Aunt Minnie

[Thebeyonder]

I really dont like the forums.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Cowboy DO]

I agree, but only becuase it is hard to use.

the content there though is great.

 

[Thebeyonder]

I would really like to build up this forum. There are a few regulars, hopefully we will continually get more people to post here and give some good info.

 

[durban]

There is a tremendous amount of very useful information on AM posted by some very smart and knowledgable people. However, it seems to be about the same 20-30 or so people posting all the time, and they are all extreme gunners applying to "top" programs, about whose "topness" qualifications they continually obsess. There also tends to be a lot of very snotty and cliquish commentary from people you wouldn't want to be around. It gives a very skewed picture of applicant pool. So yes, I agree it would be nice to build up this forum.

 

[Bevo]

found some of the info there helpful, but a place where someone like me who is just aiming to get a spot as a fmg

 

[bosky]

I write frequently on both (under different names). Auntminnie typically plays out as a game between gunners, but it is also like science in that if you ask good questions you may get informative answers. This site is definitely more benign, but if you write about smaller programs people will answer - most of those people that are in similar situations just observe AM normally.

If you are a 3rd year now, I would pay particular attention to AM in the next 6-8 weeks as people have already turned in their rank lists and will match soon - the egotism and posturing will be less for a bit until everyone graduates. Then the next group of smacktalkers will start...

 

[siamesekat]

I totally agree.....AM mostly consists of arrogant little weenies who somehow need to justify their superiority complex by one uping one another. It's rather a skewed population of uber gunners and can make one feel rather small if you are an average (aka normal) person applying.

I actually find AM rather entertaining as the gunners go after one another. The only really useful aspect of AM is exactly as the previous poster stated. Also, if you're worried about getting an interview from a particular place it is helpful to know which programs are giving out invites. Other than that I would avoid that awful website......

Hopefully, I'll match this year and I pray that I don't end up at a place where all these gunners on AM will be......

Good luck to all the upcoming applicants.....

 

[BenHoganFan]

I totally agree.....AM mostly consists of arrogant little weenies who somehow need to justify their superiority complex by one uping one another. It's rather a skewed population of uber gunners and can make one feel rather small if you are an average (aka normal) person applying.

I actually find AM rather entertaining as the gunners go after one another. The only really useful aspect of AM is exactly as the previous poster stated. Also, if you're worried about getting an interview from a particular place it is helpful to know which programs are giving out invites. Other than that I would avoid that awful website......

Hopefully, I'll match this year and I pray that I don't end up at a place where all these gunners on AM will be......

Good luck to all the upcoming applicants.....

It is rather scary to read the pompous nature of the some of the applicants on the board. By the volume of the messages you would think we are all like that. I can tell you from attending AFIP and many conferences that most people are not like that. Thankfully!

In my opinion, a lot of the posts are by people trying to intimidate the average applicant from applying. There are higher cutoffs regarding USMLE scores but that will depend on the institution. You may want to personally contact program coordinators to get that information.

Radiology unlike Internal Medicine is "secretive" about the program rankings. Given that there are 180 plus programs it would be nice if there were a rank list similar to how internal medicine does it.

If you aren't good at standardized test; however, look elsewhere. There are the RAPHEX (Physics) and ACR Inservice that is taken every year. There are the ABR Physics, Written and Oral boards.

You need a decent amount of money to buy books. I have spent est. $2500 on books. A PC is a must and a laptop is even better (for ACR learning files, IRAD by Felix Chew).

Overall, this is a self taught specialty and everyone starts out of the gates on 'relatively' equal footing. People's rate of learning differs and most of the details of practice are ironed out through the call.

Many of the first years should be doing call right now, feeling the true pain of the knowledge gap.

If you have the opportunity to moonlight, do so. Not for the sake of the dollar but for the sake of thinking on your own and making the call.

The resident section has a lot of politically charged conversations that I avoid. However, there are some more practical points about testing, academics and career advice.

If this is your field of choice, pursue it. If you're not as competetive, have a back up. It's a fun field and there is a LOT TO LEARN.

