how competitive am I? Please help

[radiology555]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi everyone,
I hope someone can help me out. A little background-I matched into IM this year at a pretty good hospital-but in about December I realized I really liked radiology but it was too late to apply. I just did a formal rotation in radiology and loved it and want to apply this year. My step 1 score was 222, step 2 is 234. No honors during third year. About half honors in first 2 years and honored everything in step 4 (I could never manage a high enough score on shelf to honor during third year) I have published a couple of papers (in derm-which is what I thought about going into initially). In your honest opinion, am I competitive enough to apply and match. (I would happy even at a low tier program). With what USMLE score do people get invited for an interview.
Thanks🙂

 

[Wyclef]

Your scores are okay. A little low on step 1, but you are in the game for interviews based on scores alone.

To me the larger issue is one of funding. The way I understand it, if you match into IM, the government will pay for your training for 3 years, not for the whole 5 years of you switch into radiology. Am I wrong about this?

That being said, there are ways around this problem. A rads program could, for instance, allow you to work for free for the last two years (kind of a tough pill to swallow).

I hope I'm wrong about this. Either way, if you want rads bad enough, you'll get it.

BTW, Auntminnie.com has a more active radiology forum for medical students where you might try posting your predicament.

 

[Rzarecta]

OP you are in a difficult (but not insurmountable) position because of your lower scores and mediocre third year performance. On top of that by matching into a categorical medicine residency you only have three years of government funding. If you apply this year and match into a position you will most likely be completing two years of your IM residency before you would start in radiology. Therefore you would only have one year of government funding for your radiology residency, and the remaining three years would have to be paid for by the residency itself.

With your stats your best chances for a spot would be community radiology programs, but these programs will be less able/less willing to pay for your last three years out of pocket. University programs, while being more difficult to match in, also have larger pockets and are more willing to take on residents who don't have any government funding left.

If I were you at this point I would consider going through intern year and really evaluating if radiology is the only field for you. If you are dead-set on radiology, then make yourself a stronger applicant by getting into some research, getting amazing LORs from medicine attendings and radiology attendings at your hospital. It would be smarter to apply in your second year because you will: 1) be finished with IM residency by the time you start radiology and 2) hopefully be a stronger radiology candidate and match into an academic program that can fund you.

 

[Rzarecta]

DISREGARD MY ABOVE POST!!!

Actually, looking at your other post you say that you are a prelim (which won't then affect your funding). Try to get some research with some radiology attendings at your hospital and see if there is any chance of you making a spot at that place. Good luck applying!

 

[radiology555]

hi everyone,
thanks for your advice. I am actually going to be starting categorical IM this year. I meant to say intern year and not prelim year in my last post. Any other imput would be appreciated.
Thanks