FAQ: What are my chances?

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I'd apply broadly to about 30 academic programs across three tiers if you aren't applying to the west coast; personally don't think you have to do any comm programs, IMO. Probably decent chances at bid/nw.

Turtle28 said:
Mid tier school in the south
Step 1: 249
Years 1 and 2: Honors in 15/16 courses
Year 3 (H/P/F): H in Internal medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, Ob/Gyn, P in Family medicine and pediatrics
Likely senior AOA
Poster presentation at conference, but no pubs, typical ECs otherwise

Would love some advice on places I should shoot for - what are my chances at places like Northwestern, BID, etc. and what are some good safety options? I really have no idea what community programs are good vs. which to avoid. Don't really have any geographic preferences except not really looking to go to the west coast.
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Turtle28 said:
Mid tier school in the south
Step 1: 249
Years 1 and 2: Honors in 15/16 courses
Year 3 (H/P/F): H in Internal medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, Ob/Gyn, P in Family medicine and pediatrics
Likely senior AOA
Poster presentation at conference, but no pubs, typical ECs otherwise

Would love some advice on places I should shoot for - what are my chances at places like Northwestern, BID, etc. and what are some good safety options? I really have no idea what community programs are good vs. which to avoid. Don't really have any geographic preferences except not really looking to go to the west coast.
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I think NW and BID like to see a bit of more research - this is just anecdotal. I would say fair chance at NW and BID, but honestly not to expect anything. You would be an avg candidate for top programs in undesirable places - MIR, Mayo, UMich, but you should definitely roll the dice on any school that interests you.



One thing that a lot of these posts are missing is what general area your medical school is in. It matters a lot.
 
I think Michigan likes higher scores; mayo maybe, Mir also maybe bc they have a lot of spots.

killinsound said:
I think NW and BID like to see a bit of more research - this is just anecdotal. I would say fair chance at NW and BID, but honestly not to expect anything. You would be an avg candidate for top programs in undesirable places - MIR, Mayo, UMich, but you should definitely roll the dice on any school that interests you.



One thing that a lot of these posts are missing is what general area your medical school is in. It matters a lot.
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killinsound said:
i think mir likes high scores too. i think he has a chance at interviewing at the above although they are not a given.
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I think they like high scores too but with 180 or so slots you figure almost 250 and aoa is probably enough.
 
How bad is not honoring Radiology rotation?? Missed Honors by a couple points...:(
 
killinsound said:
i think mir likes high scores too. i think he has a chance at interviewing at the above although they are not a given.
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I dont know big MIR is on research experience

I couldn't snag an interview there with pretty similar numbers but who knows if it was my lack of research, going to a "no name" school, or regional bias (born and raised CA and listed it as permanent address - anyone could read between the lines and safely assume I wanted to go back)
 
2012mdc said:
I dont know big MIR is on research experience

I couldn't snag an interview there with pretty similar numbers but who knows if it was my lack of research, going to a "no name" school, or regional bias (born and raised CA and listed it as permanent address - anyone could read between the lines and safely assume I wanted to go back)
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who knows man, our profiles were pretty damn similar including the location and research. I'm guessing I got the extra look because i went to school in that area. Crapshoot
 
dude1344 said:
Do I need an early fourth year rads rotation? I was set on a surgical subspecialty and had my schedule set up for it. I did have a third year rads rotation from which I'm getting a letter. Will it look bad if I don't rotate through any rads rotations until later in the year? (winter). the way my schedule is now makes it hard right now.

thanks!
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Yep, It is not good. First it is not good by itself. Second there are a whole bunch of rads applicants that take elective around the time of application. Do not expect the programs to rank you higher than them.
All of these does not mean you will not match, but it decreases your chance. At least it was the way we used to handle it when I was a part of this process as a chief resident.
 
dude1344 said:
Well then, I guess there's nothing I can do about it. So you're saying everyone who didn't decide till later is a little disadvantaged.
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You can overcome it with a good narrative.

