Do I have a chance?

[pat]

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Hi, I am a third year med student interested in rad onc, and I'm wondering what kind of chances I have of getting a residency spot next year. I know there are many factors and it's hard to tell, but any input would be greatly appreciated.
My step 1 score is 239 and I am in the top 15% of my class (not a top 50 school). I did one summer of basic science research in college, no publications. I have done no reasearch during med school. I can start now, but I am not sure how significant it would be considering I would need to go away to do rotations starting in August. I am wondering if I have any chance of getting in this year without research?
Should I try to spend a month or so doing some research instead of one of my rad onc rotations early next year?
Thanks for any advice. I don't think I would have made it to med school in the first place without SDN.

 

[pikachu]

I would definitely recommend starting some kind of research now. Even if you don't manage to publish before ERAS is submitted, demonstrating interest in research will help your application. It sounds like your boards and GPA are competitive, now SHOW SOME INTEREST IN THE FIELD. shadow an attending (don't wait for the formal rotation), or get going on some research in your off hours. Hopefully your med school has a rad onc department, get to know the attendings there early so you can get good LOR's -

You don't have to spend your entire 4th year doing away rotations either - one at your home institution (if you have a department with a training program) and 1-2 away (depending on whether or not your own medical school has a program) should be sufficient.

Good Luck!

 

[thinksnow]

hey pikachu,
i wanted to f/u on your reply to pat. you said to do a rotation at home if we have a department. my school does have a department of rad onc, for intramural rotations, but there is no residency associated with it. do you (or anyone else) think it is worthwhile to do a full four weeks there, or just fit in a couple of weeks/shadow around my extramural electives?
thanks!

 

[RadOnc10000]

Hi, I am a third year med student interested in rad onc, and I'm wondering what kind of chances I have of getting a residency spot next year. I know there are many factors and it's hard to tell, but any input would be greatly appreciated.

You definitely have a chance. Given the current climate, very few applicants can feel confident that they are guaranteed to match. That doesn't mean it's hopeless by any stretch, and if you're really interested you definitely should apply.

As far as improving your app, I agree that showing interest in the field is key. You need to make sure that your experiences are sufficient for you to convincingly show that you really like the field, and are not just applying because of the "hype" of recent years. The way to do that is to do a couple of rotations and to get involved in research. I generally think that your research doesn't have to be in rad onc or even a cancer-related field, but at your late stage of the game I think it should be. If you have a dept at your school, talk to the chair and/or "research guru" to see how you can get involved. They will surely ask you what you are interested in, so make sure you have something to say (even if vague). While publishing or presenting your research is a big plus, it's better to have an ongoing (unpublished) project that you can write about in your personal statement and talk about in your interviews than to have nothing. It shows a commitment to the field and an academic bent, something most programs value. If it doesn't work out, you could always take a year off and do some more research before applying again. At least you will know more about the field and maybe you could even continue with the project you start now if it looks promising.

Good luck!

 

[stephew]

you can put a work in progress as such on a cv. but it had better be real not something made up to puff the cv.
s

 

[pat]

hey pikachu,
i wanted to f/u on your reply to pat. you said to do a rotation at home if we have a department. my school does have a department of rad onc, for intramural rotations, but there is no residency associated with it. do you (or anyone else) think it is worthwhile to do a full four weeks there, or just fit in a couple of weeks/shadow around my extramural electives?
thanks!

Thinksnow,
My school also has no residency. They told me it is definitely not worth using one of my four week rotations here. From what I've learned, I think you should just do rotations in places with residency spots.

 

[stephew]

Thinksnow,
My school also has no residency. They told me it is definitely not worth using one of my four week rotations here. From what I've learned, I think you should just do rotations in places with residency spots.

while some places may be exceptions to this rule, by and large you at very least would want to do as many weeks at places with progrmas as is possible.

