If you couldn’t do rads but could transfer/match into any other medical specialty, what would it be?

[odyssey2]

scores/grades wouldn’t matter, any specialty would be open to you.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[maxxor]

scores/grades wouldn’t matter, any specialty would be open to you.

Ophtho or Derm. Both very visual fields.

 

[odyssey2]

Ophtho or Derm. Both very visual fields.

Would you still choose rads over them?

 

[maxxor]

For now yes. Ask me in 10 years.

 

[clutch21]

For a while, I thought cardiology would be cool if I could bear the 3 year slog through IM. At this point though, I honestly couldn’t see myself doing any other specialty. Would just leave medicine altogether. Blows my mind that I chose radiology at the last second in medical school, and wasn’t sure about the fit.

 

[SeisK]

Rad onc if I matched a high tier institution to beat the job market.

Else I wouldn’t stay. Clinicians are asked too much for too little, with no appreciation and are constantly taken advantage of. Constantly battling each other so that the other guy will take the crap. Constantly battling insurance or fearing the next Medicare cut, which is year over year inevitable.

I’d gladly take 1/4 the salary without the headaches and constant embattlement. An MD won’t get you a 400k salary outside of medicine, but it’ll land you at the higher end of middle class without the stress

 

[deleted941485]

Plastic surgery.

 

[Hzreio]

Ophtho or Derm. Both very visual fields.

Those are literally my top 2 (3 including radiology) choices rn because they seem to be really visual fields.

Most of what you need to make a diagnosis seem to be there +/- some extra testing every now and again.

Look at something, see the pattern, pretty much immediately know generally what’s happening (after experience and training of course). Would you say this is your experience?

 

[painballer27]

For a while, I thought cardiology would be cool if I could bear the 3 year slog through IM. At this point though, I honestly couldn’t see myself doing any other specialty. Would just leave medicine altogether. Blows my mind that I chose radiology at the last second in medical school, and wasn’t sure about the fit.

What about radiology made you hesitant about choosing it in med school?

 

[clutch21]

What about radiology made you hesitant about choosing it in med school?

2 factors. I had zero exposure to the field third year, so knew nothing about it. Secondly, I had a hard time imaging whether the field is a good fit. As a medical student, you can’t really put yourself in the shoes of a radiologist. I didn’t consider myself particularly adept at anatomy, and that’s pretty much all I felt I could go off of.

Fortunately, being stellar at anatomy isn’t really a prerequisite. Having a solid foundation certainly helps, but it isn’t make or break.

I saw someone recently compare radiology to test taking, which I thought was particularly apt. The mental exercise of test taking and all the small decision making processes that go into answering each question (e.g. eliminating answers, etc.), is very similar to what the day to day of radiology is like. I always have enjoyed test taking, or at least haven’t minded it.

 

[clutch21]

Those are literally my top 2 (3 including radiology) choices rn because they seem to be really visual fields.

Most of what you need to make a diagnosis seem to be there +/- some extra testing every now and again.

Look at something, see the pattern, pretty much immediately know generally what’s happening (after experience and training of course). Would you say this is your experience?

One fundamental different between radiology and optho/derm, is the latter two are clinic based. I found clinic to be an unbearable clock watching type experience as a med student and intern. I could never see myself doing them longterm. Just something to consider as you make your decision.

 

[maxxor]

One fundamental different between radiology and optho/derm, is the latter two are clinic based. I found clinic to be an unbearable clock watching type experience as a med student and intern. I could never see myself doing them longterm. Just something to consider as you make your decision.

To be fair to those specialties, shadowing radiologists as a medical student is probably even more painful.

What turned the specialty into a possibility to me was a Med student rotation which minimized reading room time and maximized having us look at cases and small group reviewing the findings. They also had some standardized exams we had to dictate.

That took it from watching-the-paint-dry boring to a really interesting puzzle to figure out. It really captured the essence of the job I’d be signing up for.

 

[letmebe]

One of the above posters mentioned how he views rads as taking a test. And this view has been perpetuated in many posts. As an R1, I really REALLY hope that that’s not the feeling as an attending. I loathe tests although I recognize their purpose. I’d hate coming in to an exam every day as work for the rest of my life.

 

[clutch21]

To be fair to those specialties, shadowing radiologists as a medical student is probably even more painful.

What turned the specialty into a possibility to me was a Med student rotation which minimized reading room time and maximized having us look at cases and small group reviewing the findings. They also had some standardized exams we had to dictate.

