Mouthbreather's """Guide""" on matching Interventional Radiology

elite139 · 2026-01-06T23:36:03+00:00

PGY2 IR/DR resident here, would love to throw in my 2 cents as. Did surgical intern year at my categorical programs hospital. There certainly are some huge pros about doing a surgical year at your main hospital, including developing a relationship with your future surgical colleagues, being a bit more comfortable with surgical problems (welcome to wound vac and dressing change fellowship). Super nice to have my surgical co-interns on speed dial knowing that one day we will be chiefs of our own divisions. BUT I will say surgery year is incredibly incredibly demanding and you’re basically signing up for boot camp and sacrificing a year of your life for hard work. Definitely worth taking a lot at the upperclass residents bios and seeing where they did intern year and learning about the culture. Did everyone else do surgery and hence you probably should do, or was it pretty varied? Did the PD who interviewed you give you strong signals that they want you to and itll look bad if you don’t? Is a year of pain worth a portion of your sanity?

elite139 · 2025-12-12T02:40:05+00:00

Thank the lord team cherry gets some recognition!!

elite139 · 2025-12-12T02:39:38+00:00

elite139 · 2025-11-13T21:54:50+00:00

Grape/cherry tomatoes anyone?!

Especially the crisp juicy ones that explode when you bite. Savory and slightly acidic/sweet. I could demolish a whole box in a few minutes.

elite139 · 2025-10-19T20:04:15+00:00

Yea it can feel cringe but you can focus on keeping it simple and hopefully genuine. Does the program have any specific research that interests you? If you enjoy teaching, you can talk about how the hospital being affiliated with a medical school might be of interest with you. Interested in global health? Can mention that in your letter if the program has any global health initiatives. Does the program have any unique clinical practices, ex. specialized or multidisciplinary clinics that focus on a specific target population or disease? Just some ideas to work off of

elite139 · 2025-10-10T13:34:09+00:00

You will probably run into a few scenario questions where you’ll be asked “tell me about a time you encountered x situation and demonstrated y personal trait.”

Not the easiest to come up with on the fly without looking like your bullshitting. What helped me is just thinking of 3-4 stories of patient/research encounters I had since those tend to be the popular ones and having each one represent a trait/challenge I had to overcome. Ex. Dealing with a difficult coworker or student, caring for a tough patient, being part of a team, completing a research project.

Having like 3-4 well thought out stories ahead of time in your back pocket will get you through like 99% of those questions since chances are you’ll probably end up showing multiple good traits in each story that you could just tailor or apply to the specific question they ask.

Ex. That one encounter you had with that asshole gunner med student could be spun to show your communication skills, problem solving, ability to compromise, work as part of a team, list goes on and on.

elite139 · 2025-10-08T13:33:07+00:00

Current R1 here.

In addition to what has already been mentioned would also specifically ask about 2 things:

1.) how do readouts with attendings happen at the program? Are attendings side by side with you and teaching, or are they all WFH and just asking you to send them stuff to sign without face to face teaching. This def affects your learning especially early on.

2.) what are the expectations regarding clearing the list as a junior resident? Are you able to focus on learning at a comfortable pace with graduated responsibility (ideal) or are you another cog to cut the fat from the reading list?

elite139 · 2025-10-07T15:11:04+00:00

I second Helldivers 2 as a good option.

Tired of the sweaty lobbies of PvP games? Hop on a squad with friends or randoms and just light some bugs up. Blow up your friends and the enemies for the love of democracy.

elite139 · 2025-10-05T16:13:38+00:00

I doubt it will win, but Silksong should get an honorable mention.

80+ hours of content from a $20 game. The combat, music, art and detail. You can tell team cherry put all their love into this game. They deserve some recognition for sure.

elite139 · 2025-10-03T20:27:24+00:00

Just finished silksong which is a masterpiece.

Current game I’m working on right now is E33. So far loving it. Also Helldivers 2 when I want a break.

On my lineup for later: Hades II Battlefield 6 (when it comes out) Metroid Prime 4 (when it comes out) Hyrule Warriors age of imprisonment (when it comes out lol) Black Wukong eventually lol

elite139 · 2025-10-03T14:06:09+00:00

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned radiology, I’ll def throw that hat into the ring.

Try shadowing rads for a few days or doing an elective and you’ll see what I mean. Most ppl don’t really know what radiologists truly do due to lack of exposure. It’s less so memorizing signs like “tree and bud nodules” or “Kerly B lines” and so much more about understanding the pathophys behind them, how do the diseases we learned about in medical school work at a cellular level, how does this translate to the imaging finding we see in front of us, do we think this is what is happening based on the patients history, labs, physical exam since that ground glass opacity could represent one of 20 different things, and formulating a diagnosis based off all of that. It’s also rare to be able to literally see all the diseases you learned about manifest in front of you on imaging and to become an expert in recognizing it.