As long as you can get a decent radiology letter, you can still be fine.

Most radiology electives are BS anyway and PDs know this.
 
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dude1344 said:
if I somehow finagle my way into another rads rotation in Oct would that be sufficient? if I already well have a rads letter what would be the point of this rotation. just to show interest?
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Yes.

And so you can demonstrate to interviewers you know what radiologists actually do.
 
dude1344 said:
But I've already done a rads rotation in third year... lol. Just wondering what one extra one will do.
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Oh, thought you were the guy saying you hadn't done one.

Doesn't matter much then. Easy rotation for interviews though unless you're set on your home program.
 
MSIII, was thinking ophtho for a while, now not as convinced. interested in IR, just wondering how competitive I am for it:

US med school, middle tier in northeast
Step 1: 239
Preclinical: 75% honors
Clinical: first rotation, no grades yet
Should get senior AOA
Research: 3 publications (0 rads), 2 patents pending (0 rads), 2 poster presentations
extracurriculars: diverse and pretty interesting

would ideally like to be around new york city, don't care if the program is prestigious or not. Any ones around there I would be competitive for?
 
whs386 said:
MSIII, was thinking ophtho for a while, now not as convinced. interested in IR, just wondering how competitive I am for it:

US med school, middle tier in northeast
Step 1: 239
Preclinical: 75% honors
Clinical: first rotation, no grades yet
Should get senior AOA
Research: 3 publications (0 rads), 2 patents pending (0 rads), 2 poster presentations
extracurriculars: diverse and pretty interesting

would ideally like to be around new york city, don't care if the program is prestigious or not. Any ones around there I would be competitive for?
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Depends on your clinical grades and (frankly) your gender.

If you honor everything and are female, good shot at any of them (maybe longer shot at NYU).

I'd also try to take Step 2 early if you think you can do better.
 
I think cornell and nyu would be reaches regardless of clinical grades and gender.
 
johnnydrama said:
Yes, but female + good clinical grades + research is enough to get past that.

USMLE isn't everything.
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Meh, disagree. I interviewed there and the candidates I saw were almost uniformly strong. They don't interview a lot of people so unless you have those stats and go to nyu, Columbia, Cornell, or hms, Penn, Yale, etc, I think the chances are very low. Sinai, Columbia, maybe.
 
low tier school in the northeast
Step 1: 242
Years 1 and 2 (H/HP/P: Honors in 10/19 courses. HP in rest.
Year 3 (H/HP/P): H in Internal medicine. HP in family medicine, psych and ob/gyn. P in peds and surgery.
Year 4: H in two radiology rotations.
No research or publications.

Want to stay in northeast. Like MA, PA, NY? Which top programs would I be competitive at? Anything I can do to be more competitive at this point in the game?
 
You're not really competitive for any of the top academic places, but that doesn't mean you can't get one.

Very unlikely to get a Harvard affiliate, NYU/Cornell, or UPenn/Jefferson. Still might as well apply.

Boston: BU, Tufts

NYC: Montefiore, Sinai, Columbia possibly (weird mix of mediocre program in great institution, so they get more competitive applicants than they should).

Philly: Temple. (Won't mention Drexel since you should go community before that...)


To be honest though, you're a long shot at most of these places without ties or something else to stand out considering no research and mediocre clinical grades and a ~average step for Rads.

I would look closely at the good community programs, eg Beth Israel, SLR, and NSLIJ (now technically academic) in NYC, Albert Einstein, Pennsy in Philly, Mt Auburn in MA (although you probably aren't competitive for that either).

I'm sure I'm forgetting some.
 
I doubt they're competitive at any of the NYC or Boston academic programs, personally. Comm programs in NYC/Boston/philly seem viable, though.

johnnydrama said:
You're not really competitive for any of the top academic places, but that doesn't mean you can't get one.

Very unlikely to get a Harvard affiliate, NYU/Cornell, or UPenn/Jefferson. Still might as well apply.