That took it from watching-the-paint-dry boring to a really interesting puzzle to figure out. It really captured the essence of the job I’d be signing up for.

Completely agree. My 4th year radiology elective was the most mundane experience I had during medical school. I took up coffee drinking just to stay awake in the morning. Sitting in the chair and reading/dictating is a complete different experience than shadowing though.

 

[clutch21]

One of the above posters mentioned how he views rads as taking a test. And this view has been perpetuated in many posts. As an R1, I really REALLY hope that that’s not the feeling as an attending. I loathe tests although I recognize their purpose. I’d hate coming in to an exam every day as work for the rest of my life.

It’s not a perfect analogy and I’m not saying you have to like tests to like radiology.

Radiology requires constant processing of information with multiple small decisions made during each study, especially when reading CT and MR. You have to maintain continuous vigilance and active thinking. As you progress and gain experience, a good deal of the work shifts to subconscious/reflexive level, but never fully. Test taking is similar to this in many ways.

 

[GoPelicans]

I was going back and forth between rads and anesthesia as a med student so prob that. Both have good salaries, can do light procedures, and don't require longitudinal patient followup. Anesthesia also doesnt need to do fellowship so done after PGY4 and their job market is booming currently. The CRNA issues that worried me don't really seem like much of an issue at all. Their knowledge based is very focused, and overall they need to know a lot less than radiologists. The main thing that steered me away from it was I was worried I would be bored from all the down time, but now that I'm grinding every day at work looking at studies some down time seems likea dream.

 

[odyssey2]

I was going back and forth between rads and anesthesia as a med student so prob that. Both have good salaries, can do light procedures, and don't require longitudinal patient followup. Anesthesia also doesnt need to do fellowship so done after PGY4 and their job market is booming currently. The CRNA issues that worried me don't really seem like much of an issue at all. Their knowledge based is very focused, and overall they need to know a lot less than radiologists. The main thing that steered me away from it was I was worried I would be bored from all the down time, but now that I'm grinding every day at work looking at studies some down time seems likea dream.

Do you regret not doing anesthesia or something else then?

 

[GoPelicans]

Do you regret not doing anesthesia or something else then?

I like radiology. The grass is always greener, some days something else seems like it would be nice, other days I feel like I have the best job in all of medicine. My best friend is an anesthesia resident and complains about work too. I'm slightly mopey right now since many people the same PGY year as me are graduating or already working as attendings, 'moving on with their lives' while I am studying for boards and looking at two more years of being a trainee. Ask me again in 10 years and I will probably be a lot happier than most of those people. At the end of the day no specialty is perfect, but radiology minimizes a lot of the stuff I hate about being a doctor and for that reason I think I chose well. I should note I was also an ESIR resident for about a year but switched out because IR call was making me go insane. Lifestyle prevailed for this person.

 

[letmebe]

@odyssey2 are you considering giving up your seat before you start for a possible swap?

 

[bobjonesbob]

I like radiology. The grass is always greener, some days something else seems like it would be nice, other days I feel like I have the best job in all of medicine. My best friend is an anesthesia resident and complains about work too. I'm slightly mopey right now since many people the same PGY year as me are graduating or already working as attendings, 'moving on with their lives' while I am studying for boards and looking at two more years of being a trainee. Ask me again in 10 years and I will probably be a lot happier than most of those people. At the end of the day no specialty is perfect, but radiology minimizes a lot of the stuff I hate about being a doctor and for that reason I think I chose well. I should note I was also an ESIR resident for about a year but switched out because IR call was making me go insane. Lifestyle prevailed for this person.

I remember some your old posts when you were pretty down on DR. I guess things have improved as you've gone along? What are you going to do for fellowship?

 

[GoPelicans]

I remember some your old posts when you were pretty down on DR. I guess things have improved as you've gone along? What are you going to do for fellowship?

Ya things get better every year, which I think is a good sign. First year was challening for the learning curve, second year was challenging because of the call frequency, third year is challenging balancing call and boards studying. I am looking forward to being an R4. I will be doing MSK.

