RADIOLOGY: ADVICE AND GUIDE TO RESIDENCY

APPLICATION PROCESS
Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine

Peter Chang, FSOM 12

INTRODUCTION

First and foremost, congratulations on picking (or at least considering) the very best specialty in
medicine. If youre interested in a field with the very most cutting edge technology and innovation (e.g.
molecular in vivo imaging, NM spectroscopy, PET/CT, non-contrast MRA, interventional oncology, etc),
countless subspecialty options (from 8-5pm diagnostic to high-volume procedural/interventional to
somewhere in between like mammography), a wide knowledge base (you will, at least in residency,
continue to learn about pathology of every organ system in the body), and little to none mindless
scutwork (e.g. disposition issues, following-up nursing orders, calling social work or consults in general,
hours of rounding, etc), then radiology may be the perfect fit for you.

That being said, at Northwestern there is minimal exposure to radiology as a student, and even if you
manage to find out about the gem-of-a-specialty, there is even less advice about the application
process/etc. The best (and pretty much only) resource that I have had (and that I recommend you all seek
out) is upperclassmen who have just gone through the process themselves. Therefore, to give you guys all
a head start, I thought I would write this (hopefully) useful guide to serve as a starting point in getting a
handle on the complex intricacies you are certain to encounter. Ideally, the goal would be to pass this
document along each year with each class adding/updating sections as necessaryyay go teamwork!

Disclaimer: I am just N=1 sample size of how the process unraveled for me. Therefore, use your own best
judgment in the interpreting any advice herein and feel free to get as many opinions as you can on this
fairly subjective and random process. Another huge disclaimer for online forums (e.g. AuntMinne.com
or SDN): take everything on those websites with a very very large grain of salt. Not only is the
information skewed heavily (towards uber competitive radiology gunners), and just blatantly untrue at
times (people will deliberately post egregiously false information to scare people away from
applying/ranking their own dream program), the advice generally does not apply to NU students. As a
whole, NU has a strong reputation for producing high-caliber students, and given the exact same stats as
some anonymous poster on AM or SDN, an NU applicant will fare much better in terms of
interviews/matching/etc. See below (Competitiveness) for specific details.

4TH YEAR SCHEDULING

The scheduling here at Northwestern generally fairly straightforward. For anybody considering radiology,
it is pretty much recommended that you take the general diagnostic elective in July (block #1). There are
usually only 10-12 spots per block, but if more people than that are interested in radiology that year, just
email Dr. Grant (course director) and he will almost assuredly add you in. Note: do not go through the
registrar as they will reflexively block you from adding (get permission from course director first)! The
goal of this first month ironically is nothing! The rotation (as is all diagnostic radiology rotations for a
medical student) is fairly passive, meaning you spend the morning sitting and staring at a resident who
himself/herself is staring at a computer screen. Awesome. That being said, if you read the Daffner text (or
at least the summary notes *.doc from previous years) and dont do too extremely poorly on the final
exam, you will get an honors (because you are going into radiology)! And the hours are about 8am to 11
or noon, Mon-Fri. Therefore, just relax; work on apps (see below). Maybe even do some research.
Whatever it is, dont worry about this rotation because the real work (well, sorta if you can call it that)
comes next

The goal your second month of radiology is to get a letter of recommendation. In general this is the goal
of fourth-year radiology rotations but it is almost impossible to do so the first month on general because
you spend half a day in each modality rarely seeing the same attending more than several hours the whole
month. Therefore, you need to do a second subspecialty month (which at NU requires a month of the
general elective first). Several popular options for this second month include: body imaging (Dr.
Nikolaidis, as with most of the staff here, is awesome to work with and extremely supportive of students
during the rotation), IR (fellows will be fresh in August e.g. chaotic and difficult for medical students to
get involved, however since it is actually procedural it will be easier to shine than on a more passive
diagnostic rotation), breast imaging (again, good mix of procedures and diagnostic).

Now of course, remember this is radiology and not medicine sub-I or something, so regardless of what
you choose your role as a medical student (for better or worse) is going to be minimal. In general, just try
to strike a balance between showing interest but not getting in the way or being annoying (or coming off
as gunner). The letters of recommendation are probably going to be pretty generic but this is the case for
>90% of all applicants (unless youve had significant research or worked extensively with a radiology
attending before). So my advice here is also to simply relax and not worry excessively about this
component of your application. And try to have as much fun as possible (remember this is radiology and
fourth year in general is awesome)!

Remaining 4th Year Schedule (With Consideration to Interview Season)

This is completely variable, but the general pattern is that Midwest interviews from Nov-Dec whereas the
coasts (East and West) interview Dec-Jan (California, for example is exclusively Jan, sometimes
extending into early Feb). If you scroll down a bit I have copy-pasted the 2011-12 interview season dates
to give yourselves an idea of what to expect.

For interviews, usually the recommendation is about 2-months of solid interviewing (pick based on
geographic distribution of interviews above), with several spot interviews scattered in the remaining
blocks. Therefore, a common scheduling strategy is to take either two months off interviewing, or to
replace one of those months with an extremely laid back elective (e.g. Cochard anatomy). For the
remaining third month, I would recommend also taking some type of easy elective, though the required
core options of ICU or ER arent too bad either (for each of these rotations you only work about 50% of
the days). If you can help it, try to avoid sub-I during interview season.

AWAY ROTATIONS

So I personally did not do any away rotations but for your second (or third) month in radiology you can
consider doing an away rotation. Your goal is pretty similar to above (e.g. second subspecialty month
here)try to act interested, dont come off as annoying or gunner, perhaps get a letter (in order to do so
you must finish the rotation by September, October at the latestsee Application timeline below).
However, because radiology rotations in general are fairly passive, keep in mind that it is usually difficult
to impress anybody in any significant way. This last point is important and the reason why most radiology
applicants will not do an away rotation.

In general, the recommendation is to do an away at an institution which, (1) on paper you would likely be
a stretch and may not get an interview, and (2) you really want to go to that program. In that case you
could, at the very best, completely hit it off with an attending or two and have them go to bat for you
during rank list time, or at the very least, possibly earn yourself a courtesy interview that you would
otherwise not get. Keep in mind certain institutions (e.g. UCSF, Stanford) do not offer courtesy interviews
to everybody that does an away rotation, so do your research first.

If your stats are very good, and you are likely to score an interview anyways (see Competitiveness
below), an away rotation at that institution is probably only going to hurt.

Finally, if you absolutely 100% certain that you need to be in a particular city (e.g. spouse, family, etc)
then an away at that institution can help, if only to give yourself an opportunity to let everybody else at
that program familiarize themselves with your situation.

In general, probably 2-3 students will do away rotations every year. The results are fairly mixed so ask
around. My understanding is that procedural subspecialties like IR or mammography are probably going
to be the easiest to impress. Just remember that radiology is not surgery or anything though, so really
try hard not to come off as overly aggressive or gunner (our IR fellows have actually told me how
annoying past rotators have been). Finally if you think you might do an away, get started on paperwork
ASAP (e.g. January/February/March of the previous year).

