Needing advice on radiology residencies

[Morgannon]

Hello everyone...my wife is an intern who is seeking to land a radiology position at a university for the years 2005 - 2009. She is an absolutely outstanding student (excellent letters of recommendation by doctors and faculty, lengthy clinical experience, university teaching experience, etc., etc.).

The ONLY things she does not have are competitive board scores - hers are around the 50th percentile, on both levels I and II of the COMLEX, because she was going through a terrible divorce, and could not focus on her studying.

My question to you all: do you know of any osteopathic-friendly residencies who don't put a huge emphasis on board scores? We are specifically looking at the following areas:

Illinois
Wisconsin
New Jersey
New York (Long Island area)
Connecticut
Boston



Any input anyone can give us would be most helpful.

Morgannon

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[DrQuinn]

She should just apply to all the programs and see what she gets. As an underdog, you need to throw out a big net and see what you get. Don't forget there are also DO Rads residencies. Good luck.

Q, DO

 

[Morgannon]

Applying everywhere is our current strategy (we are looking at DO programs as well), but we are trying to minimize the amount of money we throw out on applications. We don't want to apply to places that are going to take a look at her board scores and toss the application without reading further. We want to focus on places that would consider her a viable candidate.

Would it be a bad move to just contact the various departments, tell them the board scores, and say, "Would this candidate be wasting his or her time applying", or something like that?

Just curious - you termed her as an underdog. Is this because she is a DO in an MD-dominated field, or because of the low boards, or both?

As always, advice is VERY much appreciated!

 

[DrQuinn]

She's an underdog because she's a DO applying for what is currently an extremely competitive field.

Q, DO

 

[Jim Picotte]

She's at a disadvantage because she's a DO, average scores, and no USMLE scores. A lot of the program directors will have no idea how to compare her scores to all the other applicants who took the USMLE. I would definately apply to all the DO radiology programs in those states and I can only comment on Wisconsin and Illinois, but she will have a difficult time getting an interview at a lot of programs. Although you want to limit the amount of money you spend, if she really loves radiology...then apply to each and every radiology program in the states you're willing to live in. The competition is very tough right now but there are a good number of DO students who do get into some good training programs. Also, radiology is a small field...having a well known radiologist from her school or from a rotation put in a good word for you will go a long way. Good luck.

 

[Rads Resident]

She would be well advised to take the USMLE. Many PD's aren't as familiar with COMLEX (fair or unfair) and since they don't know how to consider it, they do the easy (lazy) thing and don't. If her COMLEX score is her albatross, then taking the the USMLE could erase that and markedly improve her chances.

Good luck.

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

Moving to radiology residencies forum...

 

[ktat72]

how bad is a 219/89 from umkc's accelerated medical program? from what i have heard, there are probably at least 10 people who are interested in it in my class (have no idea how their scores are)