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.
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As far as the user knows, individuals interested in medical physics will need some physics schooling. Medical physicists may work in medicine but they're still physicists, usually specializing in radiation or imaging physics. That's why most grad programs prefer students with a BS in physics, or at least a minor in it. Medical and biology courses are definitely a plus, but they aren't nearly as important as a strong background in mathematics and the physical sciences.
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The user knows of several people that went into medical physics with an engineering BS, and believes it is totally doable. If the user's school has a nuclear engineering program, it would be even better as they will be learning a lot about radiation physics in grad school. An engineering degree in general should be more than sufficient to prepare for the math and physics side of medical physics schooling. The user suggests taking medicine/biology related courses as electives if interested, and maintaining high grades in math and physics courses to qualify for a medical physics program.
Anyone know when UNLV makes decisions for their DMP program?
I already have a master's degree in medical physics but I only got a C+ grade point average so I'm told I'll need some work experience before I can get a registrar position. Since I'm a New Zealand citizen, I've usually only applied for NZ positions. The user's reasoning is that other countries need to extensively search for a local employee who already has citizenship or a visa before considering foreign recruits. Is this reasoning faulty?
Hey can anyone let the user know what a standard wait time is for waiting to hear back after interviewing for a position?
Hello, the user wanted to know about job prospects in the UK. The user read in many articles that the field is saturated but most of them were about the US/CA. How is the job market in EU?
Also, is there anyone who studied at Swansea uni? The user is confused between Surrey and Swansea. The user heard Swansea has better overall stats but the course is a bit heavy. On the other hand, Surrey has classes for like 3 days max in a week so there is time to catch up and take a breath if necessary.
The user was accepted into UChicago, UCLA, and UW Madison for their respective PhD programs. Although the user thinks they know their top choice, they wanted to hear about what others know about these schools. Specifically, the weaknesses at each program/school, overall vibe in the program (e.g. cocky attitudes, easygoing, flexibility, etc.), social scene within the program, and resources that the program/university provides. Any other tips are welcome too since the user is still undecided. Thank you!!
First a disclaimer that the user doesn't have any actual experience with any of these programs and doesn't know anything about UChicago.
Now that that's out of the way, the impression the user got from UCLA was that it seemed to be more research focused and less clinically focused. UW Madison seemed to be the opposite. In an interview at another school with a professor that recently graduated from Wisconsin, the user was informed that Wisconsin has a very competitive, sometimes toxic atmosphere, which is not great.
Despite the clinical mill and competitive attitude, if the user wants to do clinical medical physics, it is suggested to choose Wisconsin over UCLA. Otherwise, the user got good vibes from UCLA and it's believed their clinical program is good too.
Hi! New to the medical physics field. What are some well-known grad schools in this field? The user looked at some online rankings but they seemed inconsistent.
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Would the 5 schools that the user listed be good for both an MS or PhD?
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Is there any online resource that lists match rates out of each school? or only the universities will post them?
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Gotcha, the user has seen stats regarding the percentage of students that continue into residency but not stats of match rate. Thank you for all your help!
On the CAMPEP website, they have a public disclosure tab on the left side. They have reports from 2018-2020 of the residency rates for all the programs which makes it easier to see rather than going to all the individual programs' websites to find the statistics.
https://www.campep.org/PublicDisclosure.asp
Thank you!!
Anyone applied to Univ of Kentucky? Have you heard back?
If the user means post-interview, then no. The user asked on Friday and they said they should hear back early this week but it seems to be taking longer than anticipated.
The user got waitlisted at their top choice and was just looking for some insight. A lot of programs show many more offers than students matriculating, does that mean those schools went through their waitlist as well? Has anyone been waitlisted and willing to share their experience a bit? Thanks
Getting into undergrad, the user was waitlisted at MIT and applying for grad school, the user was waitlisted at UTSA last year. In the user's experience, waitlisting is the worst. It gets your hopes up and there are high odds you won't get picked. From both schools the user has been waitlisted for, they never got a reply that they finally admitted everyone, so if the user just waited without accepting an offer for undergrad, they would've been screwed.