 

[Taurus]

I honestly can’t imagine a better specialty for me. I had thought about derm and plastic surgery because they’re sexier and the public knows what you do but I had to be honest with myself. I’m not a people person and the constant patient interaction and trying to please demanding, unpleasant, ungrateful patients would be draining for me. I also couldn’t put up with the passive aggressive nature of backstabbing midlevels in anesthesia, primary care, or EM. I also realized that on a $/hour basis radiology is up there with any desirable specialty. You can work 4 days/week, 8-5, no call in mammo and make 500k+. Or you can bust your butt and make even more by taking more call, less vacation, do locums, etc. Now that the year is over, I am able to finally calculate our gross income for 2021. Drum roll please… 🥁 For 2021, my wife and I made more than 1M and I provided 80% of that amount. So you do the math. 😬

One of the biggest and best differences between radiology and clinical fields like derm or plastic surgery is that radiology is a 24/7/365 field. If you want to work and make extra income, it’s as easy as taking your colleague’s call or signing up for teleradiology from your home. You can make money at 3 am on Saturday night just like daytime weekday. For clinical fields like derm or plastic surgery, how do you make more money? It’s not as easy. You’re restricted to certain hours during the weekday. If you want to add extra hours, then you have extra expense of paying your staff overtime. For radiology, it’s just a matter of turning on computer. No extra expenses if you work more hours.

 

[Rad2013]

I honestly can’t imagine a better specialty for me. I had thought about derm and plastic surgery because they’re sexier and the public knows what you do but I had to be honest with myself. I’m not a people person and the constant patient interaction and trying to please demanding, unpleasant, ungrateful patients would be draining for me. I also couldn’t put up with the passive aggressive nature of backstabbing midlevels in anesthesia, primary care, or EM. I also realized that on a $/hour basis radiology is up there with any desirable specialty. You can work 4 days/week, 8-5, no call in mammo and make 500k+. Or you can bust your butt and make even more by taking more call, less vacation, do locums, etc. Now that the year is over, I am able to finally calculate our gross income for 2021. Drum roll please… 🥁 For 2021, my wife and I made more than 1M and I provided 80% of that amount. So you do the math.

One of the biggest and best differences between radiology and clinical fields like derm or plastic surgery is that radiology is a 24/7/365 field. If you want to work and make extra income, it’s as easy as taking your colleague’s call or signing up for teleradiology from your home. You can make money at 3 am on Saturday night just like daytime weekday. For clinical fields like derm or plastic surgery, how do you make more money? It’s not as easy. You’re restricted to certain hours during the weekday. If you want to add extra hours, then you have extra expense of paying your staff overtime. For radiology, it’s just a matter of turning on computer. No extra expenses if you work more hours.

Is your wife a physician?

 

[Neopolymath]

Ya things get better every year, which I think is a good sign. First year was challening for the learning curve, second year was challenging because of the call frequency, third year is challenging balancing call and boards studying. I am looking forward to being an R4. I will be doing MSK.

Would you share what brought you to pursue MSK versus the other options? Thanks for continuing to update everyone on your career and experiences.

 

[maxxor]

Would you share what brought you to pursue MSK versus the other options? Thanks for continuing to update everyone on your career and experiences.

I did an msk fellowship because I wanted to do something with a specialized knowledge base that general rads wouldn’t want to claim equivalence with, something that referrers actually demand (ortho groups will demand subspec interps), and still do your own procedures.

 

[Hzreio]

I honestly can’t imagine a better specialty for me. I had thought about derm and plastic surgery because they’re sexier and the public knows what you do but I had to be honest with myself. I’m not a people person and the constant patient interaction and trying to please demanding, unpleasant, ungrateful patients would be draining for me. I also couldn’t put up with the passive aggressive nature of backstabbing midlevels in anesthesia, primary care, or EM. I also realized that on a $/hour basis radiology is up there with any desirable specialty. You can work 4 days/week, 8-5, no call in mammo and make 500k+. Or you can bust your butt and make even more by taking more call, less vacation, do locums, etc. Now that the year is over, I am able to finally calculate our gross income for 2021. Drum roll please… For 2021, my wife and I made more than 1M and I provided 80% of that amount. So you do the math.

One of the biggest and best differences between radiology and clinical fields like derm or plastic surgery is that radiology is a 24/7/365 field. If you want to work and make extra income, it’s as easy as taking your colleague’s call or signing up for teleradiology from your home. You can make money at 3 am on Saturday night just like daytime weekday. For clinical fields like derm or plastic surgery, how do you make more money? It’s not as easy. You’re restricted to certain hours during the weekday. If you want to add extra hours, then you have extra expense of paying your staff overtime. For radiology, it’s just a matter of turning on computer. No extra expenses if you work more hours.

