Kansas Rad Onc Information, Advice, Experiences- PLEASE HELP!

[KansasRadOncSpo]

Sorry to GFunk and the rest of the SDN Rad Onc crew for the prior inappropriate post. Hopefully this fixes that problem. Please see below:




Hello SDN Rad Onc Folks,

The University of Kansas Radiation Oncology residency program is interviewing for their unfilled spot. If you have interviewed there, have information on the program, know anything about the faculty, or have any other comments or suggestions to provide, that would be awesome! The interviews are in the coming days/weeks for the final unfilled spot in the country (as far as I know), so consider yourself as playing an integral role in providing one more person with the wonderful news that they are 5 years from becoming a board-eligible Radiation Oncologist! Thanks so much in advance!


Sincerely,

An Aspiring Radiation Oncologist

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[Freight Train]

Aspiring Rad Onc,

I'm definitely not the ultimate source for info on Kansas, but seeing as no one else is helping you out I'll try. I interviewed there this season, and that is the extent of my experience with the program. Here is the reality: Kansas was my LAST rank, and I'm not entirely shocked the program went unfilled. So all I can offer is why I personally ranked it last.

The biggest issue is the fact that the future of this program is anybody's guess! There are LOTS of changes going on right now-- a near excavation of the entire faculty-- new PD coming from USC, who is supposedly bringing/recruiting another 3-4 Attendings to come with him (right now they're only 3 attendings). As of now they have no true researching faculty, weak physics with one real physicist, and one radbio phD. The entire dept is OLD--facilities, faculty, staff. So the big thing is the fact that the future of this program is very much up in the air. As far as in the past, it doesn't get much better. The current/former chair openly said that residents "didn't pass their boards" in the past. He did say, however, that they've improved over the past few years, and from talking with the current residents I'd suspect that most of them will pass.

Otherwise, I was not a fan of KC. Some might be?? The facility/equipment was the weakest of any program I visited (there are plans for upgrading both... "plans"). And there is essentially NO research for the residents.

So aside from the negative, the reality was that I DID rank it! Dead last, but I ranked it. I personally would've rather gone there than not matching/having to do a research year/etc. That was my thinking. Despite all the negative, I am confident that on my own I could've learned the basics and done enough to pass the boards. That's why I ranked it.

So it's up to you... if you'd rather do a yr of research, reapply, and risk not matching again next year, that's your perogative. But the reality is, NO ONE, not even the residents, knows what the program will be like next yr, or in 5 yrs once you're done. Could be just fine!!!??? Good luck.

FT

 

[Gfunk6]

I personally would've rather gone there than not matching/having to do a research year/etc.

QFT.

I think this is the exact position that Aspiring Rad Onc finds him/herself in. Honestly, I felt the same way when I was applying.

 

[thesauce]

I agree with Freight on this.

I interviewed there this year and had no idea what direction the program was headed. They spoke of high hopes and lofty goals, such as huge faculty growth and becoming an NCI-CCC, but I just didn't know how likely these things would be to occur. For this reason alone, I was leery to rank them higher and I heard 2 people on the trail claim that they wouldn't rank them at all.

I really liked the location so I ranked it higher than some other places. Kansas City was inexpensive and downtown had a fun atmosphere. I also thought the faculty, staff, and residents were a good bunch.

Good luck!

 

[IncognitoMD]

Definitely rebuilding going on, but new chair, redone facility, big push for NCI and new Novalis Tx.

If you really want to do research it's possible, but a little bit harder to get...

Don't think its as dim as Freight Train led to believe. But if everything goes well, could be a great program