Cardiology

[Hawkeye D.O.]

Hi all, I'm a first year med student at DMU and I was wondering if anyone could give me any insight into Cardiology. How long is the program and where can I find a list of residencies D.O./M.D. in the state of Iowa? Also how competitive is this residency? Where would I have to rank in my class and what board scores would one need to be considered competitive for a spot? Thanks!

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[AJM]

Hey Hawkeye,
There is no residency program just for cardiology. To do cards, you have to do a 3-year Internal Medicine residency, and then a 3-4 year cardiology fellowship. Internal Medicine is a very easy residency program to get into, although the top programs are very competitive. Out of all the fellowships you can do from IM, Cardiology is typically viewed as the hardest one to get into.

I've heard that in applying to fellowships, what you did in med school doesn't matter so much. Its more important to do well in residency and to get good recommendations from your residency program. I've also heard that if you want to do a fellowship from IM, that it helps to do your residency at an academic hospital (although I believe that's debatable).

You should check out FREIDA, which lists info on all the specialties and residency/fellowship programs. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/2997.html