Cardiology

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chinagal

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I would like to be a cardiologist, does anyone have any tips of what i need to do to become one?
anyone who has gone through this path want to describe their experience?
Is this a competitive field?
Do you do an internal medicine residency first?

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Yes, you do IM first.

Yes it is pretty competitive.

My understanding is that you'll probably want to do your IM rotation at a place where they also have a cardiology fellowship.

Yes there are osteopathic cardiology programs.
 
Isn't cards pretty oversaturated now?? It was my understanding that it was a gold mine in the 90's because they pretty much put CV surgery out of business with all their non-invasive stuff, but I thought people just absolutely flocked to it and now it's not quite what it was. Not that it should matter if it's what you want to do, just curious.
 
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I agree that the single most important thing for you would be to get into an IM program at a hospital that also has a cardio fellowship. Along those same lines, it would be beneficial for you or anyone to go to a medical school that has its own teaching hospital and residency programs as you will have much more contact with the attendings in those programs and thus better chances at landing spots there for competitive residency, especially since you are likely to change your mind about what you wanna be when you grow up several times in your training. Good luck
 
I would like to be a cardiologist, does anyone have any tips of what i need to do to become one?
anyone who has gone through this path want to describe their experience?
Is this a competitive field?
Do you do an internal medicine residency first?

Yes cardiology is competitive. If you want to be an adult cardiologist then you do an IM residency (or IM/Peds). If you want to be a pediatric cardiologist you do a pediatrics residency first (again, or IM/Peds). Peds cardiology is only slightly less competitive to get into.

I agree that the single most important thing for you would be to get into an IM program at a hospital that also has a cardio fellowship. Along those same lines, it would be beneficial for you or anyone to go to a medical school that has its own teaching hospital and residency programs as you will have much more contact with the attendings in those programs and thus better chances at landing spots there for competitive residency, especially since you are likely to change your mind about what you wanna be when you grow up several times in your training. Good luck

As someone who has now been on the interviewing side of things (on the Peds Cards side) I'm not sure where I stand on the issue of going to a program with a fellowship. If you're a good resident with a good personality then it definitely benefits you especially to get into that particular program. But if there's something about you that rubs the (cardiology a/o IM or peds) program the wrong way I think it can be the death knell of your aspiring subspecialty career. The FAR more important thing to do is be a superstar in residency. Research will never hurt, good step 1, 2, & 3 scores the same, and do well on the second year in-traning exam for your primary specialty (probably even more important than your steps). Realistically, if you go to a DO school, most are not affiliated with a training hospital, so if you get into one that is not, you need to look at the connections that can be made at training institutions while in your clinical years (mainly early MS4).
 
"Realistically, if you go to a DO school, most are not affiliated with a training hospital, so if you get into one that is not, you need to look at the connections that can be made at training institutions while in your clinical years (mainly early MS4"

How does the training hospital help one out?
 
Isn't cards pretty oversaturated now?? It was my understanding that it was a gold mine in the 90's because they pretty much put CV surgery out of business with all their non-invasive stuff, but I thought people just absolutely flocked to it and now it's not quite what it was. Not that it should matter if it's what you want to do, just curious.
Where are you hearing this? Why would the market be saturated?
 
Where are you hearing this? Why would the market be saturated?

Eh, dunno ... just from around. I figured the market would be saturated because in the 90s, cardiology rocked so everyone got into it, meaning there are a lot of practicing cardio guys today, and though the crest to really get in right when it strikes has broken, people will still probably flock to it due to residual former glory. However, in my worthless opinion, a few things are important: a. Did they increase the number of cards spots when it got hot?? Because they did this with Anes, which is why it's flooded today - heard this from a DO gas man and b. Have they already cut the rates for procedures???

Hey, I could be way off ... pre-med, what the hell do I know??
 
Where are you hearing this? Why would the market be saturated?

Because Americans are eating healthier, exercising more, smoking less, are more compliant with medications, have better access to health care and are having less cardiovascular complications :laugh:
 
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