What is the best path to becoming a radiologist? How long?

[JrayETSU]

I was just curious if there are any accelerated radiology programs available anywhere. What I have heard so far is you have to take 4 years med school, 4 years residency, and then do your fellowship. Hope some of you can point me in the right direction!

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[fun8stuff]

I was just curious if there are any accelerated radiology programs available anywhere. What I have heard so far is you have to take 4 years med school, 4 years residency, and then do your fellowship. Hope some of you can point me in the right direction!

4 years undergrad (or bachelors degree) + 4 years med school + 1 internship year + 4 years radiology residency

+1 year fellowship is optional

 

[Amxcvbcv]

4 years undergrad (or bachelors degree) + 4 years med school + 1 internship year + 4 years radiology residency

+1 year fellowship is optional

The closest thing I know to a shortcut would be either...
A) taking AP classes in high school to accelerate your undergraduate studies.
and/or
B) going to one of the few combined undergraduate/MD programs which are (I think) 6 years in length.

Either way you've still got 5 years of residency to worry about.

Good luck!

Edit: and as an aside, you usually don't technically have to get your BS/BA in undergraduate. Most medical schools just have basic prerequisites that can often be completed in around 75 hours, I think.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Edit: and as an aside, you usually don't technically have to get your BS/BA in undergraduate. Most medical schools just have basic prerequisites that can often be completed in around 75 hours, I think.

How many people do you know who have done this? Exceptions can be made for unique situations but in general this will not work.

 

[Amxcvbcv]

How many people do you know who have done this? Exceptions can be made for unique situations but in general this will not work.

Of course.

I'm just talking about minimum requirements, not those of a competitive applicant.

 

[DocNickRiviera]

The vast majority of medical schools that I know of DO require an undergrad degree.

 

[JrayETSU]

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[Amxcvbcv]

The vast majority of medical schools that I know of DO require an undergrad degree.

Ok, I just did a cursory look at 8 random medical schools - 6 public and 2 private. None of them required a BS/BA although two said it was "highly preferred".

List of medical schools: http://www.aamc.org/students/amcas/participatingschools.htm

I was wrong on one count, though, it seems they do all want at least 90 semester hours with the appropriate pre-medical classes included.

The point still stands, though. There is no substantial shortcut to becoming a radiologist.

 

[Tiger26]

there's a guy in our class who never graduated from college

 

[AZhopeful]

There are several osteopathic schools that do not require actual degrees, just the prereqs. I had a friend in college who would have had to spend five years in undergrad because of some bad scheduling choices, but just got into a DO school in FL and now, in his second year of med school, has no degree.

W/ respect to the OP, going to undergrad just enough to get the prereqs done and then going straight to a non-degree requiring med school seems like a foolhardy plan- you'll have to do some convincing that you are actually that 'well-rounded student' that everyone expects(but no-one truly expects).

 

[marcus pupil]

I heard not getting you bachelors might hurt you when trying to get competitive residencies like radiology because most people have theirs!

 

[unoriginal]

I have often wondered if this much schooling is even needed. I think I could have gotten by with 2 years of undergrad prereqs, 3 years of med school, and 4 years radiology (minus transitional year) for a total of 9 years saving myself 4 years of my life... loss of 4 years of MD income!

I will never use the knowledge I gained from the last 2 years of undergrad (upper level biology/chemistry and crap humanities). 4th year of med school is essentially a waste, especially for people who want to rads, path, anesth, etc. A lot of people take a bunch of easy electives, spend months interviewing, and get very little out of the year except for maybe 1 month of sub-I. Transitional year is a waste for the same reasons. If it weren't for the friends I made during these "wasteful years", I'd be really pissed.

 

[mhsking]

You absolutely do not have to get an BS degree for medical school. All of the programs that I applied to did not require such degrees, and I was excepted into all of them but one and it was a stretch. MCAT scores were just better than average and grades were good. Also didn't hurt me getting into rads residency either.

 

[hans19]

I was just curious if there are any accelerated radiology programs available anywhere. What I have heard so far is you have to take 4 years med school, 4 years residency, and then do your fellowship. Hope some of you can point me in the right direction!

If you are really gung-ho, you can apply to an integrated undergrad/medschool program. I have met a few people from UMKC that finished undergrad + medschool in 6 years. I'm sure there are a few more places that I don't know about.

But really whats the rush? If anything I would have liked to have taken a year off before I started medschool. Once you start med-school its a grind that doesn't really end until you retire.