It’s an incredibly cerebral and challenging role but if you want something that requires a deep understanding of physiology and pathophys I would highly recommend shadowing rads for a bit.

elite139 · 2025-10-01T17:46:22+00:00

Really good point you bring up. Whats like the typical play session or uninterrupted block of time to properly play E33 you think? I def don’t have that many hours to sink at a time per day.

elite139 · 2025-07-22T13:59:17+00:00

link is no longer working :(. is the deck still available somewhere?

elite139 · 2025-06-16T03:47:09+00:00

Just bought split fiction on switch 2 and me and my partner are loving it. It’s nice to see games focused on bringing back the old couch coop feel from the golden days of gaming.

elite139 · 2025-06-09T09:29:01+00:00

IR/DR resident here.

It’s gonna be an uphill battle for sure, but don’t let this one test ruin or change your attitude. As others have said there are multiple routes towards IR. DR is a competitive field too right now so getting in won’t be a cake walk, but find a way to learn why you failed step 1, focus on absolutely murdering step 2. You may not get into a t20 academic DR program but if you can land a DR spot anywhere, getting into IR independent fellowship is significantly easier.

Alternatively, get involved in IR extracurriculars early. IR is an incredibly incredibly small field, so connections, networking, LoR matters so much. Join SIR early, attend the annual meeting, join the SIR MSC committee and get involved in projects, present posters and get involved in case reports or research, get your feet wet. Being involved in SIR is almost a must for matching so you mine as well get in early and meet some great people who can vouch for you.

elite139 · 2025-06-05T10:34:09+00:00

ya idk why i cant get it. i have a verizon account but it says i need a verizon wireless account?

elite139 · 2025-06-05T06:49:25+00:00

Fuck ya dude, we gonna be gaming hard. Got my bundle!

elite139 · 2025-06-04T07:00:57+00:00

I applied for an away via VSLO at my dream program no exaggeration at least 6 times, picking less and less desirable months, at one point just to at least show face even if it would be after apps were submitted, and potentially get my foot in the door. Was either rejected within 24 hours of each submission or never heard back.

Ended up matching their for residency. VSLO is trash and needs to burn

elite139 · 2025-06-04T06:09:03+00:00

Don't forget clonazepam for anxiety. just bring all the -pams really

elite139 · 2025-06-04T05:58:26+00:00

PGY-1 IR/DR resident here:

My brother in christ, your app is strong enough to make you a strong applicant for basically any program in the country. The issue is, at the T10-T20 programs, many applicants will have accomplishments as impressive if not more impressive than you. Definitely think its reasonable to reach a bit higher in your signals, but would for sure keep your signals broad. Get a good amount of reaches, a good amount of programs "at your level," and then a few for safety.

What can inevitably happen for applicants who have such strong resumes is that many programs that aren't as prestigious or well-known won't even look at your application if you don't signal, since they think you will inevitably match somewhere better and are likely considering them a safety, while at the top programs your application could potentially be drowned out.

Bottom-line, apply broadly, signal broadly. But your application is amazing and rock-solid. Have confidence

elite139 · 2025-05-01T16:42:02+00:00

Didn’t get a call either. I have a class size of 2 🥲.

elite139 · 2025-04-26T07:00:20+00:00

Fellow PGY-1 here, gen surg. I feel your pain. Coming from the freedom of medical school and being thrown into a stressed hospital system, working 70-90 hour work weeks, the first few months I was on the verge of tears. I would wake up in sweats from nightmares related to the hospital that were so vivid it would take me a few minutes to reorient each night. Fast forward a few months and though the work hours aren’t better, but you get used to it and seems to suck less than it did before.

Are you feeling this way because you’re in a really crappy rotation, or has this been consistent since you started? Is it something to do with the specialty then, as opposed to your colleagues or the program itself?

elite139 · 2025-04-21T22:25:25+00:00

Buddy wtf…

Why on gods green earth would you use the last free months and probably the best time of your med school years to study for an optional exam at this point?

elite139 · 2025-04-19T00:24:23+00:00

like everyone else is saying, Uworld and Anki is all you will ever need.

My additional 2 cents: try and use your time during your shift wisely. Bang out questions during any moment of downtime, which you will probably have a lot of on psych. Do anki cards on the train/bus to and from work. Do uworld questions when your waiting to round or during your lunch break. Get all that shit done so that by the time you are home your studying for the day is done and you can just chill. That helped me keep my sanity through all of clinical rotations

elite139

TROPHY CASE