Boston: BU, Tufts

NYC: Montefiore, Sinai, Columbia possibly (weird mix of mediocre program in great institution, so they get more competitive applicants than they should).

Philly: Temple. (Won't mention Drexel since you should go community before that...)


To be honest though, you're a long shot at most of these places without ties or something else to stand out considering no research and mediocre clinical grades and a ~average step for Rads.

I would look closely at the good community programs, eg Beth Israel, SLR, and NSLIJ (now technically academic) in NYC, Albert Einstein, Pennsy in Philly, Mt Auburn in MA (although you probably aren't competitive for that either).

I'm sure I'm forgetting some.
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060708 said:
low tier school in the northeast
Step 1: 242
Years 1 and 2 (H/HP/P: Honors in 10/19 courses. HP in rest.
Year 3 (H/HP/P): H in Internal medicine. HP in family medicine, psych and ob/gyn. P in peds and surgery.
Year 4: H in two radiology rotations.
No research or publications.

Want to stay in northeast. Like MA, PA, NY? Which top programs would I be competitive at? Anything I can do to be more competitive at this point in the game?
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Apply to all the programs in the areas you'd potentially like to live and see what happens. You never know. If you have a mentor in radiology, ask him/her if they have any connections at other places. Don't feel shy about asking for help regarding phone calls/e-mails on your behalf. If they truly are your mentor, they'd be happy to do so.

At this point there probably isn't a whole lot more you can do to be more competitive, but I'd latch on to a research project or case report if you can or are interested. It's always nice to talk about research that you're working on when you get out there to interview at different places. Made for nice conversations at a lot of places I went to and I felt like it was appreciated. Best of luck!
 
thanks for the info guys. i'm a guy btw, didn't know that mattered for certain specialties...

my fiance lives/works in new york city, the main reason why i want to go there. would mentioning that help me match there? or do residency programs not care about things like that?
 
whs386 said:
thanks for the info guys. i'm a guy btw, didn't know that mattered for certain specialties...

my fiance lives/works in new york city, the main reason why i want to go there. would mentioning that help me match there? or do residency programs not care about things like that?
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I don't think it does, at least not like uro/ortho. Your fiancé living in NYC is not going to help; too many people want to go to the city. A program in Pittsburgh or gainsville fl might care but not one of the NYC programs, unless you're a top candidate.
 
drizzt3117 said:
I doubt they're competitive at any of the NYC or Boston academic programs, personally. Comm programs in NYC/Boston/philly seem viable, though.
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Oh, yeah, didn't mean to imply competitive at the academic places I listed. Those are all still long shots.

I would apply to every academic place in those cities and a good sampling of community programs.
 
Hey guys,

I'm a 3rd year really liking radiology due to the lifestyle, money, nature of work (efficient use of time and less time writing notes like in IM/Surgery). Could you give me some advice of how competitive I am so far in my career? And what I should do to improve my chances?

1st year: Pass (there is no H/HP/P at my school)
2nd year: Pass
Step 1: 260
3rd year: Pass (will most likely pass)
4th year: ???
AOA: ???
Research: 2 publications (co-author) non rads

Also, which subspecialty of radiology gets paid the most money?

Thanks!
 
You realize that almost all of your time in radiology is spent writing/dictating notes, right? If that's what you're trying to avoid, you're picking the wrong specialty.

You also may be disappointed by lifestyle and income.

As for which specialty earns the most, that varies by both the number of people going into the specialty, and whatever reimbursements are set that year. Predicting subspecialty salaries is a fool's errand. Likely procedural stuff will always earn a bit more, but who knows.

As for your chances, you have a 260 (good), no way to distinguish yourself with grades at a P/F school, and some research.

You would probably need a radiology research project or two and some glowing letters since your grades are meaningless to get into a top program, but you'll match.

You should make sure you know what you're going into though, and if you decide on radiology, might want to change your attitude a bit.
 
johnnydrama said:
You realize that almost all of your time in radiology is spent writing/dictating notes, right? If that's what you're trying to avoid, you're picking the wrong specialty.