APPLICATION/ERAS

First some terminology: ERAS is the online system that you upload all your documents (e.g. CV, letters,
personal statement, etc). NRMP is the online system where you eventually enter your rank list. They are
completely separate systems (you have to register twice) and it is pretty confusing at firstbut dont let it
throw you off.

The ERAS portion of the application process (e.g. compiling all your application materials and clicking
send to all the programs youre interested in) can be submitted beginning September 1 st. Most will
recommend having everything (except maybe letters of recommendationthose are usually the last
things to come in) ready to go by this date. I know it sounds a little OCD (e.g. submitting on the first day
possible) but there are certainly a few programs for which it helps. And after all, you had all those months
of radiology to finish it there is honestly no excuse!

Transcript

This is perhaps one of the most important idiosyncrasies with regards to the way NU does things, so I
want to highlight it first. Our transcripts by default are uploaded into ERAS by AWOME when the Deans
Letter is released (traditionally Nov 1st but I believe it will now be in Oct). In either case however,
applications can be sent out and reviewed beginning Sept 1 st, and if the programs do not have your
transcript at this time they will not evaluate your application! Therefore, what I recommend you all do is
personally email AWOME and ask specifically to have your transcript uploaded before Sept 1 st. An ideal
time is mid-August when your honors in general diagnostic radiology will be the final grade that appears.
This doesnt mean you can quite peace-out on your remaining 4 th-year clerkships just yet since transcripts
will be re-uploaded whenever AWOME does this for the remaining members of your class but its
honestly just another month or two until the freedom and awesomeness that is fourth-year of medical
school arrives!

Research

This is probably another one of those semi-important components of your application in that almost
universally every student will have at least some form of research in radiology (e.g. published case report
or at least some research experiencethis latter category is still something you can enter into ERAS
even without publication). Therefore, while having some research will not necessarily set you apart from
the pack, having none is probably not good. On the flip side, it is not too difficult (especially with all the
time you have during your radiology electives) to find some research project to at least start and have on
your CV. Dr. Reed Omary (interventional oncology) and Dr. Paul Nikolaidis (body imaging) are two
particularly prolific members of our faculty who work extensively with students and may serve as great
starting points if you are interested.

By contrast, having significant amounts of research is extremely beneficial, though admittedly the number
of students that can accomplish this in medical school is limited. See section below on Competitiveness
for more information.

Letters of Recommendation

You will need 3 LORs: 1 radiology, and 2 other specialties. A fourth research letter is fine as well if you
have been particularly prolific in medical school.

As stated above, your radiology LOR will likely be generic. Thats okay. Thats also why, generally, you
should not submit more than 1 radiology LOR. Even if you worked extensively with multiple attendings,
will they really be able to comment on your future ability to read and interpret films? Unlikely. Therefore,
you need 1 radiology LOR but more than that is usually not a good thing.

The 2 other letters can be from any field of medicine you like. The important thing to keep in mind is to
find writers that know you as a person. While the radiology letter may be generic, these two should not
be. The more time youve spend with this person the better, and I emphasize that (at least for one of the
letters) clinical experience with the writer is not necessary. Personally, I asked a writer who Ive worked
closely with during M1-M2 PEX along with various mentoring programs throughout my 4-years at NU.

One final note is that for prelim medicine or prelim surgery programs you will need a chairmans letter
from the respective department. No worries, this is extremely easy. For medicine, this involves filling out
a form online, attaching your M3 evaluations for medicine and primary care, and several weeks later a
recommendation letter is spliced together by Dr. Neely. Very simple, but dont forget to do it.

Personal Statement
From a practical standpoint, admission committees know that students have had minimal exposure to
radiology, so this essay does not need to be particularly in-depth or overly insightful. Just elaborate
briefly on what drew you to radiology. Similar to away rotations, the general advice is that this particular
piece of the puzzle is not hugely important, and so assuming you have average-to-good stats, you would
probably be well-served with a plain vanilla essay.

Some specific situations where an extra line or two is helpful: if youre couples matching or need to be in
a particular geographic location then definitely make this clear; if you have any red flags (e.g. failed
clerkships, something drastic) then you may want to address it here if you think you may not even be
offered an interview/any chance to explain it.

With regards to prelim vs. radiology statementsI used exactly the same one for both and it had
absolutely no impact on interviews offered. However if you feel so inclined feel free to modify the
statement as necessary (it shouldnt take too long anyways).

With regards to different variations of essays for specific schools in geographic locationsfor me
personally this sounds like a lot of work, and through my experience and talking to other students, not
doing so has never really had any impact on receiving interviews. However, I suppose doing so couldnt
hurt, so feel free to do whatever you think is best. Also, one note on California programsliterally
everybody in the country has some sort of remote connection to the state (e.g. my family or girlfriend or
best friends dog is there, I have an uncle or an aunt somewhere, I went to undergraduate nearby) so try
to come up with a good reason as to why you would want to go to that program specifically (e.g. good
radiology informatics program which I could really take advantage of, etc). I will touch on this issue in
Interviews below.

APPLYING TO PROGRAMS

The majority of radiology programs in the country are advanced, meaning that you need to first complete
a preliminary year in either medicine (prelim-med), surgery, (prelim-surg) or transitional (a little bit of
both medicine and surgery). In general, the differences are:

Transitional year: typically the most cush of the options because although you need to do a month
or two of both medicine and surgery, you get up to 6-months of electives (e.g. rotate like a 4 th-year
medical student in things like pathology, anesthesiology, radiology, etc; otherwise known as
vacation). Note that while these are typically the most popular, they are also the most competitive,
and since you are competing with other advanced specialties (dermatology, ophthalmology, etc) you
may need other backup options.
Preliminary medicine: typically a little more hardcore than TYs but most community hospital prelim
medicine programs arent that far behind, especially if there is a lot of elective time. This is a good
option especially in some cities that dont offer a local TY program. Note that prelim medicine at
large academic centers (like Northwestern) you will be treated like a categorical intern (for better or
for worse depending on how much you like medicine e.g. very little vacation/elective time vs.
graduating with the competency of a PGY-2 Northwestern medicine resident).
 Preliminary surgery: there is a small but definite contingent of believers who advocate a year of
surgery if you are certain about doing IR. The opinions in general are fairly mixed but if you loved
surgery and absolutely cant stand rounding for hours, then it could be a good fit. This is especially
true at small community hospitals that will allow interns to spend a significant amount of time in the
OR. Academic programs are a bit more hardcore (e.g. you will be treated as a categorical surgical
resident) but if all else fails and you dont match into a prelim spot, surgery prelims at academic
centers generally go unmatched and you could almost assuredly scramble into one.

In theory it is possible to do a preliminary year in pediatrics, Ob/Gyn (now why would anybody ever
consider that), etc but I will leave it up to you to find more information about which hospitals actually
offer this.

Aside from traditional 4-year advanced programs there are a few categorical positions across the country
(all 5-years included in one big package and thus no need for a prelim year). These are usually pretty rare
but if there is one in an area of the country you are interested in definitely ask around since it could save
you a couple interviews (and extra moving expenses)!