What the user suggests is to wait until the last possible minute to accept any other offers though just in case, maybe even send out an email close to the deadline to the top choice to see if it is likely they'll get in.
Hello, the user made a separate post, but can someone give them some insight to help them choose between UCLA and LSU. The user got accepted into both PhD programs and wants to know what they look like in terms of life-work balance, residency matching, prestige, etc. Thank you
About the programs themselves, the user doesn't have much to add. But the user does know UCLA has a fantastic reputation as a research university, but at the cost of the ridiculous cost of living in LA. The user's partner's sister goes there and has to pay $5,000 a month in rent for a 2-bedroom apartment she shares with 4 other people. The user doesn't doubt that cheaper options can be found, but it is definitely one of the more expensive areas to live.
(The $5,000 a month is split between all 5 of them, so it's $1,000 each. The user realized that is probably unclear in the original wording)
Hello,
The user is currently waiting on decisions for PhD programs in Medical Physics for a few schools and wanted to know some thoughts and facts that they can't locate on these programs.
The only school the user has been accepted to so far is University at Buffalo. It looks like funding is not given the first year, so the user would choose any school with funding over this at this point. Does anyone have any thoughts/opinions on their PhD program? Is it good? Would it be worth paying for the first year even if the user gets into somewhere else that funds them the first year?
The schools the user is waiting for replies on are UMASS Lowell, University of Toledo, Duke, and Wayne State. In the user's interview, they learned that Wayne State requires you to pay the first year, but it is also a great university for clinical medical Physics, although they specialize in Radiation and the user wants to go into imaging.
Does anyone know if University at Toledo, Duke, or UMASS Lowell fund you from the beginning? The user thinks they saw that Duke and UMASS Lowell do, but confirmation is definitely not a problem. The user also wanted to know thoughts on these other schools. Duke is the only school the user knows they would for sure choose over the others, but more specifically they wanted to know about University of Toledo and UMASS Lowell as compared to University at Buffalo.
Hopefully some of you have some insight for the user. Thank you in advance!!!
Have you heard anything from UMass Lowell? The user applied as well and hasn’t gotten any communication since.
The user has heard nothing. No interview or anything. But the user also didn't interview for Buffalo and was accepted in January. (They extended the user's decision timeline because they were so early)
Has anybody heard from Duke graduate program yet? The user applied to MS Medical Physics for early decision and had an interview in February but hasn’t heard back from them yet.
The user heard back on the 15th of March last year, so maybe they send most final decisions around that time. Hopefully the user hears back soon.
Yes, the user heard around a week after their interview in February. The user would check the portal, as that was updated before they got the email.
The user just checked the portal and it still says submitted :(
If it was a no, the user would have heard back by now. The user is guessing they're on the waitlist, and Duke is still waiting on others to accept or decline their offer?
Thanks for your reply, the user just received the decision from them. Apparently they hesitated because of their undergrad courses.
As students and programs can now make their rank list, should the user voluntarily email all the schools they rank telling them that they did so? Are there any cons to doing that or just pros?
The user has gotten 4 emails from program directors saying they will rank them, should the user reply saying they'll rank them as well (when they actually do, of course)? Should the user also send intent emails to directors that haven't sent them their intent?
Personally, the user would skip on the replies. When they say they will rank the user, they've likely already made up their mind on how their rank list is organized, which can include 20+ candidates. So it doesn’t exactly change how the algorithm will shake up, but rather the user's perception of it. The user doesn't see a benefit in replying. If the user likes these programs, they should rank away! If the user is feeling very sus, they should go with their gut.
When the user went through the Match, they actually had several programs tell them they would not respond to any “thank you or intent emails” in order to keep the process as bias-free as possible. All the user needs to worry about is ranking based on their personal preference. That’s how the Match is supposed to work!
Original URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalPhysics/comments/t9fa3k/training_tuesday_weekly_thread_for_questions/