still that competitive?

I think you'll see a HUGE increase in applicants this year due to the perceived lessening of competition, which will make for a competitive match. Certainly moreso than last year. Ebb and flow, Ebb and flow.

I don't think this year will see that many more apps. I still think people who want rads will apply, but most med students can't pull the trigger on rads because they want "patient contact". If my school is any barometer, everyone is flocking to ER and anesthesia this year, with rads down from the last couple of years.

Radiology is gonna be down again this year from what I've seen....only a handful of people are applying from my school (as compared to 20ish the last several years) with many more people applying to EM and anesthesia....and I've heard similar stories from many other schools

who cares - do what you want. probably not as competitive to match in general, but certainly competitive to match in the good programs.

from someone who applied in the most competitive year ever....

If you like Radiology do it. If not don't. It's that simple.

volvulus said:

If you like Radiology do it. If not don't. It's that simple.

Click to expand...

The guy didnt ask for career advice, if you dont have anything relevant to add please stfu.

volvulus said:

If you like Radiology do it. If not don't. It's that simple.

Click to expand...

I think it's true for any residency you decide to do, however, maybe it's not so simple. With the competitiveness of the field you kinda have to decide to pursue with a backup plan or pick your second best option....

I dunno, I think a lot of people who are borderline will have a harder time with figuring out how to go about this matching business in a competitive specialty.

Mostly, I think people just look for any glimpse of hope and looking for it on discussion boards might be a bit disasterous so your simple advice is probably very good advice. 😉

I know a guy who had 200 and matched in radiology (not at MGH, but matched nonethe less). I know a guy with 260, AOA and did not match.

matching has less to do with your talent than you think. If you are a borderline candidate, I would still apply, but don't be cheap. I would apply to every program in your tier (which means don't bother applying to hopkins, etc). You can match in radiology (because there are no many positions) pretty easily if you know your competitiveness and play the game right.

Is there some ranking of the radiology programs....I have looked on several website but have seen anything. Is it an unspoken ranking system or does it correlate with the ranking of the medical school.
For ex U Miami is ranked 50 in terms of medical school but Bascom Palmer is ranked 1 in opthalmology. How do I find this info?
Thanks

There is no ranking. There are a handful of departments (say, eight?) which are generally considered to be the "top"; a quick search of threads here and on AuntMinnie will give you a sense of which departments are the consensus for that group.

There's another large group of university departments (like, 20?) which are considered excellent, but which most would not class with that very top group.

Obviously, there's some correlation with the reputation of the associated medical school, but with some quirks. Some "top" med schools have "merely excellent" radiology departments, while some "merely excellent" med schools do have "top" rads departments.

These groupings describe the reputation of the different departments, which is related to (but not the same as) the quality of training you will receive in the program there (which depends on many other factors). This "presitge" factor is much more related to opportunities to do cutting-edge research and to make contacts in academic radiology. If you're not interested in research and academics, there isn't much useful information in the groupings for you. (Whether there's information for any residency applicant is also open to debate.)