Finally, aside for the traditional 4-year diagnostic programs, there are a handful of special tracks around
the country to consider. In particular, there is a DIRECT IR pathway for those that may be 100% certain
about IR. You need to be certain because typically you will be signing up for 1-2 years of clinical surgical
training (sounds a bit painful to me personally) and in some instances you will be unable to become board
certified in diagnostic radiology (whereas a traditional 4-year diagnostic residency + 1-year IR fellowship
will allow you to do both). The only advantage is that, from my understanding, these programs are
generally less competitive. If interested I know the University of Pennsylvania offers one of the best of
such programs in the country (and we have matched there in the past).

Another special consideration is the research pathways for those so inclined (especially MD/PhDs, etc).
By design some of these programs will build in up to a year of research with significant available grant
funding without extending the length of residency at all. Others add a year or two for training but if you
are 100% certain about pursuing academics then these programs, in general, are also less competitive.
Particularly strong programs that Im aware of include Mallinckrodt (MIR), Penn and UCSD.

Radiology Programs

In general, the goal is to interview at about 10-15 programs (most settle for something like 11-12). In
order to get this many interview invites most students apply to somewhere around 30-50 programs with a
good mix of reach programs, safety programs, and programs somewhere in the middle (see
Competitiveness below for a rough estimate). Of course, there really isnt any harm in applying to
every program you are remotely interested in (what more is a couple hundred extra dollars in comparison
to the hundreds of thousands of dollars youve already invested in your educationhonestly this will be
money well spent) so go ahead and have a relatively low threshold to check a couple of extra boxes on
ERAS.

Preliminary Programs

In general, the goal is to interview at about 5-8 preliminary programs (a little bit on the higher end if you
are looking at TYs, a little bit on the lower end if you are looking are prelim surgery). In order to get this
many interview invites I imagine most people apply anywhere from 10-20 programs. If you have no
geographic restrictions staying in Chicago (to avoid moving a second time between first and second year
of training) is a common strategy. Prelim programs at MacNeal, NorthShore Evanston, Advocate
Lutheran and St. Joseph are all great options that Northwestern students typically take advantage of.
Alternatively, the academic preliminary programs at Northwestern are also very good, especially if you
really want to stay close by, but just realize of course that you will be working harder.

COMPETITIVENESS

So Ill begin this section with a huge disclaimer that program rankings/competitiveness/etc is probably
the most subjective and uber controversial topic in all of medicine (online forum world at least).
Radiology is especially unique in that there are literally no rankings published anywhere (no US World &
News ranking for example), mostly because the majority of radiology programs in the entire country will
provide roughly the same residency training experience (e.g. every hospital has the same
equipment/scanners, PACS units, variety/volume of pathologyremember the entire hospital system is
your referral base, etc). In addition the learning is completely independent and everybody ultimately
matches to great fellowships in whatever field they want (huge excess of spots vs. number of applicants
do not be surprised that small academic or community programs can regularly match top name-brand
fellowships).

Thus, for the sake of trying to keep this discussion relatively unbiased, I will avoid discussing rankings
altogether. What may be useful however is a rough estimate of competitiveness e.g. what interview offer
profiles to expect for a typical Northwestern student. Note that competitiveness and ranking really dont
correlate well because the former is really just determined by how many people want to live in that
particular city (e.g. big cities and California are competitive, smaller cities are less so). Though I certainly
understand that this process is extremely random, this is the best estimate I can put together based on my
experience and in talking to upperclassmen. Typically, to interview and have a reasonable chance to
match:

AOA (top 15% of class): UCSF, Stanford, UCLA, UCSD, MGH, Brigham, Penn

Near-AOA (top 25% of class): UW, MIR, Michigan, Duke, Hopkins, NYU, Columbia, Cornell, BIDMC

Above-average (top 50% of class): Northwestern, U of C, Mayo, any remaining California, any remaining
East Coast

Below-average (bottom 50% of class): any remaining Midwest school

First things first I will reiterate that this is at best a moderately educated guess based on talking to lots
of upperclassmen and analyzing past match results at Northwestern (note to future classes: please update
this list accordingly if results are different). People have also asked me to attach various USMLE step 1
cut-offs for the tiers above (since class rank at Northwestern is 80-90% based on 3 rd-year clinical grades).
However because this information is even less accessible than AOA status or rough class rank, I really
can only speculate. The most reasonable generalization I can make is that because the average step 1
score for radiology is quite high, I would think that for each percentile tier above you need to score at
approximately that percentile in comparison to the national radiology applicant pool (e.g. top 50% of NU
+ national average of radiology which is about 240, top 25% + 250s, bottom 50% + 220-30s). This means
that compared to your peers with a similar class rank going into a different specialty, you need to have a
much higher step score (though I suppose with Northwesterns insanely high board scores its probably
not that much higher).

Now that Ive thoroughly stressed the majority of you out, I want to point out the fact that you do not
need to be a superstar to match at a phenomenal program coming from Northwestern. With the
exception of maybe a dozen or so extremely competitive programs, the majority of students here will
match anywhere else that they want. If you dont believe me, just look at our match list every year
across the board everybody does very well. And to reiterate what I mentioned previously, given the exact
same stats you will likely do much better than your peers on AM or SDN. This is another reason not to
spend too much time worrying about what is posted there.

In addition, you will notice that there is a huge regional biasthat is Chicago is relatively easy for
Northwestern students to match, especially if you are willing to match anywhere in the city. The same is
true for virtually any Midwestern city. By contrast, breaking into the East or West coast is difficult,
especially at the larger academic programs in SF, LA, NY, etc. The West coast is extremely competitive,
and through several long conversations I do believe that you (unfortunately) need to be AOA to have
reasonable chance to match at any of the big California programs (we had one student several years back
that matched to UCLA without being AOA but that is the single exception I have heard about).

To summarize, even an average applicant from NU will likely have great success on the interview trail
(especially if you are interested in staying in the Midwest). Do not let the high-strung, uber type AAA
personalities on online forums detract you from pursuing an awesome career in radiology by making you
think otherwise. And honestly, it really only goes up from there. If you are a decently strong candidate
(top 50% of class) you can honestly choose to go to any region of country you want (stronger programs in
the Midwest vs. slightly less reputable programs on the East or West coastand remember that
reputation is trivial). And if you are AOA, you will likely sweep any interview you want across the
country (the caveat here is that if you have a loaded radiology class e.g. we have 4 AOAs this year, some
of the AOAs may crowd each other out at the few select top institutions; UCSF for example historically
only interviews 2-3 students max a year regardless of how many AOAs we have).