 

[binka_777]

Hi, I am a third year med student interested in rad onc, and I'm wondering what kind of chances I have of getting a residency spot next year. I know there are many factors and it's hard to tell, but any input would be greatly appreciated.
My step 1 score is 239 and I am in the top 15% of my class (not a top 50 school). I did one summer of basic science research in college, no publications. I have done no reasearch during med school. I can start now, but I am not sure how significant it would be considering I would need to go away to do rotations starting in August. I am wondering if I have any chance of getting in this year without research?
Should I try to spend a month or so doing some research instead of one of my rad onc rotations early next year?
Thanks for any advice. I don't think I would have made it to med school in the first place without SDN.

hey
i had a very similar situation (scores etc). i started doing some rad-onc research in the spring of my third yr, nothing published, though i do have a couple of pubs in another field. i did not do any away rotations, in fact i only did one rad-onc rotation, at my home school. i still matched. so i don't know how much you need those away rotations. it's very expensive. you will spend lots and lots of money on interviews, you know. take my advice with a grain of salt though, b/c i didn't match at my first choice. or second, for that matter.

 

[stephew]

i disagree. I think the away rotations can put you on the map if you aren't already or put you in a nicer part of town if you are.

 

[pikachu]

I also think away rotations are important especially if your school does not have a program. However, you might want to shadow in the department if you have some free time and get one of your letters from an attending or the chair at your home institution so it doesn't look like you are completely alien to them. Just a thought.

 

[binka_777]

I also think away rotations are important especially if your school does not have a program. However, you might want to shadow in the department if you have some free time and get one of your letters from an attending or the chair at your home institution so it doesn't look like you are completely alien to them. Just a thought.

you're probably right because even though i matched, i am not at my first choice, as i said. though i am not sure if away rotations would've helped me...

 

[Kannen1979]

Hi, I am a third year med student interested in rad onc, and I'm wondering what kind of chances I have of getting a residency spot next year. I know there are many factors and it's hard to tell, but any input would be greatly appreciated.
My step 1 score is 239 and I am in the top 15% of my class (not a top 50 school). I did one summer of basic science research in college, no publications. I have done no reasearch during med school. I can start now, but I am not sure how significant it would be considering I would need to go away to do rotations starting in August. I am wondering if I have any chance of getting in this year without research?
Should I try to spend a month or so doing some research instead of one of my rad onc rotations early next year?
Thanks for any advice. I don't think I would have made it to med school in the first place without SDN.

I am second year just about to take the step I, I figured out in the past month or so that RadOnc is IT for me, but luckily I have a few publications in physiology already, although I am trying to get involved in Cancer research as soon as I can. My problem is I am an Osteopathic student, and my school really pushes for us all to do Family Med, so they only allow us to do 2 electives in any one field except family med or peds. After talking to some friends who have gone into competitive allopathic programs, I am planning on doing 1 mo in Ped RadOnc at St. Jude (there is no residency there but I figure the experience would be awesome and I hope to get a good LOR) and a month at a program I'm interested in, then a month at NIH to do more reasearch and get a good LOR, and finally an away rotation in med Onc (Somewhere I'm interested in Rad Onc and just plan on saying hi to the Rad Onc guys as much as possible). So I have both advice and a question--my advice is that you might want to look into doing a reseach elective, the fourth years tell me it helps a LOT in competitive fields. My question is should I forego the away at St. Jude for a place where they actually have a program I want to apply?

Good luck to you, Pat!

 

[Ursus Martimus]

So I have both advice and a question--my advice is that you might want to look into doing a reseach elective, the fourth years tell me it helps a LOT in competitive fields. My question is should I forego the away at St. Jude for a place where they actually have a program I want to apply?

First of all best of luck. I may be alone in this but I had attempted to secure an elective at St. Jude's in RadOnc. They are listed as one of the particpiating departments for m4 students. However they are lukewarm to the idea of students in that department and offered me a spot, way too late infortunately, only after they found out that I had 2 other RadOnc electives done. You also have another point about not having a bona fide training program themselves, although many a resident rotates through there. Of course with the chair a DO/PhD you might find an accepting mentor. Resrach is always a good idea. They do have what is known as a Pediatric Oncology education (POE) program that you might be able to do some research through, and sneak over to the Radonc dept for advice and mentoring, without "burning" an elective. The site for the POE is at least worth checking out since you are still early in your training. Iknow I wish I had seen it sooner:

http://www.stjude.org/poe/0,2594,481_2185_3594,00.html