Dilemma

[ewil1478]

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I'm a 4th year who was wanting to go into Ortho. I am in the middle of my first AI and I'm starting to think that it is not for me. I may be crazy, but now I am thinking maybe rads. The problem is I have very little idea of what rads is like and what it takes to get in. I am thinking of doing at least one away in in radiology. I guess I need some advice on what rads is like, what draws you to it, how demanding is it, what stats do you need to be competitive?

Any other advice/guidance you can give... I have heard a little from the PD at my school that one away is enough and out of three letters of Recs it's good to have one from a radiologist, etc.

Thanks,

 

[drizzt3117]

It's not essential to do an away in rads. If you're competitive for ortho you should be ok for rads.

I'm a 4th year who was wanting to go into Ortho. I am in the middle of my first AI and I'm starting to think that it is not for me. I may be crazy, but now I am thinking maybe rads. The problem is I have very little idea of what rads is like and what it takes to get in. I am thinking of doing at least one away in in radiology. I guess I need some advice on what rads is like, what draws you to it, how demanding is it, what stats do you need to be competitive?

Any other advice/guidance you can give... I have heard a little from the PD at my school that one away is enough and out of three letters of Recs it's good to have one from a radiologist, etc.

Thanks,

 

[shark2000]

You will be fine.

BUT, make sure you like radiology. Make sure you don't like ortho. Then make your final decision and respect your decision.

Be open. To me Rads is the best field of medicine, but only if you like it. Don't just limit your options to ortho and rads. There are tons of other fields.

 

[ewil1478]

Can you give me an idea on what is competitive? And you have to do a transitional year? or prelim year right?

 

[drizzt3117]

Can you give me an idea on what is competitive? And you have to do a transitional year? or prelim year right?

Radiology is a big field so the range of competitiveness is hard to define. 250/AOA with research will make you competitive for most Programs.

 

[nick_carraway]

I don't mean to thread hijack, but drizzt is usually a source of good info so I thought I'd ask:

What are the general Step 1 cut-offs that rads used for the programs you were shooting for?

Thanks!

 

[MossPoh]

I'm not the all knowing drizzt and all, but I've been told that 240 is considered a good cutoff to make the screens for most (but not all) programs.

 

[nick_carraway]

I'm not the all knowing drizzt and all, but I've been told that 240 is considered a good cutoff to make the screens for most (but not all) programs.

That's what I figured, but I fell a little shy of that goal so I was curious how badly the filters will punish me. Charting Outcomes says I'm fine in general, but I'm sure there are caveats.

 

[MrBurns10]

That's what I figured, but I fell a little shy of that goal so I was curious how badly the filters will punish me. Charting Outcomes says I'm fine in general, but I'm sure there are caveats.

I'm not sure how many programs have hard (i.e. computer-assisted) cutoffs vs soft cutoffs (over which applicants have generally been competitive but below which they still see your application). If I had not applied to some programs that I thought had step 1 cutoffs I didn't meet, I wouldn't have gotten some of the interviews I did. Just apply wherever you're interested because you never know.

 

[drizzt3117]

1) I think mid tier and top programs have hard cutoffs but they're more like 220 or so. As far as soft cutoffs go, 240 for mid tier and 250 for top tier seems reasonable.

2) if you want to go somewhere, apply, you never know. That being said, the rule of 1/3s is a good way to go. 1/3 reaches, 1/3 fits, 1/3 programs you'd be strong at. Adding programs is cheap so I'd over rather than under apply.

 

[8335789]

I just matched into Rads this spring and took a close look at the Scramble lists (unfilled programs) from 2011 and 2012. There were about 37 positions unfilled in 2011 and 75 this year. Surprising right? I will leave the speculative explanations for that to another discussion, but the point is: Radiology ain't quite as hard to get into as everyone is probably telling you, so please don't let that deter you if you think you'd enjoy this line of work.