Dr. Tanmay

Radiology ST1 (Interventional Track) in West Midlands South

Tell us about your career path so far?

When and why did you become interested in radiology?

Were you set on applying to radiology or did you apply as a backup or to multiple specialties?

How did you find the application process?

Walk us through your portfolio

Did you receive your self-assessed score or did it change when it was verified?

How long did you prepare for the MSRA for?

What resources did you use to prepare for the MSRA?

How did you find the exam on the day?

How much time did you put into preparing for your interview?

What resources did you use to prepare for interview?

How was your interview on the day?

Anything you would have done differently if you applied again?

Tell us about your career path so far?

IMG graduated Med School in 2021; FY2 In North-West 21-22; Straight into ST1

When and why did you become interested in radiology?

FY1 year. Moved from wanting to be a surgeon to realising the compromises you need to make and how much of it could be done with IR. It was the perfect combination of diagnostics that made me fall in love with medicine and working with my hands.

Were you set on applying to radiology or did you apply as a backup or to multiple specialties?

Set on radiology. No Back up

How did you find the application process?

Stressful to say the least! Quite often disproportionately difficult. IMGs are definitely at a slight disadvantage in the SJT section of the MSRA since the processing systems that have been imbibed in med school are significantly different. So I do think it is crucial for IMGs to focus on the clinical section to compensate.

Walk us through your portfolio

Please note: updated portfolio requirements in the 2022-2023 application year mean that the points discussed in these case studies are out-of-date, however you might pick up some useful tips to get you some more points

At the end of the day, it is a tick box exercise. Get the ball rolling on difficult parts early- publications and awards. I was not at all keen on giving MRCS just to get an extra point and I compensated that by applying and winning an undergrad award albeit it landed me only 1 point bringing my total to 9/10. You just need to find the sweet spot of efforts to rewards ratio for your portfolio

Did you receive your self-assessed score or did it change when it was verified?

No discrepencies

How long did you prepare for the MSRA for?

1 hour a day for 2.5 months

What resources did you use to prepare for the MSRA?

Passmedicine, MCQBank and Oxford handbook for SJT

How did you find the exam on the day?

SJT was very weird. Even the clinical section was weird in the sense that the questions were too short to a fault. No setting for clinical scenarios was given which would change your answer completely.

How much time did you put into preparing for your interview?

2 weeks

What resources did you use to prepare for interview?

RadCast and Youtube

How was your interview on the day?

Went by in a heart beat. Prep does play a role but you do tend to go on autopilot.

Did you get a job where you wanted?

I got my top choice of programme in interventional radiology!

Anything you would have done differently if you applied again?

At the end of the day what matters is you getting a place in such a competitive field. I would not want to go through the process again, especially because I don't know if I would come out with the same outcome again. There are just so many factors that are "luck" based and it's enough to have to go through them once I guess lol.

Dr. Craig

GetIntoRadiology