Exceptions to the rules above: if you are MD/PhD you are golden (academic centers like students that will
pursue an academic career, see Interview strategies below). I would guess that you automatically jump
up at least one-tier, maybe more, as we have had MD/PhDs match to UCSF/etc without being AOA. Same
if you took significant time off for research (e.g. Howard Hughes, etc). Also, the generalizations above
are true mostly for academic programs across the country (since that is where most NU students match
to). Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with applying to community programs (as the results
ultimately for finding a job in private practice are exactly the same), and the benefit here is that youve
opened up yourself as a competitive candidate anywhere in the country! Finally, at the expense of
sounding outright sexist, I will point out that being a female actually will help you out (since if you look
around, for one reason or another, males outnumber females by at least 4:1 in most radiology
departments).
Random noteI personally have no experience interviewing in the South and glancing at our old match
lists for some reason we dont typically match down there. If anybody else has experience about this, let
me know.

One final thoughtthe whole point of matching is to find the radiology program that is the best fit for
your priorities in life (e.g. program reputation + geographic ties + family and friends + where you want to
settle downetc). This is five years of your life were talking about, not a game that you win by simply
matching to the highest ranking program possible. I will delay waxing poetic on this point just now (see
below on Rank Order Lists if youre curious) but suffice it to say it is usually very rare for a candidate
to simply rank the most highly reputable programs for the sake of doing so.

INTERVIEWS INVITES/SCHEDULING

Sometime in late September to early October, you will starting getting your first interview invitations
(yay!). Before this happens, a helpful (but somewhat neurotic) tip is to plan your interview season in
advance. By this, I mean logging on to Aunt Minnie (one of the very few instances I recommend doing
this) or checking out the list below to view last years interview dates for the programs you anticipate on
visiting (note the format of this list is that the date interview offers were sent out is listed first, then in
parentheses the actual interview dates themselves are listed). Then, try to group geographic regions during
contiguous blocks of time (e.g. schools A, B, C in Midwest during week 1-2, schools D, E, F, G on East
Coast during weeks 3-4, etc). This way, when the interview invites finally do come in, you can
immediately respond what your top interview date choices are, and hopefully this will minimize excess
traveling. Personally, I was couples matching and attempting to do a million interviews, so this proved to
be a handy trick for me.
ALABAMA
University of South Alabama. Received 9/29. All dates full except 11/11 (11/8-11/10, 12/5-12/9, 1/17-1/19)
Baptist Health System-Birmingham. Received 10/7, Group interviews so only 3 dates (11/11, 12/9, 1/20)
UAB Received 10/12, 10/17 (11/11, 11/14, 11/18, 12/5, 12/9, 12/12, 12/16

ARIZONA
St. Joseph's Hospital - Phoenix. 10/03, 11/8 (11/15, 11/17, 12/06, 12/08, 12/13, 12/15, 12/20, 01/10, 01/12, 01/17, 01/19)
Maricopa Medical Center 10/13 (Nov-Jan Mondays and Thursdays, excluding 11/7-11/11, 12/26-12/30, 1/2-1/6)
University of Arizona 10/17, 10/28 (11/14, 11/18, 12/5, 12/12, 1/9, 1/13, 1/20, 1/23, 1/27) am or pm interviews available

ARKANSAS
University of Arkansas. Received 9/29, 10/20 (11/19, 12/17)

CALIFORNIA
Loma Linda 11/17 (Jan 9,10,17,19)
Kaiser LA 10/25 (Dec 7,8,9, Jan 5, 6 ,11, 12, 13)
Santa Clara Valley 11/7, 11/10 (Nov 15, 16, 17 / Dec 6, 7, 13,14,15)
Santa Barbara Cottage 11/8 (interviewing from 11/25 - 2/10, email to schedule)
UC Davis 11/14 (12/5, 12/12, 1/9, 1/17, 1/23)
UCLA 11/23, 11/28 (1/10, 1/12, 1/17, 1/23, 1/25, 1/30, 2/1)
UCLA-Harbor 11/10, 11/14, 11/15 (Wed/Fri 11/30-2/3, except 12/21, 23, 28, 30)
UCI 11/10 (11/17, 12/13, 12/15, 1/5, 1/10, 1/12, 1/19, 1/24, 1/31, 2/2)
USC 11/14 (12/13,15,20 and 1/5, 12, 19)
Stanford 11/18 (1/3, 4, 13, 17, 18)
Cedars-Sinai 11/22, 11/28 (1/9, 1/16-Full)
UCSF 11/22 (online scheduling system: 1/4, 1/6, 1/11, 1/13, 1/18, 1/19, 1/23, 1/25)
UCSD 12/1 (January 6, 9, 13, 17, 20, 23)

COLORADO
Colorado 10/26, 11/2, 11/4 (full-Nov 12, full-Dec 10, full-Jan 21)
CONNECTICUT
Hartford Hospital. Received 10/04, 10/7 (11/ 8, 9, 15, 16; 12/ 6, 7, 8, 13, 14; 01/ 3, 4, 10, 11)
Yale. Received 10/27 (Dates on website, one early date in November and the rest in December)
Norwalk Hospital. Received 10/27 (11/15,17,29; 12/1,8,13,15,20,22,29; 1/10,12)
Hospital of St. Raphael. Received 10/20 (11/15, 11/17, 11/29, 12/3, 12/16, 1/10, 1/13, 1/17)
Bridgeport Hospital. Received 11/25 (12/5, 12/12, 12/19, 1/5, 1/9, 1/23)

DC
George Washington. Received 11/4( 11/14, 15, 16, 17, 18 , 22; 12/6, 7, 8, 9 ,12, 13,14,15; 1/ 3, 9, 17, 18, 19, 20)
Georgetown. Received 11/7 (Dec 7th, 9th, 14th and 16th, January 4th, 6th, 11th and 13th)

DELAWARE
Christiana Care. Received 10/20 (9am or 11:30am start, 11/8, 10, 15, 17, 29; 12/1, 6, 8, 13, 15; 1/5, 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26, 31)

FLORIDA
Florida Hospital (Orlando). Received 9/13, 9/14, 9/21 (11/20 (full), 12/4 (full), 12/11, 12/18, 1/8, 1/15).
University of Florida, Jacksonville. Received 9/19, 9/21, 9/27(every Wednesday and Thursday starting October 13th.
University of Florida, Gainesville. Received 10/14 (10/31; 11/3,7,10,14,21; 12/5, 8, 12, 15; 1/3, 5, 9, 12)
U of Miami Miller: Notified on 9/22 (11/7, 11/14, and 11/21, 12/5,12/ 12, 12/19).
Mount Sinai Medical Center Miami Beach. Received 10/03 (12/5, 12/8, 12/12, 12/15, 1/5, 1/9, 1/12, 1/16, 1/19, 1/23, 1/26, 1/30)
Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville. Received 10/7, 11/3 (11/17, 11/21, 12/5, 12/8, 12/12)
University of South Florida. Received 11/18 (12/5, 12/9, 1/9, 1/13, 1/17, 1/24, 1/27)

GEORGIA
Emory. Received 10/20, 11/9 Pretty much every date is full now (11/11,15,18, 12/6,9,13,16, 1/10,13,17,20,24,27,31, 2/3)
Medical College of Georgia. Received 10/5, 10/14, 10/18 (Pretty much every Thursday from November to mid January, As of 10/18 only 11/3,
11/10, 12/8 offered)
Memorial University Medical Center. Received 10/10 (11/18, 12/1, 12/2, 1/26, 1/27)