You also may be disappointed by lifestyle and income.

As for which specialty earns the most, that varies by both the number of people going into the specialty, and whatever reimbursements are set that year. Predicting subspecialty salaries is a fool's errand. Likely procedural stuff will always earn a bit more, but who knows.

As for your chances, you have a 260 (good), no way to distinguish yourself with grades at a P/F school, and some research.

You would probably need a radiology research project or two and some glowing letters since your grades are meaningless to get into a top program, but you'll match.

You should make sure you know what you're going into though, and if you decide on radiology, might want to change your attitude a bit.
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Thanks...what I meant with the time is that I feel radiology I would always be busy with work vs IM/Surg where there is a lot of down time (I see alot of residents just relaxing waiting for labs to come back, waiting for procedures, waiting for attending to get to hospital to round, sooo much waiting, etc)...i prefer to get the most out of my time, rather than waiting around for things to happen...oh and for the notes, I despise writing H&P's, progress notes, etc...from what I saw from consult notes from the rads, they are short, succinct, to the point, no BS, no wasting time. Unless radiologists are writing their own H&P's, progress notes that I am unaware of, I prefer the latter type of notes/dictations.

As for lifestyle...why would I be disappointed? Isn't rads a ROAD specialty? In comparison to IM/Surg wouldn't I have more time to enjoy other things in life?

As for income...wouldn't almost all medical specialties drop in income?

As for the attitude...what attitude should I have if I want to become a radiologist? Maybe I came off as a douche because I said I want to do radiology for lifestyle and money. Personally, these are important things to me. Everyone has there own values, so please don't judge if I want to pick a specialty that would allow me to pursue other interests while still make decent money. And I'm lazy, so I'm down to sit down in a dark room all day looking at films.

I appreciate your input though, thank you. Are you currently a medstudent/resident/attending?
 
there is downtime in radiology as well. if you've read all the studies so far, you may have to wait 5, 10, 20 min until they start rolling again.
 
Low tier school in southeast.
Step 1 in 250s
Junior AOA
Did a summer research project but no publication.
Letters should be good.
Clinical grades: Almost all A (no honors at school)

Do I have a shot at top 25 radiology programs? I am planning on applying to 40-50 programs. This sound about right? Thanks.
 
Doctor D said:
Low tier school in southeast.
Step 1 in 250s
Junior AOA
Did a summer research project but no publication.
Letters should be good.
Clinical grades: Almost all A (no honors at school)

Do I have a shot at top 25 radiology programs? I am planning on applying to 40-50 programs. This sound about right? Thanks.
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Yes to both
 
I'm interested in a top program on the west coast or the elites in the NE. How competitive am I and/or what do I need to do to be more competitive?

Pre-Clinical: P/F (noted to be top 10% though for MSPE)
Clinical: All Honors
Research: one first author (high impact clinical, non-rads); currently on year out at non-home, top rads program for clinical research. Unfortunately, I'm working on clinical trials that won't be done enrolling by the time it's time for me to apply...
School: Top 5; elite rads department
Step 1: 260s

What do I need to do to be more competitive or have a shot at these hyper-competitive places?
 
RadicalRadon said:
I'm interested in a top program on the west coast or the elites in the NE. How competitive am I and/or what do I need to do to be more competitive?

Pre-Clinical: P/F (noted to be top 10% though for MSPE)
Clinical: All Honors
Research: one first author (high impact clinical, non-rads); currently on year out at non-home, top rads program for clinical research. Unfortunately, I'm working on clinical trials that won't be done enrolling by the time it's time for me to apply...
School: Top 5; elite rads department
Step 1: 260s

What do I need to do to be more competitive or have a shot at these hyper-competitive places?
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u're a lock for a top prog just going thru the motions. If u interview very well and have a productive yr, ull prolly get ur #1.
 
