thinking of radiology...

[pianodude]

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I'm a senior year in college, and I'm currently applying to medical school. I know this is really far out (I haven't been heard about my status from any schools yet!), but I'm considering radiology as a possible specialty. I'm currently an electrical engineering major (with a focus on signal processing) and a biology minor. I've done minimal research that is directly related to radiology, but have done some adaptive network programming stuff. Also volunteered at a radiology dept at a county hospital in a metropolitan area. Would any of you have any tips/advice on becoming a radiologist? Here are some more specific questions:

1. What kind of preparation would a competitive candidate to radiology residency programs (and radiologists in general) have? (academics, research in med school, etc.?)
2. Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you were entering medical school or considering specialties like radiology?
3. What do you like and don't like about radiology? What drew you into radiology in the first place? Anything distinct about the 'radiology' culture?
4. Any useful websites / reading?

Feel free to answer any or all of these questions, or expand on other points you feel are relevant.

Thanks so much!

 

[peehdee]

i think most of your questions are probably scattered among the threads on this site. just look around

I'm a senior year in college, and I'm currently applying to medical school. I know this is really far out (I haven't been heard about my status from any schools yet!), but I'm considering radiology as a possible specialty. I'm currently an electrical engineering major (with a focus on signal processing) and a biology minor. I've done minimal research that is directly related to radiology, but have done some adaptive network programming stuff. Also volunteered at a radiology dept at a county hospital in a metropolitan area. Would any of you have any tips/advice on becoming a radiologist? Here are some more specific questions:

1. What kind of preparation would a competitive candidate to radiology residency programs (and radiologists in general) have? (academics, research in med school, etc.?)
2. Looking back, what do you wish you had known when you were entering medical school or considering specialties like radiology?
3. What do you like and don't like about radiology? What drew you into radiology in the first place? Anything distinct about the 'radiology' culture?
4. Any useful websites / reading?

Feel free to answer any or all of these questions, or expand on other points you feel are relevant.

Thanks so much!

 

[ears]

I'm a senior year in college, and I'm currently applying to medical school. I know this is really far out (I haven't been heard about my status from any schools yet!), but I'm considering radiology as a possible specialty.

My first tip would be to focus your efforts for now on getting into med school.

This coming summer, before you start, read Iserson's Getting Into a Residency. It walks you through the process of career planning for medical students. Though it doesn't apply particularly to radiology, after reading it, you'll have a clear idea of where to be focusing your efforts during medical school. Even if you don't end up pursuing radiology (and most people who start med school interested in a particular specialty change their minds before they're done), it'll help you get where you're going.

One radiology-specific tip: it seems like it's very important for an aspiring radiologist to do some related research during medical school. One of the best times to start a project is the summer between first and second years. This can be fairly easy; you just need to find people in the radiology department at whatever med school you end up at. Many faculty members have projects to which med students can contribute. There will probably even be projects that take advantage of your background in signal processing.

Good luck.

 

[CaptainJack02]

I'm a senior year in college, and I'm currently applying to medical school. I know this is really far out (I haven't been heard about my status from any schools yet!), but I'm considering radiology as a possible specialty. I'm currently an electrical engineering major (with a focus on signal processing) and a biology minor. I've done minimal research that is directly related to radiology, but have done some adaptive network programming stuff.

what school are you doing EE at?

dsp/matlab/c are GOD in radiology research. take an image processing class w/ lab(make sure it's lots of matlab programming) i started a project to cancel out kidney movement in order to calculate some paramters determining kidney health. but my image proc/c skills weren't up to snuff and i let it go. you will DEFINITELY be able to find a similar project, just head on over tot he bme dept and seek out imaging folks, or wati til med school and start something between ms1 and 2.
as for matching, people here consistently say AOA, good step 1, good clerkship grades, good LOR's will help you immensely. not having aoa is not the kiss of death, apparently, but it def won't hurt. step 1, aim for >230 i'm told but again scoring less won;'t kill your chances of matchign somewhere. it's just a matter of optimizing as many of those variables as you can. bad lor's might be the kiss of death, tho. as is a bad interview!

i second iserson's as rec. reading.

*edit* as for reading, i recommend http://www.auntminnie.com. it's a rads forum and you'll get lots of cool stories and tips there. enjoy.