ILLINOIS
Rush University Medical Center. Received 10/04 (11/8, 11/15, 11/22, 11/10, 11/17, 12/6, 12/13)
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. Received 10/19 (11/16, 11/17, 12/2, 12/19, 12/20, 1/10, 1/11)
University of Illinois - Peoria. Received 10/23 - November 22, December 6, 15, 16
St. Francis. Received 10/31 (Date assigned)
Southern Illinois University. Received 11/1 (12/5, 12/6, 12/7, 12/8, 12/9)
Loyola. Received 11/2. (am/pm sessions. 11/9, 11/18, 12/7, 12/14, 1/11, 1/13, 1/18, 1/25)
Northwestern. Received 11/3. (Tuesday 12/13, Thursday 12/15, Thursday 1/5, Tuesday 1/10, Tuesday 1/17, Thursday 1/19 and Tuesday 1/24)
University of Illinois - Chicago. Received 11/7 (1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/9, 1/10, 1/11, 1/12, 1/13)
University of Chicago. Received 11/9 (12/7, 9, 14, 16; 1/4, 6, 11, 13)
Cook (Stroger). Received 12/1 (1/19, 1/20, 1/25, 1/26, 1/27)

INDIANA
Indiana University. Received 9/28, 10/19 (10/28, 11/1, 11/4, 11/8, 11/11, 11/18, 12/13)

IOWA
University of Iowa. Received 10/12. (11/8, 11/10, 12/5, 12/7, 12/12, 12/14, 12/16, 12/19, 1/6, 1/9, 1/11, 1/13)

KANSAS
University of Kansas-Kansas City. Received 9/22 (11/2, 11/9, 12/7, 12/14, 1/4, 1/11, 1/18, 1/25)
University of Kansas-Wichita. Received 10/7.

KENTUCKY
University of Louisville. Received 10/25 (11/10, 11/11. 11/14, 11/15, 11/16, 11/17, 12/5, 12/6, 12/7, 12/8, 12/9, 12/12, 12/13, 12/14, 1/10)
University of Kentucky. Received 11/1 (12/5, 12/6, 12/8, 12/9)

LOUISIANA
Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans. Received 9/21, 10/7, 10/21 (11/9, 11/11+11/12, 11/16, 12/7, 12/9 +12/10, 12/14, 1/4, 1/13+1/14, 1/18)
LSU-New Orleans. Received 10/12, 10/19[ ]11/14, 11/21, 12/5, 12/12, 1/17, 1/30)
LSU-Shreveport. Received 10/7 (11/22, 12/7, 1/4)

MAINE
Maine Medical Center. Received 11/15 (December 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 2011, January 5 & 6, 2012).

MARYLAND
University of Maryland. Received 10/3, 10/14 (at this time, only January dates available; 1/6, 13, 20, 24)
Johns Hopkins. Received 11/2. (11/15, 11/18, 11/21, 12/5, 12/12, 12/16, 1/9)

MASSACHUSETTS
Tufts. Received 10/20. (December 5, 7, 9, 12, and January 4)
UMASS received 10/24 interview dates: 12/6/11, 12/7/11, 12/13/11, 12/14/11, 12/20/11, 12/21/11 1/10/12, 1/11/12, 1/24/12, 1/25/12
St. Vincent Hospital. Received 10/26. (11/30, 12/7, 12/14, 12/21, 1/4, 1/11)
Mt. Auburn -Received 11/3. (call to schedule)
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Received 11/3. (12/16; 1/6, 1/10, 1/13, 1/19, 1/20; AM and PM sessions for all)
Brigham and Womens: Received 12/2 (1/17-20 and 1/24-27)
MGH. Received 11/4, 11/14, 11/16, 11/18, 11/21, 11/22 (12/9, 12; 1/4, 6, 9, 20, 23, 27 - AM and PM sessions - many dates filling up)
Lahey Clinic, Received 11/7 (12/5, 12/6, 12/7, 12/8, 12/9, 12/12, 12/13, 12/14, 12/15, 12/16, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6, 1/9, 1/10, 1/11, 1/12, 1/13)
Boston University. Recieved 11/11/11 (1/3, 1/4, 1/6, 1/10, 1/11, 1/24, 1/25)

MICHIGAN
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Received 9/15, 10/11(11/18, 11/21, 12/9, 12/12, 1/6, 1/9)
Wayne State/Detroit Medical Center. Received 9/19, 9/28 (11/7, 11/14, 11/21, 12/12, 12/20, 1/3, 1/9)
Henry Ford (Categorical). Received 9/22, 9/23 (11/8, 11/10, 11/15, 11/17, 12/6, 12/8, 12/13, 1/17, 1/19, 1/24)
Henry Ford (Advanced) Received 10/3 (12/9, 1/20)
Providence. Received 9/23 (11/2, 11/9, 11/16, 12/7, 12/14, 1/4, 1/11)
Grand Rapids/Michigan State 9/30, 10/4 (10/24, 10/31, 11/11, 11/14, 11/18, 12/5, 12/9, 12/12, 12/16, 12/19, 1/9, 1/13, 1/23, 1/27, 1/30)
William Beaumont Hospital. Received10/3, 11/3 (AM or PM: 11/7 - 11/11, 12/12 - 12/16, 1/3- 1/6) 1/9, 1/10
St. Joseph Mercy Oakland. Received 10/7 (MTRF 12/5-12/15)
Oakwood Hospital. Received 10/12 (MTW in November)

MINNESOTA
Mayo Clinic - Received 10/5, 10/7 (10/24, 10/28, 10/31, 11/4, 11/7, 11/11, 11/14, 11/18, 11/21, 12/5, 12/9, 12/12)
University of Minnesota. Received 10/5, 11/9 (11/4, 11/8, 11/11, 11/18)

MISSISSIPPI
University of Mississippi. Received 10/3 (12/9, 12/16, 1/6, 1/13)

MISSOURI
University of Missouri - Kansas City. Received 9/28, 10/6, 10/11 (10/25, 10/26, 10/28, 11/8, 11/21, 11/22, 1/3)
Wash U - MIR. Received 9/30, 11/1, 11/3 (10/24, 10/28, 11/7, 11/14, 11/16, 11/18, 11/21)
Wash U - MIR research track 9/30, 10/26 (11/11, 12/16)
University of Missouri - Columbia. Received 11/4 (11/15, 11/17, 11/29, 12/6, 12/8, 12/13, 12/15, 1/5, 1/10, 1/12, 1/17, 1/19)
SLU - Received 11/12 (December : 1, 8, 15, January: 5, 12, 19, 25)

NEBRASKA
University of Nebraska Medical Center. Received 9/21, 9/29, 10/10 (10/28, 11/8, 11/11, 11/18, 12/6, 12/9, 12/13, 1/6, 1/13, 1/20)

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Dartmouth. Received 9/27; 10/13 (Date Assigned; additional dates available upon request)

