I'm an MS-IV from a Caribbean school... I'm applying to Rads this year. There's 193 Rads programs in the nation, and although I initially thought to apply to them all, I realize that I probably have zero chance at the top-tier places... so I can save some money and not apply to those places, right? Problem is, I'm not sure how to determine this about a program :confused: ?

How can one determine where a program lies on the tier scale?

Thanks :)!

It's really hard to tell, but typically the places with the most NIH funding are considered to be the top (doesn't mean they teach the most, just get the most money).

For the programs that I applied to, the top would be MGH, Duke, U of Wash (Mallinckrodt sp?), U of Michigan. Best way to find out is to ask around.

Thanks a lot Jim... now how do I find out how much NIH funding a program gets ;) !?

Congrats on your Rads spot btw... kudos to you :).

Originally posted by Jim Picotte
It's really hard to tell, but typically the places with the most NIH funding are considered to be the top (doesn't mean they teach the most, just get the most money).

For the programs that I applied to, the top would be MGH, Duke, U of Wash (Mallinckrodt sp?), U of Michigan. Best way to find out is to ask around.

U of Wash? Sigh, you applied to the place and don't even remember that it's Wash U, in st. louis. Unless there is another Mallinckrodt institute of radiology at U of Wash. I'm glad that I didn't go there for med school, it's was frustrating enough during undergrad explaining to people that wash u was in st. louis. Some of my med school interviewers didn't even know either.

Once again, Pinky delivers the goods.

NIH Funding Rankings by Department for 2001
http://silk.nih.gov/public/cbz2zoz.@www.rank01.medrnk.htm

:clap:

Nice work Pinky... thanks :)...

Yep, sorry about that it is Wash U. I didn't get an interview there, although they did find it in their heart to send me not one but two rejections letters as well as a rejection e-mail. It's a great place, especially for the research minded. :)

To what extent are a program's pass rates on the specialty board exams indicative of its quality and/or competitiveness? :confused:

I am applying for a Peds residency in the NYC area as an FMG with a very high Step 1 score and was having a hard time figuring out which program were truly awful (I'd obviously like to avoid those). :idea: I sat down with the Pediatrics Board Pass rates and stratified the programs into groups (i.e. those that passed 90%+, 80-89, 70-79, etc.), figuring that programs that have pass rates of below 60% clearly don't seem to be teaching and/or preparing their residents adequately, that is, there must be something "off" with them.

As an example, those with 60 or less were UMDNJ/Camden and Newark, Flushing Hosp/Queens, NY Med College/Richmond, and Bronx-Lebabon/Bronx.

60's were Mount Sinai/Jersey City and Elmhurst, Brookdale/Brooklyn, NY Med College-Westchester/Valhalla, Albert Einstein-Montefiore/Bronx, NY Methodist/Brooklyn.

Anyway, you get the idea. Am I on the right track here? Thanks for your input in advance....

Where did you find that information about the specialty board pass rates?

You can find them at http://www.abp.org/frpass.htm for pediatrics. The other boards would presumably have their own elsewhere. You can find the link to all the boards that certify (which may or may not publish individual pass rates you'd have to check at their individual web sites yourself), here:
http://www.abms.org/member.asp

I also looked at the Internal medicine ones quickly, but the distribution of scores was not as wide, and at least for the New York programs, the results did not seem as telling (no one was really really flunking big here, although there were some lower scores). You can find the data here:
http://www.abim.org/dp/apps/passrate.htm

Not all the specialties appear to publish this data stratified by program (for example, I looked for it at the Surgery site because I was curious but couldn't find it, only some summary stats), but in Pediatrics, which is the specialty I'm interested in they do. :clap:
Presumably, you could ask the programs once you were interviewing there, but that doesn't really help to sort out the who-is-who in advance, which was my point in the first place.

Originally posted by nychick
You can find them at http://www.abp.org/frpass.htm for pediatrics. The other boards would presumably have their own elsewhere. You can find the link to all the boards that certify (which may or may not publish individual pass rates you'd have to check at their individual web sites yourself), here:
http://www.abms.org/member.asp

I also looked at the Internal medicine ones quickly, but the distribution of scores was not as wide, and at least for the New York programs, the results did not seem as telling (no one was really really flunking big here, although there were some lower scores). You can find the data here:
http://www.abim.org/dp/apps/passrate.htm

Not all the specialties appear to publish this data stratified by program (for example, I looked for it at the Surgery site because I was curious but couldn't find it, only some summary stats), but in Pediatrics, which is the specialty I'm interested in they do. :clap:
Presumably, you could ask the programs once you were interviewing there, but that doesn't really help to sort out the who-is-who in advance, which was my point in the first place.

I'm shocked at how low some of the pass rates are for the pediatric programs. I'm interested in peds, so this info. is pretty helpful. Thanks nychick! Any thoughts on why the pass rates are so variable in peds and more consistent in internal med? Please post if you have any thoughts.

Thanks,

I just have to brag a little bit...

My school (Univ of Nebraska) has had a 100% pass rate in internal medicine for about 5 years in a row now. Our medicine department rocks. The residents are happy and well-educated. They make me so proud. *sniff*

As happy as IM residents can be, eh? ;)