radiology as backup?

[chael]

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Hey, anyone ever hear of anyone applying to radiology as a backup? I am planning to apply in a *very* competitive field. Honestly, I am applying in the field I believe I will be happiest in, but I'm also realistic too, in that there is a significant chance that I will not match. I've always thought rads was an interesting field, and I'm sure I could have a happy, fulfilling career (definitely happier than the traditional alternative to the field I am applying in).

I figure I can do one rads rotation before applications go out..not sure if that's enough to get 3 rads letters (could probably ask for some letters from the rotations I honored, but I imagine they would be less than stellar, as they don't really know me well as a person).

So has anyone heard of anything like this, or should I just put it out of my mind? I'm mostly concerned with what I would tell people at interviews/my home attendings (I imagine they would not look favorably on my applying to rads).

any thoughts?

 

[doc05]

so you're applying to gu/ent/plastics and don't want the workload of general surgery as a backup??

going for rads as a backup is fine. just don't tell your interviewers or letter writers that it's your backup. more importantly just try to be sure you'll be happy with rads. it's a terrific field but not the best choice if you're a surgically-minded individual.

best of luck.

 

[chael]

so you're applying to gu/ent/plastics and don't want the workload of general surgery as a backup??

going for rads as a backup is fine. just don't tell your interviewers or letter writers that it's your backup. more importantly just try to be sure you'll be happy with rads. it's a terrific field but not the best choice if you're a surgically-minded individual.

best of luck.

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I am applying in plastics. General surgery workload doesn't bother me at all, as I will be a general surgery resident for 3-4 years anyway if I match in plastics. It's just the thought of matching general surgery, then not getting a plastics fellowship and being stuck as a general surgeon. I love plastics for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with general surgery, and I'm positive I'd be happier as a radiologist than a general surgeon.

Not telling interviewers might be tricky for me, as one look at my resume and it will be at least obvious that I was very interested in plastics. But I guess I'd have to find some way to deal with it.

Anyway, thanks for your comments.

 

[eddieberetta]

There are pros and cons. The pro is that the admissions comm. is less likely to think you are using it as a backup (compare to IM and FM) as rads is competitive. The con is obviously that as a competitive specialty, it will be less sure-fire and the strategy could result in your going unmatched. The other issue for you is that it is hard to relate radiology to PRS. Whereas for other areas such as NSx or GU, you could easily note that you wanted to do rotations in the relevant clinically area to be a better ___ radiogist (neuro- gu- msk- etc).

If you are really into plastics, I would think that you would eventually be able to land a fellowship as a GSx. The other "backup" you could consider is ENT, who can also apply to PRS fellowship.

 

[chael]

There are pros and cons. The pro is that the admissions comm. is less likely to think you are using it as a backup (compare to IM and FM) as rads is competitive. The con is obviously that as a competitive specialty, it will be less sure-fire and the strategy could result in your going unmatched. The other issue for you is that it is hard to relate radiology to PRS. Whereas for other areas such as NSx or GU, you could easily note that you wanted to do rotations in the relevant clinically area to be a better ___ radiogist (neuro- gu- msk- etc).

If you are really into plastics, I would think that you would eventually be able to land a fellowship as a GSx. The other "backup" you could consider is ENT, who can also apply to PRS fellowship.

Thanks Eddie, appreciate the comments. ENT as a backup is difficult because it is the early match. So if I ended up matching ENT, I'd have to withdraw from the plastics match. Pretty aggravating, as ENT shares many things with plastics, and would be a good backup.

The thing about gsurg, is that pretty much all g surg program directors look down on plastics applicants, because they are afraid that they will ditch their residency early and go match plastics. Plus whatever biases they may have against plastic surg in general, which there seems to be quite a bit floating around. So basically, if I was sure I could match into a kick-ass g-surg program where my chances for the fellowship match were great, I'd do that. In fact, I'll probably apply to several top g-surg programs as well, and rank those after plastics. But I'm not even going to apply to non-kick-ass gsurg programs, because I don't want to risk going somewhere and not be able to match into a fellowship later. Ugh, just the thought of having to go through a whole other application process in 5 yrs is so unappealing... hency my thinking that I could fill the rest of my list with some top, and several mid-level rads programs. That way, as long as I match somewhere, it is sure to be in something that I will be pretty excited about.

 

[bosky]

FYI - ENT is no longer an early match.