 

[Skeptic]

i'm drunk right now, and bored since the party left my house and i have to work tomorrow (yeah MEDICINE!), so i figure i'd kill time while watching the laker game by chiming in on what has become my new hobby (pretty nerdy, no?!).

an example of an AM post is as follows: Hello, my name is RADSKINGDOUCHE. I scored a 570 on step 1, took step 2 and scored so highly they had to change the format completely, am the chief editor of NEJM/JAMA, won three nobel prizes and saved seven third world countries from the brink of genocide. i don't have a lot of other extra-curricular activities. do you think i'll match?

i'll echo the benefits of AM as mentioned before by the wiser fourth years who should be getting drunk right now as they try and forget about match day. but let's face it, radiology is competitive. for a lot of people, it's lifestyle. we all know scores are important, grades are important, research tends to be helpful in such competitive fields, and letters will always be critical. but that's been the story since we were in high school applying for undergrad, then for med school, and now. be yourself. do what you've been doing and trust in yourself. whereever you end up, trust that it's for whatever reason and be happy with it. you're still going to be a radiologist. be realistic about your "competitiveness" and apply to programs that are within reach. we're all gonna be ok cuz deep down, we know what needs to be done.

ok, i'm gonna go read some more maya angelou and try and come back with some more hallmark statements. i think i should close my tab...

 

[f_w]

The medstudent forum on AM has pure entertainment value.

On the residents forum, stay away from the political threads, it is the same 3 person crew hurling the same stale arguments at each other.

The only interesting forum is the 'General Radiology' section. At times there are truly interesting discussions on issues affecting the specialty as a whole. If you are interested to go into the field, it might be worthwhile to browse through some of the stuff there.

 

[Thebeyonder]

Any thoughts on what type of books to buy?
Hopefully I will be a radiology resident in 2008, I have two acr cd's, but wanted to know if there are any anatomy cd's you would recommend? I am interested in learning anatomy for ct and mri, any suggestions. What books do you recommend, brant and helms, squire, or the essentials?
I interviewed and ranked only community programs, b/c I am a less competitive applicant, and the major drawback as many have already said, it that aunt minnie has the ubber applicants. It can be intimidating...

 

[Uncus]

I was surprised to read a perspective in the NEJM which quoted someone from "a popular professional Web log" in an article on teleradiology and outsourcing. I don't know what web sight the author is referring to and it's not cited in the article but it's likely AM. Pretty scary in my opinion; you may want to watch what you type. An interesting article nevertheless.

Volume 354(7), 16 February 2006, pp 662-663

As one U.S. radiologist wrote on a popular professional Web log, "Who needs to pay us $350,000 a year if they can get a cheap Indian radiologist for $25,000 a year?"

 

[siamesekat]

beyonder, yup it sure can be intimidating on AM when you're applying and wondering how the hell can someone like me match into radiology.....but, hopefully I've interviewed at enough places that I'll match this year.....
if you're applying this year, won't you be a rads resident in 2007?....maybe i'm confused...

regarding books, i've heard that brandt and helms is a good basic primer to read up. i think even one program once they found out that we matched there, would send us our own personal copy of brandt and helms so that we could "peruse" it in our "free time" during intern year. well, the thought counts, eh? another good basic book to read i heard is the felson's chest book....

right now, i'm not spending a dime until I know for sure that I'm matched to rads.....argh...the waiting. 17 days until we know we matched!

 

[BenHoganFan]

Any thoughts on what type of books to buy?
Hopefully I will be a radiology resident in 2008, I have two acr cd's, but wanted to know if there are any anatomy cd's you would recommend? I am interested in learning anatomy for ct and mri, any suggestions. What books do you recommend, brant and helms, squire, or the essentials?
I interviewed and ranked only community programs, b/c I am a less competitive applicant, and the major drawback as many have already said, it that aunt minnie has the ubber applicants. It can be intimidating...

http://www.auntminnie.com/index.asp?Sec=sup&sub=res&pag=dis&ItemId=59128

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/3P6VK46QS5HC6/103-8076123-1579029?_encoding=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/18UNBBWXGENXA/103-8076123-1579029

Anatomy is the easier part of radiology. You should look at some radiology atlas like Fleckensten and correlate with Netter or other anatomy atlas. You should know the following as a bare minimum:
=Skull base/cranial nerves, arterial and venous anatomy, cisterns, localization of lobes
=Spinal anatomy
=Tarsals, Carpals, tendinous insertions, neurovascular bundle locations, etc
=Cross sectional anatomy of the chest (vascular, nodes, lobes and divisions)
=Cross sectional anatomy of the liver, vascular structures, ducts

If you have the motivation take the Physics boards after your first year and then take Writtens the following year. You'll have more time for the oral boards to prepare (1 year versus 6 months). "Protected study time" varies by program.

