Considering 2nd residency in Radiology- questions about application

[analytic'05]

Hi everyone, I'm a board certified physician (finished training ~7 years ago) and I'm strongly considering switching and applying to radiology residency. I've some questions regarding the application process:
- my understanding is that if I apply later this year (Sept) I'll be applying for PGY 2 (R1) positions that start July 2020, correct? or are there programs that offer PGY 2 (R1) positions for the following year (2019) on a normal basis (versus only under special circumstances of a resident leaving the program)?
- any input regarding participating in the upcoming SOAP? Not sure if I'll able to have everything ready by then but even if I did I was wondering if anyone can comment about the chances of obtaining a PGY 2 position (for start 2018 or 2019) that way
- any opinion regarding my chances of obtaining a position at some point?- I'm US graduate from low tier school, AOA, step 1 220's, step 2 230's, I was faculty at big academic institution, have many publications in my field, some of them are radiology focused. I don't know how competitive radiology is currently and I'm not sure if programs would take the fact that I'm practicing physician (already completed different residency) as a negative or not.
Thank you in advance for any advice/input!

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[gutonc]

Most of your questions are either easy to answer and you can just look them up, or impossible to answer/existential.

The good news though is that, if you go for it and aren't successful, you'll still have a pretty good paying job.

 

[AdmiralChz]

If you were faculty at a big academic institution, perhaps you could call in a favor and discuss this with the PD/Chair of the Radiology department to discuss in detail what you are talking about. That would probably be the best option since you have some years since medical school graduation behind you, although I am sure your CV is stacked compared to most applicants.

I don't know much about the specifics of Radiology residency/applications/competitiveness, but as far as a start date:

- You can apply for "A" (Advanced) spots in Match 2019, to start July 2020 as is typical for graduating medical students. I think most Radiology programs fall here?
- Apply for "R" (Physician) slots in Match 2019 to start July 2019 since you have previous GME expereince, if there are any at all they are probably few and far between as is the case in Anesthesiology. You wouldn't have to wait a full year to start residency again, but the competition will be more fierce just from the decreased supply. Looking here (http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Main-Match-Results-and-Data-2017.pdf): in 2017 there were 932 A vs 37 R spots for Diagnostic Radiology to give you an idea.
- Join NRMP (it's very late, can you even still register?) and SOAP this year. This assumes you have everything ready to go including letters of reference and what not, you'd need to submit immediately to be eligible. Read up on the NRMP website for specific dates and details. I don't know how many Radiology slots are left in the SOAP, but there would be minimal control for you to target a specific program or even part of the country. It would be a big gamble.

Good luck!