Plan???

[ruger3030]

I am a student at Touro university Nevada and I am leaning towards invasive cardiology and I am wondering if there is anything that I should be doing right now to give myself a better advantage of getting into a residency? Any advice is great.

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[david713]

You need to get high marks on your board exams. Get as high as possible. This means lots of reading and actually doing something unique which is going to class and listening to the lectures. As much as possible write. Articles, even small ones, are very important. If you can get about 4 publications and score in the upper 20% you can go into anything. Just don't make anyone mad.

 

[dragonfly99]

Try to get to know cardiologists. One thing I would definitely do (that I did NOT do as a student b/c I didn't think of it) is to call the secretary of the doc who is head of the cardiology dept. at your teaching hospital. Ask for an "informational interview" and bring your resume or CV with you. Ask to talk to him for 15 minutes or so about how to become a cardiologist. If you are a preclinical student, he might then remember you by the time you are a 3rd year. He will remember you were interested and proactive. At the time of your interview, if he seems like someone good to work with, you could ask if he has any opportunities for students to do research with him, or knows of any other faculty who do.

p.s. I am a cards fellow

 

[Adcadet]

How about working to obtain a broad knowledge base in medicine in general and internal medicine in particular?

 

[dragonfly99]

not enough...
but might be enough at this point in his career

 

[gwiddlebones]

Try to get to know cardiologists. One thing I would definitely do (that I did NOT do as a student b/c I didn't think of it) is to call the secretary of the doc who is head of the cardiology dept. at your teaching hospital. Ask for an "informational interview" and bring your resume or CV with you. Ask to talk to him for 15 minutes or so about how to become a cardiologist. If you are a preclinical student, he might then remember you by the time you are a 3rd year. He will remember you were interested and proactive. At the time of your interview, if he seems like someone good to work with, you could ask if he has any opportunities for students to do research with him, or knows of any other faculty who do.

p.s. I am a cards fellow

What if I were planning to do my residency and fellowship somewhere other than my medical school?

 

[dragonfly99]

It doesn't matter.
The chair of the cards dept. can STILL help you application.
Get to know him.
Trust me on this.
Just trust me.
It can't hurt you...and can only help you.

 

[sacrament]

It doesn't matter.
The chair of the cards dept. can STILL help you application.
Get to know him.
Trust me on this.
Just trust me.
It can't hurt you...and can only help you.

I'll second this. If you can get somebody reputable in the world of academic cardiology (which is a rather small pond) to strongly vouch for you, it's going to open up a lot of doors that otherwise would have remained closed. I got interviews at places I never would have dreamed I'd get interviews at, probably primarily based on the strength and nature of my LORs and contacts.