Few Questions in Applying for Residency/Fellowship

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hopefulrad08

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Hello All,

If someone can please help guide/clarify a few questions, I'd appreciate it -

Completed 4 year Diagnostic Residency in home country. Have done 2 clerkships in IM/FM (1 month, 4 months) and hoping to complete another 6 week clerkship in Radiology soon. I've been working in my home country after completing residency, so there isn't much of a gap on my CV. Maybe a month or two - does that hurt me in any way?

I've done some research and it looks like I could work towards the ABR Alternate Pathway since I've completed a residency already. I would be eligible to complete 4 fellowships or 3 fellowships, a faculty and a research year and be eligible to take the radiology boards. The issue with this pathway is that no program guarantees the 4 year up-front. Every year I'd have to apply for a new fellowship position, be interviewed for and accepted. This pathway must be completed in ONE institution. Do you think that it's possible to get 4 fellowships in one institution as long as the performance is good? I'm just worried that if I went down this path, I don't have a guarantee of anything. I may not be accepted for a 3 or 4th fellowship and then I'd be out another two years. Thoughts?

How competitive is Radiology for residency? Should I just go ahead and apply to a residency program and hope for the best?

  1. Does one need to apply for Internship for it? If so, is it possible to match for a Transitional year without matching to an actual Radiology program?
  2. How does that work? Would just doing a TY help in any way if I did have to apply again?
  3. Is it possible to match into let's say an IM or FM residency and then switch in a year or so to Radiology?

Any and all guidance is much appreciated as I try to navigate the system here.

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Not in rad, but 1-2 month gap on CV is nothing. I don't really think that alternate pathway is realistic.

The rest of your questions can probably be answered more extensively by searching this forum, the med students forum and the radiology forum. In brief:

1) You need prelim/intern year prior to your advanced radiology program. It is possible to match for one without the other. Your questions on how competitive a particular specialty can be answered here: https://mk0nrmp3oyqui6wqfm.kinstacd.../Charting-Outcomes-in-the-Match-2018-IMGs.pdf
2) If you match a prelim without the advanced (radiology) program, then you could try and find an open advanced program while you're completing your prelim year. No idea how difficult that is.
3) Definitely can't go FM-->radiology. I don't think you can do categorical IM-->radiology either but wouldn't swear on it.
 
3) Definitely can't go FM-->radiology. I don't think you can do categorical IM-->radiology either but wouldn't swear on it.
This is actually not true. An intern year of some sort is required to do radiology. If you happen to have a full residency behind you, that's OK too. It will cause potential funding issues with some programs but it's both doable and not that uncommon.
 
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This is actually not true. An intern year of some sort is required to do radiology. If you happen to have a full residency behind you, that's OK too. It will cause potential funding issues with some programs but it's both doable and not that uncommon.
Interesting, I stand corrected.
 
Hello All,

If someone can please help guide/clarify a few questions, I'd appreciate it -

Completed 4 year Diagnostic Residency in home country. Have done 2 clerkships in IM/FM (1 month, 4 months) and hoping to complete another 6 week clerkship in Radiology soon. I've been working in my home country after completing residency, so there isn't much of a gap on my CV. Maybe a month or two - does that hurt me in any way?

I've done some research and it looks like I could work towards the ABR Alternate Pathway since I've completed a residency already. I would be eligible to complete 4 fellowships or 3 fellowships, a faculty and a research year and be eligible to take the radiology boards. The issue with this pathway is that no program guarantees the 4 year up-front. Every year I'd have to apply for a new fellowship position, be interviewed for and accepted. This pathway must be completed in ONE institution. Do you think that it's possible to get 4 fellowships in one institution as long as the performance is good? I'm just worried that if I went down this path, I don't have a guarantee of anything. I may not be accepted for a 3 or 4th fellowship and then I'd be out another two years. Thoughts?

How competitive is Radiology for residency? Should I just go ahead and apply to a residency program and hope for the best?

  1. Does one need to apply for Internship for it? If so, is it possible to match for a Transitional year without matching to an actual Radiology program?
  2. How does that work? Would just doing a TY help in any way if I did have to apply again?
  3. Is it possible to match into let's say an IM or FM residency and then switch in a year or so to Radiology?

Any and all guidance is much appreciated as I try to navigate the system here.

While Radiology had a big slump around 2008-2010 or so timeframe, Radiology's competitiveness has gone back up to I would say average levels. So I know you didn't actually ask this but will address it - it might be difficult to match to a full blown Rads program.
Now in terms of the fellowship, I have never seen it done successful for the period of time I was in Rads. I'm sure some people might pull it off, but I don't think that's the norm, and not sure most programs would want a 4 year fellow. Also just think that if you do a few years adn then the program says nope we are done with you, that is gone as an option for you. You said it yourself - youd on't have a guarantee of anything.

You can apply for Rads but it might be challenging and yes you'd have to start from scratch at the internship level. TYs are competitive.
the match into FM or IM and switch would be pointless for one, and not very likely. There are people who switch into Rads certainly, but tend to be from other specialties - Gas, at times Ortho, etc etc. IM/FM to Rads - less likely, although I have seen Rads to IM.
typically you go from more to less competitive not the other way around.

Good luck.
 
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