Deferring Admission to improve chance at Radiology

[Goalguard33]

I'm trying to decide if it would be beneficial to defer admission to an osteopathic med school to do an NIH postbac in radiology. The opportunity would most likely result in one or two first authorship papers and the chance to do clinical MRI research. I want to go into Rads and I know it could be slightly more difficult as a DO, so I was wondering if anyone thinks this would really improve my chances or not? Thanks

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[JaggerPlate]

I'm trying to decide if it would be beneficial to defer admission to an osteopathic med school to do an NIH postbac in radiology. The opportunity would most likely result in one or two first authorship papers and the chance to do clinical MRI research. I want to go into Rads and I know it could be slightly more difficult as a DO, so I was wondering if anyone thinks this would really improve my chances or not? Thanks

I think the first thing you can do is check out http://opportunities.osteopathic.org to view the radiology residencies that the AOA offers. Next, you should look at the match list of the DO school you are interested in to see if they have any allo radiology matches (it's actually not a good sign, you make opportunities for yourself etc etc, but it could give you some idea). You could also try talking to some students at the school around the boards and see what they think about matching allo Radiology. Also, if you want the MD and not DO then your decision is pretty easy, but I think if you work hard you will be just fine matching Radiology as a DO. Best of luck.

 

[MossPoh]

First off, even with research under your belt don't get too into radiology that you are blinded to the other stuff. Researching modalities is different than practicing radiology. (I do rads research in various forms as well) I don't think it'll make THAT much of a difference. Could it solidify your chances? Sure, but to how much is another question. Your grades and board scores will be a much bigger help than a published paper. You can also do minor research (if you find someone) during medical school. I think deferring is kind of dumb, but that is my personal opinion. There is a lot of time during medical school that you can do away rotations, minor research, and just do well overall.

 

[DrMidlife]

If you're still in your 20's, and you don't have a family yet, I am 100% in favor of doing anything you want to do before you go to med school. Whether it's an NIH gig, a Peace Corps gig, backpacking in Europe, interning at Google, working as an EMT, working on a political campaign, doing a military tour of duty, maybe even testing consoles at Nintendo, it really doesn't matter. Just pay your own rent for a while. Anything that gets you out of your parents' world into the real world is quite simply going to make you more mature and more ready to understand the commitment you're making when you go into medicine.

Old fart out.