M1 interested in radiation oncology

[radcad]

I am a first year medical student and am very interested in radiation oncology. I was a physics major in undergrad and for a while was on track to get a PhD, till I figured I would rather be a physician.

My first year of medical school has not gone so great. I've failed 2 classes and have had to repeat my first year. But I came back this fall and have done good so far and am back on track. When I first came into medical school I felt like I could do lots of things at the same time. I was dealing with some family issues and even started a business. (I thought I was a superhero or something and could manage everything).

My question is what I need to do now to make up for my early mishaps, and whether I can overcome the initial damage.

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[bragmt]

I am a first year medical student and am very interested in radiation oncology. I was a physics major in undergrad and for a while was on track to get a PhD, till I figured I would rather be a physician.

My first year of medical school has not gone so great. I've failed 2 classes and have had to repeat my first year. But I came back this fall and have done good so far and am back on track. When I first came into medical school I felt like I could do lots of things at the same time. I was dealing with some family issues and even started a business. (I thought I was a superhero or something and could manage everything).

My question is what I need to do now to make up for my early mishaps, and whether I can overcome the initial damage.

As you probably know rad onc is very hard to match into. Even with avergae grades in med school its tough, let alone failing marks. That being said its not impossible for you to match, but your on an uphill battle. You have to do outstanding from here forward, showing this was truely a one time mistake. But its still going to be a struggle. Your goal for the next 2 years is to get plenty of honors, crush step 1, and publish at least 5 abstracts or papers. If you can do those thing you may have a shot. Good luck.

 

[mikedc813]

I agree, it's going to be an uphill battle, but it's not impossible to match with your grades. You still have A LOT of med school left. Honors in most if not all of the rest of your courses and clerkships is important. I don't know if you really have to publish 5 papers, but obviously the more the better. So just keep plugging away, and if this is what you really want to do, it's worth trying for still. Good luck.

 

[StanleyCup7]

I am a first year medical student and am very interested in radiation oncology. I was a physics major in undergrad and for a while was on track to get a PhD, till I figured I would rather be a physician.

My first year of medical school has not gone so great. I've failed 2 classes and have had to repeat my first year. But I came back this fall and have done good so far and am back on track. When I first came into medical school I felt like I could do lots of things at the same time. I was dealing with some family issues and even started a business. (I thought I was a superhero or something and could manage everything).

My question is what I need to do now to make up for my early mishaps, and whether I can overcome the initial damage.

Take this advice with a grain of salt b/c I am merely an MS-IV, but am currently on the interview trail and talking to a lot of incredibly impressive applicants. I have absolutely nothing to gain by making these comments, so I am truly not trying to be harsh but rather save you from the agony of not matching.

I really would never want to discourage anyone from going into this amazing field, but at the same time you have to be realistic. Failing a class is one thing, but having to repeat your entire first year is another. If I am a program director, repeating a year in medical school (which is very rare b/c the faculty really do not want anyone to fail) is a HUGE RED FLAG. Residency positions are incredibly competitive to attain and will only continue to be so in the future. With so many incredible applicants with great Step 1 scores, stellar grades (I would be very surprised if very many of us were outside the top 1/4 of our class), strong LOR's and multiple publications to our name, why would a residency director take a chance on you when there are so many amazing applicants available?

That being said, if you are incredibly confident in your abilities to:
1) Rock a 240+ on Step 1
2) Honor almost all of your clerkships
3) Are at a school with a "pedigree"
4) Have access to a quality radiation oncology program that will allow you to be very involved (as in being a first or second author) in multiple research projects
5) Have a GREAT explanation (the business venture idea is not going to garner much sympathy) for failing your first year of medical school

If you are very confident that you can do 4 out of the 5 above, I would say that you might as well give it a shot if your are convinced in your mind that you would not be satisfied doing anything else. A wonderful alternative to radiation onclogy is medical oncology. You still have the pleasure of working with cancer patients and it is not nearly as competitive as radiation oncology as the fellowship match rate for AMG's is approximately 85%. Best of luck in your future endeavors.
Stanley

 

[radcad]

Wow, seems like I got a lot of work ahead of me. Thanks everyone for the advice. Though I know it's not impossible, it does seem like it'll cost a few gray hairs. Then again, we'll get gray hair anyway, so I'm going to keep on pushing and see what happens.

Here are some of my backups at this point - though it's really hard to say as a 1st year.

- med onc
- Surgery
- peds
- family

 

[subatomicdoc]

Hi radcad:

Everyone has missteps, and I don't think it's a dealbreaker. If you love the idea of using your physics background for cancer care, then it's worth keeping on that path. Backups are fine, but if radiation oncology excites you then immerse yourself (reasonably) with free time.

Your physics background will be a plus most applicants don't have. Think about how you learned from juggling too much and think about how you can use that even in your residency application as a positive learning experience.

Believe me, just because someone gets into residency doesn't annoint them as being error-free, and as a field we are very accepting of working to identify errors and correct them.

Best of luck and happy 2010!