Need career advice from the all knowing SDN experts

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josephf1

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Hi I am M3, got 224 on Step 1.
Feel like I could get into either a low end rads program with some luck or a higher end IM program, with the thought then of going for a specialty.
My financial goal is to make over $250,000 soon after residency.
Rads looks great but I'm extremely afraid of radiation exposure during career or even during residency.
I also like cards (non-IV, again becuase of radiation exposure), Heme-onc, and allergy.
Anyone hate/regret IM and wish they went to rads, or anyone feel rads too boring staring all day at CTs and wish they went to an IM/specialty?
Any other recommendations, things I may have overlooked? Many specialties I can't get with my score and I don't like neuro, path, OB-GYN, or peds. And I don't want to do anything too blood and guts like surgery or EM or anesthesia.
Thanks.

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with so many fields you don't like and with a 224 - there are some you probably won't get (there's always a chance) - you're pretty much stuck with IM, Rads and did you mention Ophtho (my roomate from med school got it with a 210)? There's also rad-onc (pretty tough to get and you're scared of radiation) and Derm (toughie as you know). that said, nothing is impossible, you can try for two residencies and see what kind of interview offers you get and make your decision that way. it would be a lot of work with LORs, etc. within IM, you can pursue GI, Cardio - um, basically those are the only two with the kind of salary you are looking for.

don't be afraid of the radiation exposure. honestly, if you want that kind of money, most of those fields will expose you to radiation. our neighbor is an anesthesiologist and he wears lead in the OR, his wife is a radiologist and of course, she is always protecting her ovaries. my husband is a cardio fellow and he comes home with his shoulders aching from wearing the heavy lead apron.

oh yeah, 250K is pretty high but doable to be aiming as first year attending salary. nothing wrong with it, but keep your expectations lower considering what is happening to medicine and considering when you will be done. so unless you go into some super duper sub-sub specialty, you won't earn that high until two-three years into work and it will go even higher once you partner.

good luck.:luck:
 
thanks gwen
your husband, does he get exposure in the normal 3 year cardio fellowship or is he doing a 4th yera in invasive? what other specialties have radiation exposure? arent people scared of this - on hands, eyes, this is an serious occupational hazard isnt it?
 
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If you do a little bit of research, you'll see it isn't as big of a hazard as you'd think. Radiology gives you a badge to wear that tracks how much radiation you're being exposed to, you wear lead aprons and sometimes gloves/goggles if it really scares you, and just avoid being exposed for longer than necessary, i.e., use intermittent fluoro, etc.
 
What makes you think you can't earn 250K in IM? Yeah, salaried internists will likely make 150-180K but many hospitalist and private practice groups have partnerships. Partners at these groups make anywhere from 200-500K depending on the group, location and other features. 250K in IM is very doable. If you join a respectable group in a large city, expect to make at LEAST 250K as a partner. The salary you earn immediately following residency doesn't mean anything. If a group likes you, they will offer you the chance to be partner in 1-2 years usually and then your salary will escalate quite a bit. A close friend and a former colleague told me the average partner in his group earned 320K ....in internal medicine. I live in a large city.

But yeah, your salaried internist is going to earn considerably less than your salaried radiologist. A salaried radiologist might start at 200-250K while a salaried internist will start at 120-150K.
 
Hi I am M3, got 224 on Step 1.
Feel like I could get into either a low end rads program with some luck or a higher end IM program, with the thought then of going for a specialty.
My financial goal is to make over $250,000 soon after residency.
Rads looks great but I'm extremely afraid of radiation exposure during career or even during residency.
I also like cards (non-IV, again becuase of radiation exposure), Heme-onc, and allergy.
Anyone hate/regret IM and wish they went to rads, or anyone feel rads too boring staring all day at CTs and wish they went to an IM/specialty?
Any other recommendations, things I may have overlooked? Many specialties I can't get with my score and I don't like neuro, path, OB-GYN, or peds. And I don't want to do anything too blood and guts like surgery or EM or anesthesia.
Thanks.

i'll echo what novacek said.

but also, why this concern about money? you've got your priorities all wrong. concern yourself with excelling in EVERY clinical clerkship, and decide on a specialty at the end of 3rd year based upon which field excites you the most. believe me when i say it is a LOOOOONG road, and you really want to do that hard work day to day in the field you enjoy the most. don't worry about the money. really. i guarantee you will be very comfortable in WHICHEVER specialty you choose.
 
you can try for two residencies and see what kind of interview offers you get and make your decision that way.

How does this work with the personal statement? I'm curious as to how people convince people in two different fields they are sold out to that field through one personal statement (especially opposing fields like IM and Rads).
 
How does this work with the personal statement? I'm curious as to how people convince people in two different fields they are sold out to that field through one personal statement (especially opposing fields like IM and Rads).

multiple personal statements. just don't get them mixed up.

tm
 
multiple personal statements. just don't get them mixed up.

tm

You can selectively submit personal statements? I'm ignorant of ERAS, I thought you just submitted one. You can send different statements to different programs...that's cool.
 
i believe you can submit more then one personal statement. you can then assign each to whichever specialty you have applied to. it works the same way with prelim spots and then the subspecialty spot. you just have to make sure you are careful!!! it would totally suck to submit an IM PS to the radiology spot and vice versa...you are basically - screwed!

i agree with the salary bit, but at least he's old enough to be thinking about what he wants out of life rather than that 16 year old kid we had last week who was basically saying the same stuff as the OP but didn't even have his driver's license.

also, i don't think the OP wants to do IM plain...i'm guessing this from his post. it sounds like he wants to either subspecialize in IM or do another subspecilaty. 250K is still pretty high coming right out of residency unless you're doing super-duper surgical subspecialties (not the OP's interest).
 
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