I am a 4th year soon to be DO, military (army) scholarship medstudent. I have been working down the radiology path for the past year plus. I also have applied to several MD programs. I did not apply to any DO programs. It is hard to judge at this point what the liklihood of matching (a DO) in a MD program will be as I am just knocking on their doors. I have receieved 1 interview and I believe that I have been passed up by a few programs and others have yet to make decisions.
This qualifies me on some level to speak about DO's, residency in Radiology in the military and civilian MD programs (albeit in a limited manner).
True, radiology has become very competitive again. It has the standard sinusoidal path that other specialties have but it is increasingly attractive and thus competitive due to all the field of interventional, the monthly birth of new and refined technology, the medical profession (every branch) reliance on radiology for diagnosis and treatment outcome, and of course the ever fleeting "lifestyle" (still good as I saw but slowly getting eaten up by work).
The military programs are generally very good, some stronger than others, generally speaking though you get all the exposure and teaching you need. Civilian, I cannot comment as I have only done military.
Now all I can really stress is how competitive it is. My experience has shown is that it is all numbers driven. Grades, class rank, boards, published papers, dean's letters. You see, I found it difficult to really "shine" in a radiology rotation (sitting 3rd row to the action), I believe that is a common experience. So it really comes down to numbers. Unfortunately for us the number of people applying with good numbers is increasing. This is the highest number of military applicants in a long, long time.
There you have it. I am very excited about radiology. If anyone has any experience or insights, or experiences I would love to hear how they are doing, and what they have to say.
Thanks,
Jhezzu
