Matching Into Rad Onc as MD/PhD

[mstpee]

Hi all! I was hoping to get some advice from the knowledgable people here about the possibilities of matching into Rad Onc as an MD/PhD student from a lower ranked medical school.

1. I've recently been accepted to an MSTP at a lower-ranked school without their own Rad Onc residency program. Do you think this would be a serious problem in trying to match into Rad Onc? Would the fact that I would be an MSTP student allow me to successfully compete for top-tier Rad Onc residency programs despite coming from a lower-ranked school (assuming good step scores and grades)?

2. I know people on these forums mentioned that having research related to Rad Onc helps, but do you think having research not related to rad-onc (I am considering doing my PhD in biophysics), could hurt me in the match?

I would really appreciate your advice on the questions above!

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[Sculpin]

Hi all! I was hoping to get some advice from the knowledgable people here about the possibilities of matching into Rad Onc as an MD/PhD student from a lower ranked medical school.

1. I've recently been accepted to an MSTP at a lower-ranked school without their own Rad Onc residency program. Do you think this would be a serious problem in trying to match into Rad Onc? Would the fact that I would be an MSTP student allow me to successfully compete for top-tier Rad Onc residency programs despite coming from a lower-ranked school (assuming good step scores and grades)?

2. I know people on these forums mentioned that having research related to Rad Onc helps, but do you think having research not related to rad-onc (I am considering doing my PhD in biophysics), could hurt me in the match?

I would really appreciate your advice on the questions above!

I was in a similar situation as you when I was applying MD/PhD. I matched this year into a "top-tier" program, whatever that means these days. Here are some opinions regarding your questions:

1) yes going to a home program without a rad Onc residency is a disadvantage; it doesn't mean you won't match and doesn't exclude getting a great program but will likely mean you have to do more externships than someone who is going to a program with a residency program; it's not a "serious problem" but will require you to do more work 4th year to get letters of recommendation, especially from a well-known person

Note: there are many talented people applying for rad Onc so being mstp is only a marginal boost and will depend more on what you do with it (publications) than just having it; it will not in any way make up for a poor step score or grades

Best advice is to go to the best program you can get into and make use offers strengths when you get there

2) I like to think about applications in terms of probabilities...having rad Onc related research would increase your probability of a good match vs having non-rad Onc related research vs having no research, no one will look at your research and blame you for it not being immediately apparent it is related to the field but you would be asked about it during an interview; I'd pick a project that you're: 1) interested in completing, 2) can be done in a reasonable amount of time, 3) can be even tangentially related to rad Onc

You're just starting out so keep in mind that your interests may change after doing ms1/2 and taking step 1, and doing ms3. Good luck