Match 2025

[communitydoc13]

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In my book the best simple metrics for "competitiveness" are # of Senior US MD/DOs applying and % of spots filled by Senior US MD/DOs.

Using these 2025 was improved from the last five years but nowhere near the 200 + applicants and 95%+ from a decade ago

Also confirms my hunch that 2012 was the most absolutely bonkers year ever.

All this is sorta dumb. It was too competitive in the past and many on this board and in the field are suffering from a sort of "underemployment"...a career trajectory that they didn't think would be ultimately manifested as a highly paid community doc or an "academic" without much opportunity for meaningful academic work.

I would still discourage the field for aspiring physician scientists (excluding the very rare PhD specific to our field). Much better odds at taking a run at this sort of thing in other fields. I enjoy my job. I do not consider radiation oncology "exciting". That is too bad.

Agree with @NotMattSpraker comment above about concern for IMGs. They will undoubtedly be great in general, and regardless of how great they are, they will be valued a bit below US grads forever. The fact that IMGs and DOs are filling the spots means that there will be a better job market for US MDs. This is how it works.

The H1B visa program is administered at the state level and there are limited spots. I do think IMG radonc grads are going to have basically no geographic flexibility whatsoever. Some of them may run into visa crisis situations (or nearly all of them).

If leverage is a goal of a medical student right now, they should look elsewhere.

Yeah, our concerns about the match and even ROCR seem quaint or at least provincial at present.

Like most docs, I had taken a bit of comfort in "the liberal consensus" and enjoyed doing well while also doing some good. I have no confidence in this consensus at present. The human experts are being pushed aside by non-experts with capital and influence. The public is increasingly getting their information directly from computers, including computer generated content.

We are all very elite, but we are not Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP elite, Ivy League board of trustees elite or tech broligarchy elite...we are vulnerable going forward.

Still, I would never discourage a young person from becoming a doctor. It provides great solace to me that when I go to work I am trying to prevent recurrence, reduce pain, manage symptoms, provide comfort, provide insight and sometimes markedly prolong life.

Hope the program directors have a sincere sense of responsibility regarding their IMG trainees.

 

[drowsy12]

Agree with @NotMattSpraker comment above about concern for IMGs. They will undoubtedly be great in general, and regardless of how great they are, they will be valued a bit below US grads forever. The fact that IMGs and DOs are filling the spots means that there will be a better job market for US MDs. This is how it works.

FMGs are common/normal and we are comfortable with it in many other fields, including competitive fields like GI, cardiology, med onc as well as non-competitive but onc-adjacent fields we are aware of like pathology (among many others!)

it's 'new' to rad onc but I don't really have a major concern about discrimination as I don't know how pervasive it is in these other fields?

Sure do I think the med oncs at CARTI prefer good old white boys like the rad oncs do? Probably. but at large I don't know that I force major disparities.

 

[communitydoc13]

FMGs are common/normal and we are comfortable with it in many other fields, including competitive fields like GI, cardiology, med onc as well as non-competitive but onc-adjacent fields we are aware of like pathology (among many others!)

Agree totally, it's just that we are by comparison very small market. I pretty much exclusively recruit IMG medoncs (cause that's who we can get and the US grads have a lot of leverage and say no thanks to our offers). Still, even in that much larger field, there is major time crunch/rush/anxiety to get visa approval for those IMGs with visa requirements. The statistics alone will make this much more difficult for radoncs coming out of training. I would anticipate IMG radonc residents to disproportionately go to fellowship.

 

[drowsy12]

I would anticipate IMG radonc residents to disproportionately go to fellowship.

job market would have to worsen quite a bit (and it might!) before the # of residency grads doing fellowships is anything to look at/track or compare between subgroups. this has not been a thing in rad onc historically.

 

[yesmaster]

The # of rad onc trainee positions is a secondary factor and always has been. The primary factor is that high-performing, highly motivated students go into appropriate specialties where they can grow and thrive. My biggest concern in the past was that PD’s and chairs would straight up lie to get these students, now I’m less concerned about that with the Match trends.

 

[RickyScott]

If there’s one thing I wanted as medical student it was to spend a decade plus* of training and accumulate huge loan debt so I could choose a specialty where someone had “all the leverage” over me.




*counting my proton fellowship

this is burnout. astro= burnout