Prelim Medicine/Surgery or Transitional Year????

[Goodguy]

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This question probably gets asked a lot, but which is better
for Radiology?? (Prelim medicine/Prelim Surgery or Transitional year?)

Does it depend on what fellowship you want to do
afterwards?? INR vs Diagnostic?? Does it depend on the school you want to go to?

From people who have mathched, is it common to find a spot at the same
school you do radiology residency in?

THANKS!!

 

[bente]

Most people will tell you to take the easiest transitional year you can find. These can be almost as competitive as Rads. In general, I'd have to agree. This has been discussed ad nauseum on AuntMinnie.com-just search transitionals.
I think there is some utility in taking a surgical prelim if you are damn sure you want to do IR...but then you could do a VIR pathway anyway. But, just as many folks change their mind during med school about specialty, lots of rads residents vacillate over subspecialty fellowship choice. IR was all the rage, now those matching are probably taking a 2 day break, then agonizing over how to get the best MSK fellowship in 4 yrs...this is the new red-hot trendy fellowship choice.
A surgical prelim may just have you doing scut monkey stuff too much anyways...but there are prgms where you could do tons of procedures, but you'll get that in rads residency anyway. I say go for the TY, and if you really want to, use an elective to do a rotation that lets you poke people with abandon.

 

[doc05]

I've heard some people say that a surg prelim is good if you want to do IR. but being a scutmonkey with minimal operative experience won't really help. Whatever you do learn, it's going to be 4 years between your intern year and fellowship anyway, so you probably won't remember anything useful anyway. TY or prelim medicine at the cushest place you can find sounds like a way smarter option.

 

[BenFelson]

I've heard some people say that a surg prelim is good if you want to do IR. but being a scutmonkey with minimal operative experience won't really help. Whatever you do learn, it's going to be 4 years between your intern year and fellowship anyway, so you probably won't remember anything useful anyway. TY or prelim medicine at the cushest place you can find sounds like a way smarter option.

I did IM but looking back would have learned more doing TY. Surg would be helpful during IR rotations. And if you train in a large school, knowing the other guys in surgical subspecialties sometimes helps when you are on call...