NEW JERSEY
Monmouth Medical Center. Received 10/5 (entire week of 12/12)
Morristown Memorial. Received 10/10, 10/17 (Nov 4, 11, 18; Dec 2, 9, 16; Jan 6, 13, 20, 27)
St. Barnabas: Received 10/25 (Wednesdays starting 11/30)
UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School - Received 11/4 December 9,12,13,15,19,20,21,22,27,28,29 and January
3,4,5,6,10,11,12,13.
UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson - Received 11/1 (11/15, 11/17, 12/6, 12/13)
Newark Beth Israel. Received 11/22 (12/12, 12/13, 1/10, 1/17, 1/24)

NEW MEXICO
University of New Mexico. Received 9/14, 9/22 (any dates are pretty much available. Only interview two people a day I think)

NEW YORK
Albany Medical Center. Received 9/28 (11/18, 12/9, 12/16...January dates available to but will have to email them for those)
Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Jacobi). Received 10/5, 11/4 (Tuesdays and Thursdays starting in mid November)
Albert Einstein (Montefiore). Received 10/13 11/3 (11/2, 9, 16; 12/7, 14; 1/4, 11, 18)
Beth Israel. Received 9/18, 10/19 (November 2, 4, 9, 11, 16, 18. December 7. January 4, 6, 11, 18, 20, 24)
Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Received 9/15 (11/3, 11/8, 11/15, 11/22, 12/8, 12/20, 1/5, 1/10, 1/17, 1/26)
North Shore LIJ. Received 10/13 (12/12, 12/14, 12/19, 12/21, 1/4, 1/9/ 1/11/, 1/18, 1/25)
NYMC Richmond University Staten Island. Received 10/6 (12/7,14,15,18,21,22; 1/4,5,11,12)
University of Rochester. Received 9/22, 9/29, 10/20 (10/31)
Staten Island University Hospital. Received 9/22, 9/28 (10/31, 11/7, 11/14, 11/21, 12/5, 12/12, 12/19, 01/9, 01/16)
Rochester General Received 10/4 (October 25 & 27, November 8, 10, 15, 17, December 6 & 8 January 10 & 12)
SUNY Stony Brook. Received 10/13 (assigned date) ]11/4 (11/18, 12/16, 01/06, 01/20)
Maimonides Medical Center - Received 10/17 (November 15th, 29th, December 6th, 13th, January 10th, 17th, 24th, 31st)
New York Presbyterian - Weill Cornell Medical Center 10/19, 11/15 ("first round" 11/15; 12/3 and 1/6 mentioned, unclear if interviews have been
sent out for those dates yet)
SUNY Downstate- Received 10/25, 11/3 (11/15, 12/2,6,9,16,20, 1/6,10, Call to schedule)
New York Presbyterian-Columbia 10/26, 11/1, 11/21 (11/8, 10, 16, 17)
Westchester Medical Center at NYMC. Received 10/28, 11/15 (12/5,6,7,19,20,21,22,23; 1/3,4,5,6,9,10,12,12,13,17,18,19,20)
Winthrop University. Received 11/2 (12/12,16; 1/13,16,20,23)
SUNY Upstate Medical University - Syracuse. Received 11/3 (AM/PM sessions - 11/15, 11/17, 12/6, 12/8, 12/13, 12/15, 1/3, 1/5, 1/10, 1/12,
1/17, 1/19)
Lenox Hill Hospital - 11/2 (1/11, 1/17)
Mt. Sinai- 11/8 ( December 1, 8,13,15, January 5,10,17), 11/22 (only Jan 12 available)
New York University 11/15 (1/12, 1/13 - assigned)
Harlem Hospital. Received 11/16 (1/10,1/17)

NORTH CAROLINA
Wake Forest. Received 9/20, 09/28, 10/5, 10/13 (10/27, 11/2, 12/7, 12/13)
UNC - Chapel Hill. Received 10/7, 10/20 (11/18, 12/5, 12/9, 12/12, 12/16, 1/6, 1/9, 1/13, 1/20, 1/23, 1/27)
Duke. Received 11/17 (1/4, 1/5 - 2/10 M,T,Th,F except 1/16,1/17)

OHIO
Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Received 9/23, 10/21, 11/29 (11/8, 11/9, 11/15, 11/16, 12/6, 12/7, 12/13, 12/14, 1/11, 1/17, 1/18, 1/24, 1/25)
Case Western MH. Received 9/28 ( 11/7, 11/8, 11/14, 11/15, 11/21, 11/22, 12/5, 12/6, 12/12, 12/13, 1/9, 1/10)
University of Toledo. Received 10/14 (Call or e-mail for dates)
Case Western UH. Received 10/17 (11/12, 11/15, 11/19)
Ohio State University Received 10/24 (11/7,11/8, 11/14. 11/15, 11/21, 12/12, 12/13, 12/19, 01/9, 01/10th
University of Cincinnati. Received 11/03, 11/09 (12/13, 12/16, 12/20, 1/03, 1/10, 1/17, 1/24, 1/31, 2/07)

OKLAHOMA
University of Oklahoma. Received 10/7 (M-F 11/7-1/20, except for: 11/11, 11/23, 11/24, 11/25, 12/23-1/2, and 1/16)

OREGON
OHSU 11/10 (12/5, 12/8, 12/13, 12/16, 1/6, 1/10, 1/19, 1/23)

PENNSYLVANIA
Albert Einstein Medical Center. Received 11/2. (Monday, November 14; Monday, November 21; Monday, December 5; Monday, December 12;
Monday, December 19 and Monday, January 9.)
Hahnemann University Hospital (9/20) October 12, October 14, October 19, October 21, October 26, October 28, November 2, November 4,
November 9, November 11, November 16, November 18, November 23, November 30, December 2, December 7, December 9, December 14,
December 16, December 28, December 30
Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Received 10/7 (11/7,14,21; 12/5,12; 1/4,9,16)
University of Pittsburgh 9/27, 10/4, 10/16 (11/8, 11/10, 11/15, 11/17, 12/6 (full), 12/8 (full), 12/13 (full), 12/15 (full), 1/10, 1/12)
Bryn Mawr Hospital, Received 10/4, 10/13 (11/3, 12/8)
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Received 10/11 (10/31, 11/9, 11/21, 12/5, 12/7, 12/12, 12/14, 1/4)
Temple University Hospital, received 10/14 (11/10, 11/17, 12/1, 1/10, 1/19)
Allegeny Gen. Received 10/21, 11/2. Dates: November 11th, December 12th, December 14th, January 5th, January 6th, January 17th, January
18th, January 23rd, January 24th and January 25th
Thomas Jefferson, 11/01, 11/2, 11/3 Dates: 11/9, 11/16, 12/7, 12/14, and 12/21-no longer offered, presumably full, 1/4, 1/11, 1/18, 1/25)
Pennsylvania Hospital, received 11/7, 11/9 (11/29, 12/6, 12/13, 12/20, 1/3, 1/10, 1/17)

RHODE ISLAND
Brown: Received 10/14 (11/18, 12/9, 12/16, 1/13)

SOUTH CAROLINA
MUSC. Received 9/28 (12/16, 01/06, 01/13, 01/20, 01/27)