Maybe I’ll change my mind in the future but I feel like it’ll be hard to want to do more after making 400k+ lol

At that point if I want to work more I’d probably just do real estate investing or something

 

[Cognovi]

One of the above posters mentioned how he views rads as taking a test. And this view has been perpetuated in many posts. As an R1, I really REALLY hope that that’s not the feeling as an attending. I loathe tests although I recognize their purpose. I’d hate coming in to an exam every day as work for the rest of my life.

I agree with the overall analogy that radiology is like a test insofar as you are constantly engaged and retrieving random bits of a wide store of knowledge. However, the work diverges from the negative feeling of taking a test as you advance because you get better and faster and the corrective feedback is less frequent.

For days/nights I'm on call, I prepared in much the same way I prepared for high stakes tests: get good sleep, eat a good meal, play some music that gets you pumped, dose the caffeine.

 

[doctalaughs]

I agree with the overall analogy that radiology is like a test insofar as you are constantly engaged and retrieving random bits of a wide store of knowledge. However, the work diverges from the negative feeling of taking a test as you advance because you get better and faster and the corrective feedback is less frequent.

For days/nights I'm on call, I prepared in much the same way I prepared for high stakes tests: get good sleep, eat a good meal, play some music that gets you pumped, dose the caffeine.

Interesting comparison, never heard that before.

Dermatologist here x 15 years. I always thought I’d be bad at radiology when I was considering different fields because:

1. I’m not great at Anatomy, didn’t enjoy it, don’t have a great sense of direction or 3D spacial skills

2. I always fell asleep at the scope doing dermatopathology, and couldn’t do it for more than an hour or so without a long break. No problem in clinic since I’m walking around and talking to people constantly.

Then again - I never did a rads rotation, like visual specialties (thus Derm) and I’m an amazing test taker (perfect sat, mcat, near perfect steps). Maybe I should have been a radiologist in an alternate world? 😉🤪

 

[GoPelicans]

Would you share what brought you to pursue MSK versus the other options? Thanks for continuing to update everyone on your career and experiences.

I considered body and neuro as well for fellowship because I like cross-sectional imaging, but ultimately I feel I will probably be able to do 90%+ of those things by the end of residency. I just don't have that level of comfort with MSK, and want to be able to look at more than just knees/shoulders. I like sports, and the idea of being able to accurately diagnose sports injuries seemed pretty cool. MSK can also do light procedures, which appealed to me a lot. And the personality fit seemed right - I identified a lot more with the personalities in MSK than, say, neuro. And the salary seems pretty good. All in all I probably could be happy in a few different subspecialties but MSK just seemed to check off the most boxes of things that mattered to me.

 

[letmebe]

I agree with the overall analogy that radiology is like a test insofar as you are constantly engaged and retrieving random bits of a wide store of knowledge. However, the work diverges from the negative feeling of taking a test as you advance because you get better and faster and the corrective feedback is less frequent.

For days/nights I'm on call, I prepared in much the same way I prepared for high stakes tests: get good sleep, eat a good meal, play some music that gets you pumped, dose the caffeine.

Oh boy.. I’m in for a treat with my love for tests I guess. I hope I make it till the end of residency.

 

[Cognovi]

Oh boy.. I’m in for a treat with my love for tests I guess. I hope I make it till the end of residency.

Hahaha.

The reporting is like an essay test. At first it feels like writing in a foreign language but by the end of training it's like firing off a status message on social media.

The phone call/in-person consults are like an oral exam. People want answers, now, and you have to be able to produce answers on the spot.

 

[Steve_Zissou]

Interesting comparison, never heard that before.

Dermatologist here x 15 years. I always thought I’d be bad at radiology when I was considering different fields because:

1. I’m not great at Anatomy, didn’t enjoy it, don’t have a great sense of direction or 3D spacial skills

2. I always fell asleep at the scope doing dermatopathology, and couldn’t do it for more than an hour or so without a long break. No problem in clinic since I’m walking around and talking to people constantly.

Then again - I never did a rads rotation, like visual specialties (thus Derm) and I’m an amazing test taker (perfect sat, mcat, near perfect steps). Maybe I should have been a radiologist in an alternate world? 😉🤪

You know, I'm still a med student but I found anatomy class boring AF. Why the hell do I need to memorize these tiny muscles with their minutiae? Now learning to recognize/recognizing it on a read has been way more interesting, especially when related to pathology. Just feels like two totally different things.

 

[Cognovi]

The tiny and big muscles are both still boring to me.

 

[SeisK]

The tiny and big muscles are both still boring to me.

Maybe you just don’t like muscles

 

[Steve_Zissou]

Maybe you just don’t like muscles