Competitiveness

[bigfootisreal]

How hard is it to get into cards from a mid tier academic program as a US student? Is a chief year required at this point?

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[ewax]

How hard is it to get into cards from a mid tier academic program as a US student? Is a chief year required at this point?

Chief year helps but not required.

Research productivity and strong networking/LORs are the key to matching...everything else is fluff.

 

[cards67]

Not terribly hard. No chief year is necessary. Most AMGs match. Mid-tier program, average scores and app, chances are pretty good of matching somewhere.

 

[bigfootisreal]

Not terribly hard. No chief year is necessary. Most AMGs match. Mid-tier program, average scores and app, chances are pretty good of matching somewhere.

that’s very encouraging!

 

[shouldigomd]

Yep AMG from mid tier program with no red flags has a good shot at matching. To have a good shot at an upper mid / upper tier program you will typically need a good amount of research +/- chief year though.

 

[bigfootisreal]

Yep AMG from mid tier program with no red flags has a good shot at matching. To have a good shot at an upper mid / upper tier program you will typically need a good amount of research +/- chief year though.

Very encouraging! Thank you.

 

[deleted980918]

90-95%

 

[bigfootisreal]

90-95%

Really that high?!

 

[aafisahar]

Really that high?!

If you put in the work (research, good evals, good LORs, networking etc) , ya probably in that range.

 

[Sam1987]

A lot of publication and very strong LORs

 

[anon17anon17]

US MD graduate, above average Step scores, well-published, and completed residency at a mid-tier university program. I failed to match two years in a row. My odds of matching both years based on charting outcomes were extremely high. Unfortunately, there are a lot of qualified applicants and not everyone can become a cardiologist. I am giving up on becoming a cardiologist and will work as an internist. Best of luck to all future applicants!

 

[bigfootisreal]

US MD graduate, above average Step scores, well-published, and completed residency at a mid-tier university program. I failed to match two years in a row. My odds of matching both years based on charting outcomes were extremely high. Unfortunately, there are a lot of qualified applicants and not everyone can become a cardiologist. I am giving up on becoming a cardiologist and will work as an internist. Best of luck to all future applicants!

Sorry to hear this! I hope you’ve had no trouble finding yourself a solid job and setting yourself up for a nice future regardless.

 

[disorder]

US MD graduate, above average Step scores, well-published, and completed residency at a mid-tier university program. I failed to match two years in a row. My odds of matching both years based on charting outcomes were extremely high. Unfortunately, there are a lot of qualified applicants and not everyone can become a cardiologist. I am giving up on becoming a cardiologist and will work as an internist. Best of luck to all future applicants!

That doesn’t seem at all right. There must’ve either been a “red flag” (probably not) versus applying not broadly enough? Not ranking enough programs?

Anyways, best of luck. Must’ve been very tough but I’m sure you’ll come out better on the other side.

 

[anon17anon17]

That doesn’t seem at all right. There must’ve either been a “red flag” (probably not) versus applying not broadly enough? Not ranking enough programs?

Anyways, best of luck. Must’ve been very tough but I’m sure you’ll come out better on the other side.

Two factors that likely contributed to me not matching:
1. I did not have broad support at my home program
2. Weak interviewing skills, particularly the first time applying

These are tough (but valuable) lessons to learn early in my career. I hope to improve in the future so I can be successful in other endeavors.

 

[Poojab19851]

It's alll about Connections!

 

[wjs010]

Do cards fellowships do a lot of procedures? I love gen cards but don’t really care about doing procedures or diagnostic cath.

 

[aafisahar]

Do cards fellowships do a lot of procedures? I love gen cards but don’t really care about doing procedures or diagnostic cath.

you can do as many or as few procedures as you want. most places will want gen cards to do tees at least, other than, if you don't want cath, you don't need to do cath

 

[Test Boy]

you can do as many or as few procedures as you want. most places will want gen cards to do tees at least, other than, if you don't want cath, you don't need to do cat

you can do as many or as few procedures as you want. most places will want gen cards to do tees at least, other than, if you don't want cath, you don't need to do cath

Huh? Don’t you need to do a super fellowship in interventional to do caths?

 

[AussieAg]

you can do as many or as few procedures as you want. most places will want gen cards to do tees at least, other than, if you don't want cath, you don't need to do cath

The poster was asking about fellowship. There are required cath months in any general fellowship.

Huh? Don’t you need to do a super fellowship in interventional to do caths?

Not for purely diagnostic cath, no.

 

[Test Boy]

The poster was asking about fellowship. There are required cath months in any general fellowship.



Not for purely diagnostic cath, no.

Just out of curiosity, how often do general cardiologists do diagnostic caths? I would figure that it’s very rare for a number of reasons.

 

[shouldigomd]

Just out of curiosity, how often do general cardiologists do diagnostic caths? I would figure that it’s very rare for a number of reasons.

It is done in smaller cities that do not have interventionalists. You wont find many generalists doing LHCs in any mid to large sized city.

 

[AussieAg]

Just out of curiosity, how often do general cardiologists do diagnostic caths? I would figure that it’s very rare for a number of reasons.

Not many do, but there are usually a few in each community hospital. It's a win-win for them: getting to do invasive procedures (and getting paid for them) while passing on the complicated part (PCI).

It is done in smaller cities that do not have interventionalists. You wont find many generalists doing LHCs in any mid to large sized city.

My hospital, in a mid-to-large sized city, has an absurd number of interventional cardiologists on staff however there are still 4-5 general cardiologists that do their own caths. That's not including the advanced heart failure folks who do their own RLHCs, Impellas, balloon pumps, cardiomems, etc.

 

[littlecow]

That's not including the advanced heart failure folks who do their own RLHCs, Impellas, balloon pumps, cardiomems, etc.

Wait, can you elaborate on the procedures that HF subspecialists do? I thought these were put in by Interventional Cards / Cardiac Surgeons?

 

[AussieAg]

Wait, can you elaborate on the procedures that HF subspecialists do? I thought these were put in by Interventional Cards / Cardiac Surgeons?

At my institution, some advanced HF folks do RLHC, Impella/IABP placement, TandemHeart placement, ECMO cannulation, EMB, and Cardiomems. These are specifically advanced HF fellowship-trained specialists who have not completed interventional cardiology training.

 

[littlecow]

At my institution, some advanced HF folks do RLHC, Impella/IABP placement, TandemHeart placement, ECMO cannulation, EMB, and Cardiomems. These are specifically advanced HF fellowship-trained specialists who have not completed interventional cardiology training.

Wow very cool! Would love to hear more about this from other people as well