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Harder than BPT, easier than surgical SET, and tightening. Queensland is the only jurisdiction publishing a ratio: 168 eligible applications for 29 first-year places 2. National first-year posts have been flat to falling — 134 in 2022 down to 121 in 2026, New Zealand included 1. PGY3-4 entry is normal; four attempts, then you are out 1.
Who selects you depends on where you are. There is no national match. Every jurisdiction except Victoria advertises accredited posts and you apply to hospitals or networks directly; Victoria's round is run centrally by the College 1. Before applying anywhere you need a College Registration Verification Number, $800, which expires on 31 December regardless of when it was issued 1.
The published numbers. Queensland Health received 168 eligible applications and selected 29 for first-year clinical radiology training 2 — the only hard applicant ratio published anywhere in the country. RANZCR's own table shows first-year accredited positions filled at 134 in 2022, 128 in 2023, 127 in 2024, 122 in 2025 and 121 in 2026, including New Zealand 1; Australia-only is roughly 85–110 a year 3. NSW network applicant counts are not published 3.
The real gates are structural, not the ratio. Two full postgraduate years by commencement, so a PGY2 can apply and start in PGY3 — there is no mandatory SRMO year 1. Attempts are capped at four non-consecutive, and applying to every jurisdiction in one calendar year counts as one 1. And there is no published points rubric: reviewing clinicians have discretion 1, which is why the sub keeps saying being a known quantity in the department matters more than a paper count.
The community read, and it is consistent. Most people get on after one to three attempts, PGY3–5 is the usual band, and a PGY2 application that lands is uncommon but not rare 45. The warning that recurs is against treating radiology as a surgical exit ramp — departments notice, and there are candidates who wanted it first 5.
Counter-argument. Radiology's ratio looks worse than its lived experience because many applicants are casual triers hedging against other programs. The people who do a radiology-relevant audit, sit a surrogate physics or anatomy exam and are known to the department report getting on early 4.
r/ausjdocs — community view, not policy; verbatim, cautionary beside positive where both exist, every quote linked to the comment.
There are sufficiently qualified candidates solely committed to radiology so don't expect to walk on to training.
I got on mid this year as PGY3, after feeling jaded by the culture and lifestyle of surgery. The average PGY for trainees vary wildly because some people find this specialty after years of doing something different.
In QLD, about 170 people applied at the start of this year for 19 rad reg jobs. ?is that competitive, I dunno but it certainly feels like it.
Getting more difficult with time.
Asked 12 times on r/ausjdocs (title-regex count) · encoded by hand from the numbered sources, retrieved 12 Sept 2026; no AI wrote any of it. how the count was made
asked_count = posts in r_ausjdocs_posts.jsonl (19,145 posts, 2022-09-13 to 2026-09-12) whose title matches /(?=.*(radiolog|\brads\b))(?=.*(competitiv|chance|odds|hard|difficult|reject|ratio|popular|easiest|too late|realistic))/i. Quotes are the top-scoring comments inside radiology-competitiveness threads, deliberately pairing a PGY3 who got on early with the warning that the field is no longer a surgical exit ramp.