This is the place to ask questions about graduate school, training programs, or general basic career topics. If you are just learning about the field and want to know if it is something you should explore, this thread is probably the correct place for those first few questions on your mind.
Comment 1: Is it badly seen to apply this late for residencies, or does it hurt my chances? I know there's still like 20ish days to do so, but I wonder if I should go ahead is kinda press my last reference to finish the submission, as that's what's holding me back.
Response 1: If the user is applying to programs that participate in the match, then it will not hurt their chances as long as they apply before the deadline. Bonne chance, the user!
Comment 2: I am currently applying to grad schools (around 10 total mainly PhDs and like 3 masters). I would go for a PhD over MS just because I like research and also I wanna teach later on in medical physics. I have a decent GPA (3.7ish) and 2 REUs (not MP related). I don't have any publications though, and I heard that MP grad admissions are pretty competitive. Do you think I have a decent shot, particularly for the PhDs? Or should I expect it to be very difficult to get in anywhere?
Response 1: [deleted]
Response 2: My undergraduate research was in condensed matter physics. I had no publications or medical physics shadowing and got into my preferred PhD program. I really don't think grad programs are that competitive. In the United States, it is common to go straight to PhD instead of masters, so having an MS degree is not a prerequisite.
Response 3: [deleted]
Response 4: Just out of curiosity, do you think that this competitiveness is specific to MP PhD programs? Many students (with research, but no pubs) from my school end up going to great PhD programs in physics and engineering every year. This is why I was a little surprised when I heard about the importance of having pubs for MP PhDs. One thing that I also found a little surprising was that MP PhD programs usually have acceptance rates above 10%, which is actually higher than many pure physics PhD programs. It could be that MP applicants are generally more highly qualified than regular physics PhD applicants.
Response 5: Not impossible but not having any publication might hurt the user, as other applicants probably already have some, and maybe a master's already.
Comment 3: Hi everyone, so I will be starting a dosimetry program next year (know it's not med physics, but there are way more med physics to seek advice from.) Anyway, I'm trying to decide where to do clinicals. For dosimetry, would it be smarter to go to a big cancer hospital, or a smaller proton therapy center? Any tips to help decide? This is the list I'm going through https://portal.jrcertaccreditation.org/accredited-educational-programs/details/e4309639-c3c7-e211-b0f8-00155d24be03
Response 1: u/Dosimetrist1 has great advice. Follow that.
Response 2: To add: Bigger cancer centers such as a larger city hospital system or University are ideal. If the user goes to a smaller community cancer center, they are likely to do a lot of prostate, breast, and lung cases. At a large cancer center, they are going to get a lot of those but also every less common site quite regularly. Having that knowledge and experience is going to go a long way for their career and finding a job in the future wherever they want. Nothing against community clinics. I love working at them. But for education and experience, they just won't get the same quality and volume there.
Comment 4: Currently doing applications. Got my undergrad from LSU and hoping to get into the MS program. I’d like to get into a residency and work in the hospital, so I prefer clinical heavy schools.
Response 1: As I know, good schools for clinical experience would be LSU, Kentucky, University of Toledo, Vanderbilt, Cleveland State University, UPenn, and University of Oklahoma.
Response 2: LSU and Kentucky are good clinic heavy schools. Arizona and Vandy are pretty good clinically too but maybe not like the first two. Not sure about Oklahoma personally. All are good options to advance their career and each one may suit their needs better.
Comment 5: General question… what does it mean when a school lists their medical physics program as having MS and PhD programs, but the department website only mentions PhD application processes? The department stats also list a number of MS degrees awarded in the past few years.
Response 1: If it's anything like UW-Madison, the expectation is that everyone comes in seeking a PhD. You often earn an MS during that time.
Response 2: Just call the physics department and ask. Physics department secretaries/administrators are usually very happy to answer questions and clear things up.
Original URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalPhysics/comments/qv69d0/training_tuesday_weekly_thread_for_questions/