Advice for rads residency

[Rudy Guliani]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi y'all, I'm a third year and I have some questions about applying for rads residencies, and I'd appreciate any answers. For background, I got honors in all the basic sci classes and a 256/99 on the step 1 this year. I got my name on some publications before I started school, but I haven't done any research while in school. So my questions are:

1) What should I be focusing on most in the next year to strengthen my application? Good letters, clerkship grades, research, etc?

2) What are the most important clerkships to do well in, besides radiology obviously?

3) Where can I find out the top programs in rads?

4) I realize that programs in NYC, Boston, and Chicago are going to be ultracompetitive, but how do the programs in the midwest, such as at Barnes in St. Louis or the Cleveland Clinic, compare?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

-RG

 

[doepug]

First off, strong work on Step 1 and on the prelinical grades. Your Step 1 score will almost certainly translate into having most (if not all) of your applications read.

1. All three. Truly good letters can go a long way, but lukewarm letters are a dime a dozen. Strong clinical grades are a must. Research is an implicit requirement at "top" rads programs, who want to see evidence of intellectual curiosity (especially in radiology).

2. Medicine and surgery. Nail these two -- do your best. The rest are icing on the cake.

3. Check out the discussion boards at auntminnie.com. The bickering about the "top" programs is pretty meaningless, but the general consensus is (in no particular order):
-Tops: UCSF, Penn, MGH, Duke, Wash U/MIR, Hopkins
-Almost tops: BWH, NYU, Michigan, UCLA, UCSD, UW (Seattle), UVa
-Dozens of other excellent programs too numerous to mention.

4. For good or for ill, your chances of getting interviewed (and ranked highly) are greatest at programs in your neck of the woods. Unless you have a connection to someplace far away, many distant programs may look at your application with a bit of skepticism. After all, they don't want to waste limited interview slots on someone who's just blanketing the field. That being said, Wash U (Mallinckrodt) is arguably the best program in the country. Michigan and Mayo Clinic are hot stuff, along with Northwestern and Univ of Chicago. Indiana has a fab program. Cleveland programs aren't quite as competitive.

Good luck! Try hanging out around the auntminnie.com discussion boards... just realize that many of the people posting there are either full of BS or have a chip on their shoulder. Take it in with a grain of salt.

Cheers,
doepug (PGY-1, eagerly awaiting PGY-2)