Career Advice for MS3

[MeddPerson]

Hello. I am an MS3 looking for some career advice. I am interested in Radiology, but am concerned that it may not be a good fit for me. My understanding is that Radiology requires a LARGE volume of knowledge.


I had a lot of difficulty retaining the volume of material in the pre-clinical years. I had to study MUCH more than my friends/peers did and still scored below the class average on quizzes. I understood the material, but would not retain much of it, so I always had to go over the material many, many times. This hit hard during step 1 dedicated, when I realized that I had a LOT of catching up to do on the material I did not remember. I ultimately scored in the 230’s, but it took me longer than my peers did to study for it.


What do you all think about a student such as myself pursuing Radiology? Advisors have told me that I should pursue Radiology if I’m interested and that I should not worry about the large volume of material because I will have to learn a large volume of material no matter what residency I pursue. Part of me finds this advice overly optimistic, as Radiology is unique in that it relies heavily on new material not covered in medical school, has three board exams with brutal reputations, and covers every system in the body.


Could you all help answer my concerns:


1. Do students with a poor memory have the potential to survive a Radiology residency?

2. Am I correct in presuming that a Radiology residency does, in fact, have a much steeper learning curve and covers a much larger volume of information than residencies in most other specialties?

3. How difficult do you all think the Radiology board exams are relative to step 1 and to other specialty boards?



Thank you

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[loljkttyl]

1. Do students with a poor memory have the potential to survive a Radiology residency?

If you put the effort into it, it is definitely doable! Step 230's is fine. Radiology is a lot of pattern recognition. While old radiology textbooks such as Brandt and Helms are very tedious/cumbersome, many of the newer books such as Core Radiology are more picture-based and more bullet-point style and thus easier to digest. There are many case review books that present pictures/images, and then few paragraphs about the key points, differential diagnosis, next step, etc. There are online resources such as STATdx, e-Anatomy, Radiopaedia, and Radiology Assistant. There are question banks such as RadPrimer and Board Vitals. You will see cases on call and remember the classic cases, the atypical cases, the cool cases, and the cases you missed or made the wrong diagnosis. You will see cases during lectures and case conferences. You will prepare case conferences for other residents. All this will serve to reinforce the material.

2. Am I correct in presuming that a Radiology residency does, in fact, have a much steeper learning curve and covers a much larger volume of information than residencies in most other specialties?

Yes, it has a steep learning curve. But you can also see this an advantage. You are starting from a clean slate. Just because one of your colleagues got a higher Step score, that knowledge will not give them an advantage in radiology residency. If you do more reading, and review more cases, and put more time/effort starting day 1 of residency, you can become a great radiologist!

3. How difficult do you all think the Radiology board exams are relative to step 1 and to other specialty boards?

Radiology board exams are probably easier than step 1 but more difficult than step 2. One good thing about radiology board exams are that they are essentially pass/fail. Also, they are not as time pressured as step 1 where every second counts!

 

[Radology]

You’ll be fine.

Yea, it’s a lot to learn, but it’s not as boring and insignificant as MS1 classes like embryo and histo. Everything you learn has a significance to what you see every day.

It’s not like you’re thinking of specific genetic mutations when you read an ER ct for abdominal pain.

95% of what you see is going to be bread and butter. Cancer. Infection. Inflammation. Trauma.

The other 5% can be referenced with dr. Google

Radiology is not hard. You may struggle Studying for physics, but I wouldn’t worry about much else.

 

[TCOM12]

If you love it, you will read. If you care about patients, you will read. Knowing your weaknesses now and tackling them head on will likely make you the better physician because you acknowledge it.

I read more now as an attending than I did as a resident. Part because I have time, part because I want to be the best partner in the practice and trusted by clinicians.

 

[MeddPerson]

Thanks a lot everyone! The advice was very insightful.