Middle tier American MD program.
Step 1: 235
Step 2: 256
No pre-clinical honors
Only honored family medicine and a sub-i 4th year
I'm submitting a poster but no meaningful research
I have a lot of extra-curriculars and strong LOR for what its worth.

I would be happy anywhere but my goal is a local, strong, community program because of location. Otherwise, any hope for a west coast academic?
 
Maybe loma Linda.

MDHolliday said:
Middle tier American MD program.
Step 1: 235
Step 2: 256
No pre-clinical honors
Only honored family medicine and a sub-i 4th year
I'm submitting a poster but no meaningful research
I have a lot of extra-curriculars and strong LOR for what its worth.

I would be happy anywhere but my goal is a local, strong, community program because of location. Otherwise, any hope for a west coast academic?
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goin to repost since I feel like people misread information here and there when i posted before n got my step 2 score a month ago

step 1: low 250s
step 2: low 270s
pre-clinical top 10%
clinical: our school is not the standard p/f, but in essence
Honors in medicine, primary care, radiology, surgery (not sure but was top 25% in entire class for surgery, the other 3 was top 5-10%)
High pass in everything else
research: few basic science papers, few clinical research papers, few rads case reports, did a year off at NIH last year and currently preparing manuscript. Pubs+abstract > 15-20 currently
LORs should be strong, 2 from medicine, 1 from radiology and 1 from year off
AOA: jr eligible didn't make it, sr hopeful
Not much other activities during school except helping out admissions office etc

Looking to go to NE (boston, NY), chicago, but first choice would be academic programs in Cali.

Thanks.
 
Should be at least competitive at most top programs, got any connections?

NeuroRay said:
goin to repost since I feel like people misread information here and there when i posted before n got my step 2 score a month ago

step 1: low 250s
step 2: low 270s
pre-clinical top 10%
clinical: our school is not the standard p/f, but in essence
Honors in medicine, primary care, radiology, surgery (not sure but was top 25% in entire class for surgery, the other 3 was top 5-10%)
High pass in everything else
research: few basic science papers, few clinical research papers, few rads case reports, did a year off at NIH last year and currently preparing manuscript. Pubs+abstract > 15-20 currently
LORs should be strong, 2 from medicine, 1 from radiology and 1 from year off
AOA: jr eligible didn't make it, sr hopeful
Not much other activities during school except helping out admissions office etc

Looking to go to NE (boston, NY), chicago, but first choice would be academic programs in Cali.

Thanks.
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drizzt3117 said:
Should be at least competitive at most top programs, got any connections?
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Not sure what you mean by connection? I go to a top 50 med school, went to ugrad in cali, cali resident, have 2 siblings in med school at big cali schools, worked under a big name radiologist at the NIH... planning aways currently not sure how i feel about doing aways (not sure if it'll help or hurt)
 
I think those count as connections.
 
NeuroRay said:
Not sure what you mean by connection? I go to a top 50 med school, went to ugrad in cali, cali resident, have 2 siblings in med school at big cali schools, worked under a big name radiologist at the NIH... planning aways currently not sure how i feel about doing aways (not sure if it'll help or hurt)
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I meant connections at the CA programs; faculty at your home institution who trained with PDs or chairs at top places who'll make a phone call on your behalf, etc. A bunch of the chairs and PDs at the top 25 places trained at SF or MIR, so those connections help.
 
MDHolliday said:
Middle tier American MD program.
Step 1: 235
Step 2: 256
No pre-clinical honors
Only honored family medicine and a sub-i 4th year
I'm submitting a poster but no meaningful research
I have a lot of extra-curriculars and strong LOR for what its worth.

I would be happy anywhere but my goal is a local, strong, community program because of location. Otherwise, any hope for a west coast academic?
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i have similar stats to this person and was wondering if we should even bother applying to top tier or tier 2 programs?
 
ishr said:
i have similar stats to this person and was wondering if we should even bother applying to top tier or tier 2 programs?
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Little chance, but you'll never know if you don't apply. I would apply to 80 programs with those stats.
 
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