Dual Apply IR/DR or DR w/ESIR

[buddybrown78]

Hello all,
I am an MS3 at a US MD school. I am almost done my clinical year, currently on OBGYN rotation and have pediatrics left. Recently decided that I want to pursue interventional radiology as my specialty. Spoke with one of the assistant deans for student affairs for 4th year planning and she said that I should dual apply for IR and DR. Mentioned that it is common practice and the worst that could happen is that I would just end up matching DR. I have spoken with others about this and have read through different posts online and it seems like it would make more sense to just apply to DR programs with an ESIR option..? Especially with a limited amount of gold and silver signals, which would have to be split between IR and DR programs. Currently in the process of hopping on some research projects but have very little in the way of research which makes me feel like going the DR ESIR option might be better than dual applying. What do y'all think? Any helpful advice/input would be appreciated.

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[odyssey2]

People recommend doing DR with ESIR mostly because it’s easier to change your mind if you decide you like DR better, a not infrequent thing to happen. It has the same training length as an IR categorical with the only real drawback being having to apply for one year IR fellowships which are easy to get (and you are sometimes grandfathered in to the residency’s IR fellowship so even this may be a non issue). IMO you should only do IR categorical if you are completely deadset on IR.

 

[MatchpalResidencyAdvising]

Almost all IR applicants will apply to DR as well - this is normal and expected until IR removes itself from the DR umbrella (which will happen in the coming decade)