Radiology matching vs. Orthopedic Surgery vs. Cardiology

[zzz1]

Just a curiosity question, is Radiology residency matching more difficult or less difficult than orthopedic surgery and cardiology?

In my recent interactions with many 1st and 2nd year medical students, I met a ton of people who wants to be orthopedic surgeons and some who wants to be cardiologists, but very few that mentioned radiology. Just wondering if this is any indication of the level of difficulty in matching for the residency.

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[DHMO]

Just a curiosity question, is Radiology residency matching more difficult or less difficult than orthopedic surgery and cardiology?

In my recent interactions with many 1st and 2nd year medical students, I met a ton of people who wants to be orthopedic surgeons and some who wants to be cardiologists, but very few that mentioned radiology. Just wondering if this is any indication of the level of difficulty in matching for the residency.

The impression I get is that ortho is signifcantly more competitive than radiology. Cardiology is a fellowship of internal medicine, so you can't really compare the competitiveness of a fellowship position vs. a residency position.

 

[zzz1]

The impression I get is that ortho is signifcantly more competitive than radiology. Cardiology is a fellowship of internal medicine, so you can't really compare the competitiveness of a fellowship position vs. a residency position.

Why is ortho so attractive to so many people early on in med school? I just don't see the allure...

 

[skidmark]

Why is ortho so attractive to so many people early on in med school? I just don't see the allure...

Good question.


Why does everyone in High School want to be marine biologists?

 

[tigershark]

Just a curiosity question, is Radiology residency matching more difficult or less difficult than orthopedic surgery and cardiology?

In my recent interactions with many 1st and 2nd year medical students, I met a ton of people who wants to be orthopedic surgeons and some who wants to be cardiologists, but very few that mentioned radiology. Just wondering if this is any indication of the level of difficulty in matching for the residency.

Most 1st and 2nd years have no idea what radiology is all about and how sweet it is.

 

[cdql]

Why is ortho so attractive to so many people early on in med school? I just don't see the allure...

It's among the highest paid specialties (highest if you do spine), you work with tools all day long, it's surgery, and when most students see an ortho resident, it's a big, burly guy.

I guess all those could add to the "allure" of ortho early on in med school!

 

[lattimer13]

Most 1st and 2nd years have no idea what radiology is all about and how sweet it is.

to each his own.

i could never do it, but i'm glad there are other people out there that can.

 

[karma_bear]

Just a curiosity question, is Radiology residency matching more difficult or less difficult than orthopedic surgery and cardiology?

In my recent interactions with many 1st and 2nd year medical students, I met a ton of people who wants to be orthopedic surgeons and some who wants to be cardiologists, but very few that mentioned radiology. Just wondering if this is any indication of the level of difficulty in matching for the residency.

ortho and radiology are both equally competitive i'd say.

 

[MossPoh]

As being the uninformed naive premed with the radiologist father I can say that ortho interested me for some of the reasons listed above but I also have been a big sports person and have injured myself quite a bit. I have a real facination with especially knee procedures..honestly know idea why and as I proceed through the long road ahead I am keeping every option open since stuff is always different once you experience it.....that being said it is the draw to a lot of the interaction with sports people (not like pro's..even high school players) The funny thing is that the other areas that interest me are still radiology, anesthesiology, ENT, and even FP (for a small town somewhere)......

 

[deuist]

For rads:
PGY-1: 858 U.S. seniors applied for 129 spots. 105 matched.
PGY-2: 858 U.S. seniors applied for 882 spots. 708 matched.

With a 1:1 ratio of spots to applicants, rads is not very competitive.

For ortho:
652 U.S. seniors applied for 615 spots. 551 matched.

For Cardio:
568 U.S. graduates applied for 660 spots. 442 matched.

 

[victor14]

It's among the highest paid specialties (highest if you do spine), you work with tools all day long, it's surgery, and when most students see an ortho resident, it's a big, burly guy.

I guess all those could add to the "allure" of ortho early on in med school!

i dont understand how you work with tools in spine radiology?