TENNESSEE
University of Tennessee - Knoxville. Received 9/9, 10/26 off waitlist (11/3, 11/11, 11/17, 12/9, 12/16, 1/6, 1/13).
University of Tennessee (Methodist) - Memphis. Received 10/14 (10/20,10/25, 11/1, 11/15, 12/13, 1/10, 1/17, 1/24, 1/31)
Baptist Hospital Memphis Received 9/21 ( 10/24/11, 12/5/11, 12/12/11, 1/9/12, 1/16/12, 1/23/12)
Vanderbilt Received 11/8 ( Mon/Fri 11/14-21, 12/5-12, 1/6-30, 2/3)

TEXAS
UT Houston. Received 9/8, 9/16, 10/17 (11/4, 11/11, 11/18, 12/9, 12/16, 1/6, 1/13, 1/20, 1/27)
Texas Tech. Received 9/14, 9/21 (M-F 11/1 - 1/1)
UTMB. Received 9/27, 10/04 (10/20, 10/27, 11/4, 11/7, 11/18, 12/5, 12/8, 12/16, 1/12, 1/19)
Texas A&M - Scott and White Received 10/5 (11/7 - 11/10, 11/12, 11/14-11/17, 11/29, 11/30, 12/1, 12/5-12/8, 12/10, 12/13, 12/14)
Baylor - Houston. Received 10/5 10/10, 10/11, 10/14 (11/6, 11/16, 11/18, 12/2, 12/9, 1/9, 1/11)
Baylor - Dallas. Received 10/10, 10/21 (11/3, 11/10, 11/17, 12/1, 12/8, 12/12, 1/26)
UT - Southwestern. Received 10/13, 10/20 (11/17, 11/21, 12/7, 12/8, 12/12, 12/15, 1/5, 1/9)
UTHSCSA . Received 10/24. Dates: Mon., Nov. 7th, Mon., Nov. 14th, Mon., Dec. 5th, Thurs., Dec. 8th, Mon., Dec. 12th, Mon., Dec. 19th

UTAH
University of Utah. Received 10/13, 10/21 (12/5, 12/9, 12/12, 12/16, 1/6, 1/9, 1/17, 1/20)

VIRGINIA
Virginia Commonwealth. Received 9/16, 9/23, 10/18 (11/10, 11/11, 11/14-11/18, 12/6, 12/12-12/16)
University of Virginia. Received 9/16, 23 (10/10, 12-Full, 17, 21-Full, 24, 26; 11/7-Full, 9-Full, 14, 16, 18, 21, 23; 12/5-Full; 1/2, 4, 6, 9, 11-Full,
13-Full)
Eastern Virginia Medical School Received 10/6 (10/28, 11/14, 11/21)

VERMONT
University of Vermont. Received 9/26 (11/15, 11/16, 11/17, 11/21, 11/22, 12/6, 12/7, 1/10, 1/11)

WASHINGTON
Virginia Mason. Received 10/17, 11/3 (11/14, 11/17, 11/28, 12/1, 12/5, 12/8, 12/12, 12/15, 1/5, 1/9, 1/12, 1/16, 1/19)
University of Washington. Received 10/31, 11/3 (11/18, 12/9, 12/16, 1/6, 1/13, 1/20, 1/27)
Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center 11/8 (Any day until 1/31)

WISCONSIN
Aurora St. Luke's. Received 10/3 , 10/18 (10/3, 10/7, 10/8, 10/10, 10/22 available)
MCW. Received 10/31 ( 12/5, 12/9, 12/12, 12/16 12/19, 1/6, 1/13, 1/20, 1/27, 1/30)
St. Joseph Hospital Wheaton Franciscan. Received 11/3 (Call for interview)
University of Wisconsin 11/4 (Dec 13, 15, 20, Jan 10, 12, 13)

The other potential useful application of this list (and one of the other few good things about online
forums) is that you can stalk to see if a program that youre interested in has already extended interview
invites (the list above is continuously updated by other students as invites roll in). This is useful because
(1) not every program gives you the courtesy of a rejection email, and (2) if your are highly interested in
that program you can send a timely email or phone call requesting to be put on the wait list if anything
opens up (all programs get interview cancelations late in the season). Sometimes this may help but of
course keep in mind that if you didnt make the original cut it may be unlikely that you will make it to
the top of the rank list in February.

One final note on interview invites is the concept of yield-protection. The radiology applicant pool in
general is a collection of overly compulsive and neurotic medical students (I suppose judging by the
length of this text I fall neatly in this category) who will over-apply to virtually every program across the
country. This is problematic because programs must then decide which of the hundreds of applicants are
actually seriously considering their program (vs. just another backup).Therefore, based on historic data,
program directors will deliberately not extend interview offers to overly-qualified applicants who they
feel will not rank their program highly (if a program has only 100 interview slots and 80 of the applicants
are overqualified/not considering the program seriously, that program may not fill all of its slots during
the match). This phenomenon, as crazy as it is seems, is known as yield-protection and is extremely
common especially among competitive NU students. The only take away message here is that if you are
in fact seriously considering a program that you would otherwise be overqualified for (e.g. for family
reasons, etc), you should send an email to the programs PD before interview invites go out.

INTERVIEWS

Once you have made it this far, the last step that may have any significant bearing on your ranking status
is the interview. In general, most programs have several short 15-minute interviews with anywhere from
3-7 faculty members. They are for the most part extremely laid back (you will never be asked a pimp
question or really anything related to medicine in general), so much so in fact that most students wonder
if there is anything interviewers can really gain in such a short and superficial conversation. And for the
most part, I agree with this assessment.
However I do believe there are a couple of strategies that you want to keep in mind to optimize your
chances. First, recognize that if you are interviewing at a big-name academic center, they are looking
predominantly for students that are interested in pursuing academic careers. And so a good rule of thumb
is to have a short 30-sec spiel about why academics is right for you (e.g. teaching, research, etc). Of
course, if you are interviewing at a community program reciting this rehearsed response will probably be
a red-flag so just use your common sense here!

Second is to prepare an answer for the guaranteed interview question, Why our program? In general,
your canned response should include not only personal connections or reasons for wanting to be in the
area (because especially in areas like California, almost everybody has one), but also why that program is
a unique fit for your particular career aspirations. Are you interested in some area of research that the
program is particularly strong in? Do you see yourself in a subspecialty whose department at the
institution is particularly well-renown? Is there a unique educational track (masters degree in education,
etc) that is tied into the program which you would take advantage of? This is where a little bit of
research (scanning department websites) prior to interviewing may pay off in the long run.

