Rads residency comparison spreadsheet

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dillydally

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Is there a list anywhere comparing all the different radiology residencies? Surely someone over the years has compiled a spreedsheet of all the residencies out there with details about competitiveness, training environment, program strengths and weaknesses, salary, benefits, etc. I'm pretty sure I want to apply rads next year but looking into all the programs seems so daunting.

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FREIDA is your only real option.

Sadly, there is no unbiased source of more in depth information.

Many med students compile their own spreadsheets, but they're all pretty subjective in the end. So even if you could get people to share, you should take it all with a grain of salt.

Check out Aunt Minnie for a glimpse of truth mixed with lies if you'd like.

Your med school might have its own compiled info too.
 
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What exactly is it you are looking for? I've put together a crazy list of transitional year programs that I'm planning on either turning into a blog post or a website; I haven't done as much for rad programs, but could start.
 
What exactly is it you are looking for? I've put together a crazy list of transitional year programs that I'm planning on either turning into a blog post or a website; I haven't done as much for rad programs, but could start.

I'd be interested in this. Especially in regards to schedule/call, moonlighting opportunities, pay/benefits (time off, insurance, book funds, conferences, etc)
 
I suppose we could always start this...ugh activation energy
 
I'd be interested in this. Especially in regards to schedule/call, moonlighting opportunities, pay/benefits (time off, insurance, book funds, conferences, etc)

Call: Roughly inversely proportional to the size of the program. Calls will be busier and less frequent at larger programs.

Moonlighting: Can change dramatically between when you interview and when you actually start. A nice perk, but one that can be removed with almost no warning.

Pay/Benefits: there is little variation here. +/- $10k for your salary. +/- $100 for your book fund. These can seem like a big deal now, but should be the least of your reasons to choose a program.


You should focus on academic reputation, morale, and how you would fit when choosing a residency. The rest is just gravy (and can easily change in the ~2 years before you actually start). .
 
Call: Roughly inversely proportional to the size of the program. Calls will be busier and less frequent at larger programs.

Moonlighting: Can change dramatically between when you interview and when you actually start. A nice perk, but one that can be removed with almost no warning.

Pay/Benefits: there is little variation here. +/- $10k for your salary. +/- $100 for your book fund. These can seem like a big deal now, but should be the least of your reasons to choose a program.


You should focus on academic reputation, morale, and how you would fit when choosing a residency. The rest is just gravy (and can easily change in the ~2 years before you actually start). .

Totally agree.

When I started residency we had a lot of internal moonlight opportunities, esp for 4th years and fellows. By the time I was a fellow, there was very little internal moonlighting. This should not be a factor at all.
 
The closest I've seen to a respectable effort was this one:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=899419

You really have to interview at places and do your own comparisons. Things like call and moonlighting can hugely vary. I disagree that call is inversely proportional to the size of the program--it is much more complicated than that. It is more closely proportional to how many hospitals the program has to cover and how many residents are needed for each call.
 
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The closest I've seen to a valiant effort was this one:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=899419

You really have to interview at places and do your own comparisons. Things like call and moonlighting can hugely vary. I disagree that call is inversely proportional to the size of the program--it is much more complicated than that. It is more inversely proportional to how many hospitals the program has to cover and more specifically how many residents are needed for each call.

This part makes me think you either meant directly - not inversely - proportional or you have the worst call system on the planet.

Or both.
 
I started off doing a nice comparison sheet. Instead of putting the actual amounts and numbers, i used a 0-5 rating scale. It worked well at first but found it more cumbersome than simply writing down my immediate feelings of the program. Waiting a day and writing my feelings then.

Gut feeling goes a long way. Even with transitional years. One month extra of floors may be worth it if you don't have to move across the country afterwards, the area is cool or the residents seem happy overall.
 
Closest thing I've encountered is attached. This was floating around on the interview trail last year. Not entirely sure how to interpret this, but make of it what you want. I am unsure of when the data is from, but the average step 1 was 242 so it was at least a few years back.
 

Attachments

  • Radiology Ranking.xls
    109 KB · Views: 459
I doubt that the data on that list is legitimate. There is no aggregate of Step 1 averages for each and every program like that list claims to have (as much as we'd all be interested in seeing them). Not to mention, I do happen to know the Step 1 average for my home radiology program, and it is inconsistent with that list.

In addition, determining 25% of the score based on the program class size? That in itself is kind of ridiculous.
 
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Some of the numbers on that sheet don't make sense either. Why are all 3 Harvard programs listed as having identical NIH funding? They are completely independent entities that don't share funding.
 
I would ignore that .xls spreadsheet. The numbers are not accurate first of all, and there is no way to know of average step 1 scores. I can tell you for my program it was totally off. Also I interviewed at many of those programs a few years ago, perhaps when that list came out, and the correlation of the rank on that list was nothing like the correlation of the program quality that I saw. Also I agree with the above--giving any weight to "class size" is really ridiculous, especially an inversely proportional one! If anything if there are more teachers and less residents that would be a GOOD thing (not a bad thing) for education--just like any other education in life. It would be all about the faculty:resident ratio and how in reality that would affect call (i.e., you can have bigger programs that take MORE call because they cover more hospitals and have more residents on at any one time).
 
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