Senior (PGY-5) RadOnc resident here, found this thread through the new "Similar Threads" feature on SDN.
The posts from my colleagues here are spot-on, so I won't be a broken record, other than to say - if you're interested in the field, but can see yourself doing anything else, you should do something else. The only people who should be entering this field in 2020 and beyond are the ones who feel like it's seared into their soul that they need to be a Radiation Oncologist and they're willing to pursue that path at the cost of everything else.
As someone currently in the "getting a job" phase of this career, here is the analogy I use from my personal experience, because I think it helps people understand better:
1) Most people find getting into medical school in the first place a difficult experience (the "pre-med" forums of SDN are huge for a reason). I'm a first-generation college student, who went to an unknown undergrad which produces virtually no medical students. From this background, I was accepted to multiple MD-PhD programs across the country. I found this to be easier than getting a job in Radiation Oncology in 2020.
2) RadOnc used to be one of the most competitive specialties in medicine. I applied and matched during the 2015-2016 cycle, when virtually everyone was AOA with 250+ Step 1 scores and multiple publications. I went on over a dozen interviews and matched at my #1. I found this to be easier than getting a job in Radiation Oncology in 2020.
Obviously, I recognize that COVID put a damper on things this year, but my experience is not unique. One of my colleagues who graduated residency in the past two years told me they essentially cold-called every academic institution on their home coast and in every major city in America, which resulted (to my recollection) in 2-3 interviews. This person was an amazing resident, and ultimately was hired at the place they wanted to be...but that return on investment was low.
Anyway, I'm on SDN all the time, so please - if anyone wants to talk more, my DMs are open.
