Too late to consider radiology?

[redalert]

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Hello all - I'm an MS4 and still can't make up my mind about IM vs radiology. I didn't really think about radiology as I felt that I would not be happy with the limited patient interaction. However, I've been doing some fMRI research lately and I'm just fascinated with the technology. I enjoyed reading imaging studies but I'd admit I'm still terrible at it. I've not taken any electives in radiology though I plan to take a couple in Aug/Sep which may or may not be too late for letters. Those are p/f electives anyway which I don't think would be helpful. I go to a decent med school and my stats are probably average for radiology: step 1 253, 8/9 honors in 3rd/4th year clerkships so far with one more pending. A few abstracts and presentations in non-radiology fields but no journal publications. What can I do to improve my chances if I do decide to do radiology?

 

[odyssey2]

I think you're pretty competitive already--here's the latest Charting Outcomes from the NRMP last year if you haven't seen it:

https://mk0nrmpcikgb8jxyd19h.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Charting-Outcomes-in-the-Match-2018-Seniors.pdf

I'm just a med student too but I've also heard radiology isn't as reliant upon rads-specific research for their match.

 

[Dave1980]

Get letters of rec from radiologists and do those electives!

Adcoms want to see enthusiasm for the field

 

[Derv]

I think you will be totally fine. My friend decided to switch to radiology 2 weeks before applications were submitted 2 years ago and matched at a great program.

 

[Aurum]

July is not too late to make the switch if you feel strongly about it. If you have letters from other specialties (particularly medicine and /or surgery) you should be able to use these for your radiology application. You will need 1-2 rads letters and the best way to get those is to hop on a quick research project. Contact your home program's PD ASAP to see if you can get the ball rolling on that.

For what it's worth, I switched from another specialty to rads the month before ERAS went out and I matched at a great program. You will be fine!

 

[daffy duck]

Agree with Aurum and above posters. Your app sounds strong and since rads typically asks for 2 letters not from radiology, you should be about to make the transition quite painlessly.

I had two IM LORs, one rads from PD and one rads research. It might help if you get a LOR from your fMRI research advisor if MD or MD/PHD

 

[redalert]

Thank you all for your helpful advice! Will be reaching out to the PD at our school ASAP