Future Radiologist-Hopefully :)

[krachenfels89]

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Hello, I'm entering college this upcoming fall and I intend to become a radiologist (not yet sure which specialty). I was wondering is there anything specific I should do now? Or is it in simple terms: Go to college and earn your BA in anything, apply to any med school, and specialize post med school, and then residency.
I'm not too sure on the specifics of the process and I'm interested to know if your undergrad college (as far as what they offer), your major, and your med school choice (again, as far as what they offer) matter when becoming a radiologist (gpa and extra currics aside).

-Thank you very much and any advice is appreciated (related or not)

 

[hans19]

The latter. The only 'college' that matters to a radiologist is the American College of Radiology...

 

[IHaveGas]

I'm going through the same exact thing. Some more insite and information to some of those questions would be extremely helpful.

 

[krachenfels89]

so the specifics of becoming a radiologist are adressed in med school?

 

[DHMO]

so the specifics of becoming a radiologist are adressed in med school?

Yeah, at this point don't worry about what you should be doing to get a radiology residency. The liklihood that you'll change your mind about wanting to go to med school and the liklihood that you'll change your mind about wanting radiology are both very high, so don't narrow your vision too much. I doubt that what you do in college holds much weight for your application to radiology residency. The exception would be research/publication relating to radiology. You may want to consider contacting someone in the radiology dept at a nearby medical school or academic hospital and trying to get involved with a research project. The research experience will help your medical school application, and if 7 years later, you still want to do a radiology, any publications or presentations that resulted from your work would look good on your CV.

 

[krachenfels89]

Thank you very much for your advice, and realistic advice at that. I know the chances are high that i will change my mind, but i have heard this in the past and rarely has it stopped me(but nothing as serious as this). So i figure since there is a high chance of deterrence due to workload, etc, i might as well start now and get a head start on this to make it as easy as it possibly can be, and if worst comes to worst get a head start on that career change 🙂 . I have contacted someone through a SUNY school who is currently setting me up for an oppurtunity to shadow a radiologist, and I think it would really help giving me some more insight on the job, and determining whether it is right for me.
I will def look into trying to get involved in some research projects.

-Also can anyone recommend any books that might give me some insight as far as radiology goes or anything related that i might find useful.

 

[MossPoh]

-Also can anyone recommend any books that might give me some insight as far as radiology goes or anything related that i might find useful.

(Coming from a non doc so take it with a grain of salt) Don't worry about it much yet, but if you are dead set on it there are tons of areas you can read about. I am not sure whether these guys will agree but I think reading more along the lines of the technology, how it works, the path to get there are probably more important. You can "read" journal articles and what not till you are blue in the face but you don't have the knowledge base to really learn much of anything. If you are like me you can do what was mentioned earlier...do research in something with your major and throw in some rads to gain perspective. It can be any field....psych, to compsci, to physics, and even economics could have some kind of project applied. Ex. I am an Information Science major doing research involved with PACS and what not...basically medical informatics. I am reading journal articles on everything from the restructuring of radiology programs, to new computer programs for teaching, to basic organizational info, to usability studies involving various software programs.....will I wind up in rads? Who frickin knows...but at least I am gaining exposure and learning about unique things. It is fun to start applying stuff you learn in classes to your research....mind numbing tests like task anaylsis become somewhat interesting when it is involved with something you like.

 

[cliffhanger]

Agree with the above post re: not narrowing your vision too much. In fact, college is the opportunity to do the exact opposite... try out subjects and fields you never considered or don't know much about (i.e. philosophy, sociology, landscape architecture, ball-room dancing, etc). Get involved in organizations of utmost interest to you. If you want to do the best for yourself (in preparation for med school)... open as many doors as possible without closing any doors to the med school path. Mistakes that would tend to close doors to med school:

1. Getting bad grades
2. Getting poor MCAT score
3. Commiting a felony
4. Getting bad grades

Shadowing physicians is a very good idea and so is research (if it interests you). Good luck!

 

[krachenfels89]

Thanks for your advice, also how does the path to becoming a radiologist work exactly. In medical school, do you specialize in that area, or everyone learns the same thing in med school, and you specialize during residency?