Other than this, the general advice for interviews is to simply act yourself/be normal, be nice to
everybody (especially secretaries and program coordinators) and try to have a good time! If youve
been offered an interview chances are that the program is actually interested in recruiting you to their
institution. Therefore, while you are certainly trying to make the best impression possible yourself, do try
to get a sense of how you would personally evaluate that program in return. Take notes (interviews will
start to blend together fast!) and really imagine yourself spending the next 5-years alongside the residents
you meet, the program director (can be a huge asset to residents), the faculty, the city, etc. After all, in a
few short weeks it will be time to make your rank order lists

Post-Interview Contact

As with most things throughout this process, the opinions are variable. Generally some short of thank-you
to around 1-2 (or even all) of your faculty interviews is the consensus. An email is more than sufficient
(some even recommend against hand-written letters). Usually you also want to be relatively expeditious
as even a week later that interviewer may have seen another 50 applicants (and forgotten who you are)!

The trickier part comes when you decide your #1 rank. Most people recommend that you should go ahead
and send an email notifying the program director of your decision. The jury is still out on whether or not
this actually helps in any way (especially at top programs that literally have their pick of the best medical
students across the country) but it really probably couldnt hurt. Note that sending this #1 email to
multiple programs is a bad idea since most PDs at similar-tiered institutions will talk to each other (e.g.
the PDs at MGH and BWH regularly compare notes).

And finally, the trickiest part of them all is when some of you may start to receive phone calls or emails
from programs who themselves have decided to rank you very highly. Take extreme caution when
interpreting these contacts, as the subtle wording is extremely important:

You are ranked to match: if the program has X number of spots, you are in their top X; typically
this means you are guaranteed a spot at that institution. As one can imagine, very few applicants
(usually the same small cohort throughout the country) get this contact.
 Based on historic data, you are ranked to match: if the program typically falls to Y in order to fill X
number of spots, you are in the their top Y; typically this means you are very likely to match at that
institution. This is still a relatively rare form of communication, but competitive NU students can
expect such a contact.
Wed love to have you here. Youre a great fit.: typically this means nothing as there are plenty of
examples each year of this happening only to be disappointed during match day. In other words, if
you are not told explicitly in some way or another that you are ranked to match do not hang your
hat on the encounter. As a note, a good proportion of NU students can expect such forms of contact.

Finally, if you do not hear anything from any program, do not despair! You are in the majority of
candidates applying to radiology; that is, the majority of applicants never hear anything from the program
they ultimately match to. Take a deep breath and just relax (or get a Hulu subscription like me!). After
doing so you can continue to the next step of finalizing your rank order list

RANK ORDER LIST

As stressful as every step until now has been, I will warn you that this final step will probably induce the
most palpations (at least it did for me)! How does one decide which programs are the best fit, and what
does one really look for during interviews, etc? Needless to say, this process is extremely individual and
subjective, but some quantitative things you want to consider are:

Volume and variety of pathology: since it is better to see things in real-life rather than just read about
them in a book. Generally this is not a huge problem as again, your referral base in an entire hospital
system. Midwest programs where the university hospital is either the only (or one of the few) tertiary
referral center for the entire state (e.g. Indiana, Iowa, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, etc) are particularly (and
perhaps unexpectedly) strong in this regard.
Availability of research: this is certainly dependent on future career aspirations, but if youre
interested definitely keep an eye out for this. While the availability of research is generally correlated
to NIH research funding, keep in mind that as a resident you really arent going to be utilizing the
multimillion dollar grants that some radiology research gods manage to pull in. Therefore even
smaller academic programs with relatively modest NIH grant funding can provide excellent research
experiences for residents assuming that you have supportive faculty, ancillary staff (statisticians, etc),
and support from the residency program itself to offer funding/take time off for meetings/etc.
Call schedule: this is slightly controversial. In general smaller class sizes (less than 6) will have more
frequent call whereas larger class sizes (greater than 10) may potentially have better call (depending
on hospital volume, some larger programs will have 2-4 residents on call at a time so it balances out).
Some advocate more hard-core calls (with less attending supervision overnight) to simulate a more
real-life experience which in theory would better prepare a newly minted radiologist for his first year
of private practice. However, others would argue that everybody catches up more or less within a
couple months out in practice and so why put yourself through more misery than necessary? More
cush call schedules may also be beneficial if you are interested in an academic career (where most
overnight calls are all taken by residents not attendings) and instead would like the extra time to
jumpstart your research portfolio.
 Teaching faculty/conferences: again this turns out to be a wash at most institutions as well. Most
hospitals that NU students will interview at all have subspecialty radiologists in virtually every field.
In addition, most radiologist faculty I have met are all universally happy and nice people who are
more than happy to teach during readouts. And finally, most programs will all have some combination
of morning and noon didactic sessions. The quality of these is one of the few things I have found to
actually vary from place to place however the majority of learning (as you recall from medical
school) will fall squarely on the shoulders of the resident independent of lecture quality.
Fellow competition: the biggest complaint I will hear concerning big-name academic programs is that
there are too many fellows that steal all the good cases. I think for the most part this is an unfair
assessment as fellows often will teach and supplement the resident learning experience rather than
detract from it. However, it is definitely something to ask about and be aware of during interviews.
On the flip side, one advantage of a smaller community program with no fellows is that you will
certainly have all the interesting cases to yourself (especially appealing for some of the IR procedural
junkies out there who may log hundreds of procedures by the time they begin fellowship).
Equipment: needless to say, almost every program has the same magnets, CT scanners, PACS units,
dictation software, etc. If a program is overtly missing or lacking in a particular area, this may be a
red flag.

In general, a good barometer of program quality is resident happiness. And since most radiology residents
everywhere are happy, I will assume that the majority of us will turn out okay. That being said, it does
tend to be true that the most reputable programs (e.g. the departments with the most NIH research grant
funding) tend to have a strong combination of all the factors above. The only thing I would caution
against is simply assuming that this is true for whatever reputable name-brand institution you visit. Keep
an open mind, objectively assess each program you visit, and try to avoid online forums as much as
possible (e.g. Program X sucks really doesnt help without reasoning to support the assessment, and
Program Y is malignant because it has a bad call schedule may not even true since there people will lie
to get you not to rank their own dream program). Try to rely on your own assessments, the assessments of
residents actually in the program, or at least the assessments of your peers or other non-anonymous
sources; with this in mind you will realize that there are many programs out there that also provide a
similarly strong and balanced learning experience.

I want to leave you with the final point that at the end of the day, many of you may be torn between
ranking a more reputable program vs. a program that more closely aligns with whatever fit you are
looking for at this point in your life and career. Needless to say, the theme throughout this entire drawn
out guide is to be true to yourself and not let the inner gunner personality take over. Of course, if your
personal goals and career ambitions align perfectly and you are able to land a spot at some prestigious
institution, by all means go for it. Year after year plenty of Northwestern students find this to be the case,
and honestly it is a reflection of the amazing hard work and talent that permeates our medical school. On
the flip side, if you have other personal priorities that take precedence over simply the name of your
residency program then please do not feel bad about your decision. For each student that matches into a
highly reputable extremely competitive residency program, there is another AOA or highly successful
student that chooses to rank a less reputable program higher on their list because of family, geographic
ties, spouse, couples matching, etc. Again, take a look at our historic match lists and you will see that this
is the case.
And regardless of what happens on match day, remember that you when you open your envelope, you
have just started on a journey in what is by any measure the very best specialty within medicine. Its
radiology! Be happy.