too).

[rmorelan]

Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it.

My present situation is: I'll do my mandatory 2-weeks in Rads at my home school and at least a 3-weeks elective in Rads. My plan is to get another 2-weeks elective in another school before Carms' interviews (but probably not before the invitations are sent out - as Lactic Folly said: hoping that I'll be interviewing there).

 

I've decided to do the mandatory IM/Subspecialty electives at the end of my clerkship.

 

I have a proven interest in Rads (previous related activities and exposure, publication and will have the electives done in Rads). Hopefully it'll help to get the interviews (I'll be applying to schools outside of QC too).

 

where are you with letters of reference? can you get two strong ones with your current plan (i.e. not good letters - great ones)?

[MDLaval]

where are you with letters of reference? can you get two strong ones with your current plan (i.e. not good letters - great ones)?

 

Yes, but not yet from a Radiologist (from Surgical specialties and IM so far for sure).

[rmorelan]

Yes, but not yet from a Radiologist (from Surgical specialties and IM so far for sure).

 

some places that is fine - others seem to want more from radiologists ( you can ask residents which are preferred and where to get an overall sense) - best bet is your home school if possible.

 

See what you can do!