Situation question

I am a fourth year medical student at an institution in the Midwest. This year I attempted to match into an orthopedic surgery residency program; unfortunately I did not match, and have accepted a preliminary surgery position at another institution in the Midwest (not my home program). I recently completed an elective rotation in diagnostic radiology at my home program and I found it to be a very intriguing profession and a career that I could see myself pursuing in the future.

Being able to identify anatomy and diagnose patients’ problems using radiographic examinations such as x-rays, CT scans, and MRI is an aspect of orthopedics that I enjoyed a lot. Obviously, this is also one of the many duties that diagnostic radiologists perform; especially those that are fellowship trained in musculoskeletal radiology.

I know that diagnostic radiology is a tough residency to obtain, but I feel as though I would be a fairly competitive applicant with a Step 1 score of 227, Step 2 of 223, decent grades (not AOA), and good letters of recommendation (none from radiologists). However, I recently met with a radiologist at my home institution to talk about the competitiveness of my application were I to apply to radiology residency programs in next year’s match. This individual was not very positive about my chances of matching into a diagnostic radiology residency program mostly because it would seem like I was applying to diagnostic radiology as a “backup” and that preference would be given to applicants who had wanted to do radiology for longer.

I was wondering if I could get some opinions on my situation. Would this be the general consensus among diagnostic radiology residency program directors and selection committees, in that, I would be seen as a “less desirable” applicant just because I had previously tried to match into orthopedic surgery, even though, diagnostic radiology is a career that I feel that I would thrive in and enjoy tremendously?

Your opinions are greatly appreciated.