Before starting medical school, I had never really heard of Radiation Oncology. In the past few months, I have been exposed to a little piece of the field through guest lectures that I really enjoyed. However, after reading the through these forums, I feel as if my RadOnc career might be over before it started, and want to ask a few questions about getting more exposure in the field, and about my chances of even getting into a residency program. Firstly, my med school has no home program. Is the best way to learn about the field just to wait until my away rotations 4th year? I know I should get involved in research as soon as I can, but will that give me a good idea of what the specialty involves? Secondly, along the lines of research, I do not have much. I have 1 undergrad experience with nothing to show from it, and then a summer of ortho research with only an abstract accepted and poster presentation at just a statewide conference. With rad onc being such a research heavy profession, I am worried that even if I started now, I would not get enough experience to be competitive in the match. I would prefer not to take a year off to conduct research, but if that is what is takes, then I would do it. To give you an idea of what the rest of my application looks like, My step 1 score was 236, which I know is lower than the average score for rad onc, and as of right now, I am top 25% in my class (no clinical grades though, just started my first rotation). Really the only thing I have going for me is that I am from the southeast, and would like the match in the southeast or texas, which seems to be less competitive. I would be prepared to apply to 40+ programs in all areas of the US though. Please let me know if you think I would be able to make my app competitive or if it is just too late and should consider other options.
Just Started 3rd Year, Interested in Radiation Oncology
- Thread starter tmach1
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Why only 40 programs? Matching isn't just based on stats alone... You have to realize that many programs only take 1-2 a year. This alone makes matching into rad onc difficult for even the most competitive applicants. I think your stats are good, probably just need to boost research and by all means apply if not to every single program in the country (roughly 80 or so).
D
deleted4401
The average is higher than 236? Jeez.
You need to do research and quickly. If you can't find anything nearby and aren't allowed outside electives until 4th year, then best bet is the spend July - Aug - Sept doing clinical electives and 1-2 research electives all at one place (I did back to back clinical-research at UChicago), and get 2 letters and pound out some retrospective review crapola. Otherwise, I can't imagine you getting very many interviews. If it doesn't work out in the fall, then try to have something by March (I think that's the ASTRO deadline), and try again the following year. Or, just have a back up plan.
S
You need to do research and quickly. If you can't find anything nearby and aren't allowed outside electives until 4th year, then best bet is the spend July - Aug - Sept doing clinical electives and 1-2 research electives all at one place (I did back to back clinical-research at UChicago), and get 2 letters and pound out some retrospective review crapola. Otherwise, I can't imagine you getting very many interviews. If it doesn't work out in the fall, then try to have something by March (I think that's the ASTRO deadline), and try again the following year. Or, just have a back up plan.
S
Thanks for the replies. I was just thinking that applying to every programs would get expensive, but not that I think about it, the real expense probably does not come until you go on interviews. As I said, my school does not have a radonc residency, but there are multiple hospital systems in the city that have a program. Would my best bet for getting started on research being to just cold call/email around to see if any of the doctors have a project going on, or is there a better way to go about this?
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Looks like you already caught it, but the bulk of your application expenses will be for interviews. Don't get me wrong, you will spend more than 99% of your peers on ERAS, but it is worth it. The places I thought I was a shoe in didn't invite me, and the places that I either had no interest in initially or thought were out of my league were the ones that offered me interviews. In fact of the 20+ invites I received, nearly 10 of them were from programs that I wouldn't have even applied to if I had been more selective up front. Moral of the story, over apply. It will feel odd when you talk with your friends applying to things like pediatrics who say, "Ya, I applied to 13 programs, and got 12 interviews. I think I'll just go on 7 of them though." However, in the end it all works out.
As for your chances, based on talking with people on the trail I think you have a great chance of matching, although likely not at one of the "top tier" institutions. But that isn't a bad thing! I was more than impressed by the education and training at more "mid tier" programs that are often passed over on SDN. Also, if you look at the data this last year was the least competitive year for rad onc. As best we can tell from the NRMP data at this link:
http://www.nrmp.org/data/resultsanddata2013.pdf
http://www.nrmp.org/data/resultsanddata2012.pdf
2013 - 170 US applicants for 183 spots.
2012 - 222 US applicants for 171 spots
2011 - 186 applicants for 171 spots
Its a little confusing since they break out PGY-1 and PGY-2 spots separately, but I think that its safe to say that while there are some people who didn't apply to PGY-1 positions, in all likelihood there were no US seniors who didn't apply to at least one PGY-2 only program.
While I'm sure radiation oncology will continue to be on the more difficult end of the match spectrum, with the steadily increasing number of spots and the potential decrease in applicants it is not the impossible dream.
As for research: I had good luck e-mailing rad oncs/researchers to get stuff lined up. They are busy, so calling may not be the most effective way to get a hold of them. If you can't line up rad onc research, try and find any sort of oncology related research with the heme onc folks. While not as good as rad onc research, it is a big step in the right direction. Good luck!
