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: Does having an anxiety diagnosis affect your ability to becoming a medical physicist?
Comment 2: Do medical physics residents get to defer their loans in residency, or is loan deferment in residency primarily for physicians?
Response 1: Answered here: https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalPhysics/comments/th614e/student_loan_repayment/
Comment 3: Hi! Has anyone else accepted UCLA’s offer for PBM? If so, please message me— trying to get a 2022 cohort group chat going!
Comment 4: What are some jobs that are more peripherally related to medical physics? I finished my master's degree in medical physics in 2018 but haven't gotten a residency because my grades were terrible (C+ on my thesis). I tried to get a technician or assistant position instead but those roles are very rare in the country I live in.
Response 1: What country is that?
Response 2: New Zealand. Unless I'm just terrible at finding them. I'm happy to take suggestions if that's the case.
Comment 5: What are examples of homework problems done in graduate programs? How does the level of difficulty compare with undergraduate physics homework? Is it a lot theoretical work, or is most of it practical?
Response 1: I agree, the homework (when it is assigned) is harder than undergrad and it's pretty focused on med phys practice. One exception I had was the radiation physics class in my program (GT) which was shared with nuc eng students so the HW/exams were more geared towards their material vs MP material, but it was still for the most part relevant to MP (radiation interactions especially). This may be program dependent though.
Response 2: About the same level, I'd say, more practically-oriented problems.
Comment 6: What are the best CAMPEP residencies? Or does the place of your residency really matter?
Response 1: It is hard to define "best" since different people have different career goals. What are you looking to get into (clinical/academic), do you have geographic preferences, are there red flags etc. are all questions that you have to answer for yourself.
Response 2: Do you want A job or THE job? The place of residency doesn't matter if you just want a stable job with good prospects, but it does if you want to work in a big academic center in an attractive location.
Comment 7: UNLV’s DMP program’s accreditation expired in 2021. The program director said they have applied for renewal but that is isn’t 100% certain it’ll be renewed. Should I accept an offer from here, or should I accept an offer from another school whose accreditation won’t expire for a long time?
Response 1: What degree is your other offer for?
Response 2: MS where residency match rate is 98%. Highly respected program and university.
Response 3: Honestly it sounds like the MS would be a great choice then. Any reason why you would want UNLV instead? With the DMP, you have to pay for residency, so I personally think a Master's program with good matching is a better choice.
Response 4: Yeah consensus on this sub seems to be against DMP. Nothing against DMP holders but it seems that the tuition isn't worth. Especially if the other place has near 100% match rate.
Comment 8: A thread about a month ago about rural positions has me wondering - would a residency applicant’s desire to work in a more rural clinic benefit them in any way, all things being equal? I’m finishing up a CAMPEP MS and hope to move back to the rural Midwest area I grew up in whenever a position opens up. It’s the “match program is terrifying” time of year again, though, so the worry of not finding a residency has definitely pushed its way to the front of my brain.
Response 1: Are you talking about residency applications or job applications? For residency I imagine that it doesn't matter much. For employers, like rural clinics who are struggling to attract talent then I assume that your desire to practice in that setting would be a plus in their eyes.
Comment 9: I'm planning to live/work in the UK or maybe Europe in the future, so I'm not sure if anyone can answer my questions under this umbrella.
Response 1: If you love physics like I do, stick with medical physics. The main difference with physics programs as compared to engineering programs is that the focus is more geared toward a ground up, fundamental understanding of how things work, whereas engineering takes a top down approach. This means most engineering programs look at the bigger picture and zoom in, usually skipping over some fundamental understanding you might not need to make things work. This is a bit of an oversimplification, but the point is that the approaches to learning are much different in each field. You will probably feel more at home in Physics.
Response 2: Edit: I know I didn't directly answer your question, but I am willing to bet in the UK at least that Medical Physicists are paid well. I can't speak for engineering however.
Comment 10: How much better, if at all, is Brown’s Master’s program compared to Georgia Tech? I’ve been accepted to both, and while I have not seen my financial aid package for either the deadline to make my decision is approaching. I’ve reached out to both schools and I’m awaiting a response. So, I asked my original question since right now it looks like Brown will be significantly more expensive than GTech. I suppose I forgot to mention that expenses would be a fairly large factor in my decision. With that being said I would take the financial burden if Brown’s program is worth it. Side note: I also have meetings with a professor and current clinical medical physicist to discuss fellowship options.
Response 1: Just FYI GT is modifying their curriculum effective next fall. Notably the summer clinical rotation at Emory is no longer going to be offered. If clinical experience is really important to your expectations of a master's program, definitely keep that in mind. That being said, I don't think that GT is a bad program for doing this. The Emory rotation sounded nice but it was pretty short, and you should be able to arrange a more substantial clinical experience on your own if that's something you're serious about, either through shadowing or doing a clinically oriented thesis. I am currently a master's student in GT's distance learning program, just my 2 cents.
Response 2: Thank you for the info, I did not know about the change occurring with Emory. Could you expand a little more on your personal opinion/experience of the program? If yes, feel free to pm if that would be preferable. Thanks again for the info you’ve already provided!
Response 3: Here was a good thread about GT, albeit about the remote program https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalPhysics/comments/s3ws9b/an_honest_review_gt_medical_physics_program_remote/. We take the same exact classes though so the material is the same. Good info in the comments too.
Comment 11: [deleted]
Response 1: Don’t know how much this can help, but I know of a resident who had an MBA who told me that it didn’t really help him a lot day-to-day but it did kinda help him get promoted to chief resident in his second year.
Comment 12: If you’re board certified or board eligible, do employers care if you have a masters as compared to a PhD? For instance, am I able to stand a good chance of finding employment if I complete the University of Kentucky’s masters level medical physics program and complete a CAMPEP-accredited residency afterwards?
Response 1: UK has a reputation as a good clinical program. But wherever you go as long as you complete a CAMPEP residency you should be pretty good at securing a job.
Response 2: I haven't heard of anyone completing residency struggling to find a job afterwards; most have a job offer in hand >3mo before their residency ends. That being said, some places (academic centers) are hiring for a faculty physicist rather than a staff physicist that is expected to have a PhD and do research on top of clinical duties. Those types of positions are likely not open to MS holders but 1) you would want to do lots of research and work even longer hours anyways and 2) they don't typically make that much more money to compensate imo.
Comment 13: Hello, I had an interview for a PhD program a week an a half ago (Friday March 25th) and haven't heard back from the program. I was told to expect to hear back within about a week and have currently heard nothing. I understand they can be running behind, so my question is: When is it appropriate to reach out to them to see when I could expect a decision (if ever)?
Response 1: [deleted]
Response 2: Again, thank you for the advice. That email was definitely the right move. They specifically thanked me for reaching out and expressing that I'm still interested and offered me admission!
Response 3: Okay, thank you!!!
Original URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalPhysics/comments/twsaqe/training_tuesday_weekly_thread_for_questions/