One of the links from amazon has an excellent IR book for vascular anatomy.

Why? I cannot tell you how many times I would see some upper levels not even know the basic stuff. When I read, I had three books open, the text, Netter and Fleckenstein. Look at lots of pictures.

The best approach to reading a book is to look at all of the pictures and captions for an overview, then read the chapter.

As a first year, I had Brant and Helms to read first. Then I read the entire Requisites + the Case review series for that section. Lastly Primer is a good overview to tie things together. Dahnert is for reviewing minutia for written boards.

An Atlas of Differential Diagnosis by Eisenberg is good for looking at a multitude of images and pathology.

The only Requisites to avoid are GI and Pediatrics, for now. The others are excellent. I basically read the books recommended by Aunt Minnie above.

There is a dichotomy amongst the AuntMinnie Minions between Core Curriculm and Requisites. I personally thick the Core curriculum sucks but that is my opinion.

The ACR discs are good for a second year and up, once you've learned a thing or two. You need them all including ISA Mammography. Another excellent CD ROM is Felix Chew's IRAD disc.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0683303821/ref=sr_11_1/103-8076123-1579029?_encoding=UTF8

Lastly, as a resident you can qualify to subscribe to Radiologic Clinics of North America for $100 a year. www.theclinics.com With that subscription you get the back issues online for free (PDF format). Those articles came in handy for call (esp. Emergency Ultrasound, Acute Abdomen, Essential Neuroradiology).

Also do the daily Auntminnie cases and subscribe to daily emails for ACRs Case in Point:

http://caseinpoint.acr.org/

That's all folks. Residency in a nutshell.

 

[BenHoganFan]

regarding books, i've heard that brandt and helms is a good basic primer to read up. i think even one program once they found out that we matched there, would send us our own personal copy of brandt and helms so that we could "peruse" it in our "free time" during intern year. well, the thought counts, eh? another good basic book to read i heard is the felson's chest book....

Felson's Programmed text is a decent book for an Intern.

Chest Roentgenology by Felson, 1974, is excellent.

 

[bigfrank]

I agree, but only becuase it is hard to use.

the content there though is great.

If you love rampant paranoia, then auntminnie is for you!!!

 

[Thebeyonder]

BenHoganFan now that is what I am talking about, that was great information, thanks for your input.
You may potentially save me money and time. That iRad software seems pretty good. I have been looking at the acr skeletal disc now that I am doing a rheumatology rotation, b/c it has some arthritic cases on there.
I hope my residency program allots me plenty of money to buy stuff, b/c I love books and cds.

I said Ill be a rad resident in 08, I meant 07.

 

[BenHoganFan]

BenHoganFan now that is what I am talking about, that was great information, thanks for your input.
You may potentially save me money and time. That iRad software seems pretty good. I have been looking at the acr skeletal disc now that I am doing a rheumatology rotation, b/c it has some arthritic cases on there.
I hope my residency program allots me plenty of money to buy stuff, b/c I love books and cds.

I said Ill be a rad resident in 08, I meant 07.

If you are doing Rheumatology, you need to read "Arthritis in Black and White" by Ann Brower. It should take about a weekend to read. Another thing is Radiologic Clinics of North America had a recent Arthritis Imaging Volume, if you can't get Brower's book.

 

[KinkyWong]

awesome advice benhoganfan. thanks a bunch.

 

[QuothTheRaven]

AM draws the types of people I really don't want to be around for four years. Unfortunately, given the nature of rads today, there will probably be a couple of these clowns in every resident class.

 

[BenHoganFan]

AM draws the types of people I really don't want to be around for four years. Unfortunately, given the nature of rads today, there will probably be a couple of these clowns in every resident class.

If there are 'elitists' like the posters there, they must be closet elitists or I haven't piqued the minds of colleagues regarding this type of mindset. This type of thinking will only cause hate and discontent amongst our counterparts in patient care.