 

[UnderDoc]

This link has some nicely compiled information from WashU regarding the match statistics for various specialties. Of course, the information presented is limited to the raw NRMP match data and is not informative as to the relative quality of applicants applying within any given field (ie, it does not account for self-selection). However, based purely on these numbers an approximate hierarchy of relative competitiveness across fields in 2005 would read as follows:

1. Plastic surgery (43% match) >>
2. Dermatology (57%) >>
3. Rad Onc (72%) >
4. Radiology (78%) = Ortho (78%) = Uro (77%) = ER (79%) = ENT (77%) >>
5. Ophtho (88%) = Neurosurg (88%) = Path (88%) = Surg (88%) = Anesthesia (90%) = Psych (91%) >
6. Ob/Gyn (95%) = IM (98%) = FP (98%) = Peds (97%)

Again, this is only a rough categorization based on rather crude statistics, however, with some notable exceptions (for example optho and psych are not realistically in the same tier of competitiveness as far as I can tell) it comes relatively close to most people's estimate of reality.

Interestingly, based on the median salary divided by average weekly work hours posted on the site, the hierarchy would run approximately as follows:
1. Ortho
2. Path
3. Rads
4. Derm = Ophtho
5. Uro = Plastics = Neurosurg = Gen surg
6. Gas = ObGyn = ENT
7. ER
8. Psych
9. IM = FP
10. Peds

Of course, these are only mean figures and don't account for subspecialities (for example interventional cardiologists in the IM category) as well as malpractice costs. Hopefully, there's more behind one's choice of residency than mere dollars and cents, but I think that the breakdown is informative nonetheless.

 

[bigfrank]

I think your second set of numbers is grossly wrong.

 

[hans19]

i dont understand how you work with tools

You work with other ortho docs. j/k...

Theres an [unfair] saying that goes: Ortho residencies take the smartest and turn em into... well....

 

[rs2006]

Hi everyone,

Just for arguement's sake, does anyone have the realtive malpractice costs for the specialties below? Thankks

This link has some nicely compiled information from WashU regarding the match statistics for various specialties. Of course, the information presented is limited to the raw NRMP match data and is not informative as to the relative quality of applicants applying within any given field (ie, it does not account for self-selection). However, based purely on these numbers an approximate hierarchy of relative competitiveness across fields in 2005 would read as follows:

1. Plastic surgery (43% match) >>
2. Dermatology (57%) >>
3. Rad Onc (72%) >
4. Radiology (78%) = Ortho (78%) = Uro (77%) = ER (79%) = ENT (77%) >>
5. Ophtho (88%) = Neurosurg (88%) = Path (88%) = Surg (88%) = Anesthesia (90%) = Psych (91%) >
6. Ob/Gyn (95%) = IM (98%) = FP (98%) = Peds (97%)

Again, this is only a rough categorization based on rather crude statistics, however, with some notable exceptions (for example optho and psych are not realistically in the same tier of competitiveness as far as I can tell) it comes relatively close to most people's estimate of reality.

Interestingly, based on the median salary divided by average weekly work hours posted on the site, the hierarchy would run approximately as follows:
1. Ortho
2. Path
3. Rads
4. Derm = Ophtho
5. Uro = Plastics = Neurosurg = Gen surg
6. Gas = ObGyn = ENT
7. ER
8. Psych
9. IM = FP
10. Peds

Of course, these are only mean figures and don't account for subspecialities (for example interventional cardiologists in the IM category) as well as malpractice costs. Hopefully, there's more behind one's choice of residency than mere dollars and cents, but I think that the breakdown is informative nonetheless.

 

[DW3843]

That WashU site is really good for the raw match numbers and the cheesy paragraph descriptions. However, I think it is amazingly far from accurate regarding the salary ranges. Some of the average salaries listed just don't make much sense to me.

By the way, I have seen several different sources of medical salary comparisons, and there is so much variability that it is impossible to get a true idea of what to really expect. There are just so many variables that all you can hope to do is get a general sense of who makes more and who makes less.