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.
If after graduating with a masters in an accredited program, are there paths to take to then obtain a PhD in the field?
Of course, you can do it.
I really like research and I’m thinking about pursuing a PhD. Should I do a PhD before residency, or right after? I’m starting my last year in an MS soon. I’m also thinking about an academic career too. Thank you
I personally think it would be easier to do the PhD before residency.
From their personal experience, they worked as a high school teacher for a year before applying for PhD programs. Even though they don't get paid a ton as a high school teacher in an expensive city, getting paid less than a third of what they do now (in an equally expensive city) is not something they're looking forward to. There are some luxuries they've gotten used to such as being able to live far away from work because they can afford gas, being able to get a new phone for more than free, eating more than rice and egg for every meal, and being able to eat out when they're busy. These will be hard to step away from come Fall. If you aren't coming from the same impoverished background as them, you might have certain support systems that can improve your quality of life. If you are like them, being paid enough to not have roommates for a year can make it harder to go back.
This is all based on their personal experiences, but you might relate. PhD students aren't usually given enough to have an acceptable quality of life, especially in expensive areas, so if you feel like you could make it through at this point in your life, they would suggest to do it now. On the other hand, you could do a residency and work for a while in order to save enough money to improve your quality of life during your PhD. The problem with that plan is that the longer you take away from school, the harder it will be to go back.
Thank you for their reply. This was exactly their concern as well, so they’re leaning towards doing the PhD first.
New to the subreddit. Which is tougher to land a residency between imaging and therapy?
They applied for both, just not at the same institutions. They had good knowledge in both and did research in both. They would suggest asking more about which career is the best fit for you because they totally changed their mind after interviewing.
There’s a whole lot more therapy residencies than there are imaging residencies. Also, most of the imaging residencies that they’ve seen on MPRAP prefer PhDs. They think most MPs are interested in therapy physics so those positions are inherently more competitive than therapy positions. It would be cool to see the match stats broken down by subfield.
Just to confirm, they mean “more competitive than imaging”, correct?
Yes sorry, they had one too many margaritas :)
Original URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalPhysics/comments/uwo5eu/training_tuesday_weekly_thread_for_questions/