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Just got an email that it's match day. I had forgotten that still existed. Anything worth discussing?
Only the fact that it really doesn't matter anymore which programs have to SOAP, who, how many spots, etc.
We have several years of post-crash Match data at this point.
While multifactorial, in the end, the core concern driving the crash was the uncertain job market, with the rapid doubling of the resident/new grad pipeline being the glaring issue.
The canaries - err, Med Students - responded accordingly.
And all the programs filled all their spots anyway, either within - or outside - the Match. The core issue was not addressed.
What we're seeing is, to quote Leonard Cohen - "Everybody Knows".
Radiation Oncology is now the premiere destination for students looking for a backup option if their application is weak (or they have...felonies), foreign grads and doctors looking for a path into the USA, etc.
I fully expect the SOAP rate to be low moving forward but it IS NOT a sign of health.
There's a reason I've avoided even mentioning this for at least a year or two.I guess one thing that has been said about Match day and bears repeating is: Don't rain on the med students parade. Think back to your own Match day and how happy you were to have gotten into this field.
You will now have more colleagues to commiserate with and feel your pain.
Yes. PLEASE! if someone expresses happiness over their match on SoMe, don't be the person to crap on them. It's immature and vile.I guess one thing that has been said about Match day and bears repeating is: Don't rain on the med students parade. Think back to your own Match day and how happy you were to have gotten into this field.
You will now have more colleagues to commiserate with and feel your pain.
For those of who didn't have a happy match day during the boom days, it hits differently. Your point is well-taken howeverI guess one thing that has been said about Match day and bears repeating is: Don't rain on the med students parade. Think back to your own Match day and how happy you were to have gotten into this field.
You will now have more colleagues to commiserate with and feel your pain.
That’s funny. The joy of match day.
Confession: I didn’t match into rad onc the first time around.
I don’t know what’s sadder, the pain felt on match day with no match or persevering only to end up looking at a career of linac babysitting in middle America.
Does that mean a better match. It could also be tempered by the fact that radonc has become a safety specialty with growing realization that if your goal is solely to match in American medicined, this is the specialty.was a better match day for radiation oncology. Applications were up this year.
Source?I thought I saw something like 20 unfilled programs and 26+ spots. If that's correct, I wouldn't call it better.
Did not all decide to soap?Just saw this added, suggesting 10 unfilled programs, 12 spots, perhaps post soap:
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Match Data
Core to the NRMP’s mission is the development and distribution of data reports and publications that inform national conversations about the transition to residency and advance understanding of the…www.nrmp.org
Otherwise, this was apparently put up re soap from nrmp showing 20+
Great spin! The field has never been better! The usual hellpits interviewed everyone with a pulse and even then some of them were pathetic enough to still end up on SOAP scraping bottom of pot. SADwas a better match day for radiation oncology. Applications were up this year.
I live in this universe as well!sometimes I wonder if we're living in the same universe.
personally, for each of the past 3 years, there's been plenty of jobs and folks have been happy. The residents who are good get better jobs. I don't know a single resident coming out of training who is miserable "babysitting a linac in the middle of nowhere" so to speak.
it may be be true that salaries aren't as lucrative as they were in the past (that's what SDN tells me), but at least where I'm at, rad onc is respected as a partner in oncology, the salaries are competitive for the work, and our opinions are sought after. happiness and compensation are from what I hear loosely correlated anyway (otherwise neurosurgeries would be the happiest doctors).
It wasn't long ago that I was also in a "our field is dying" phase but my opinion has slowly been changed by continuous evidence at multiple programs (more and less prestigious) that folks are happy. the people who aren't happy seem to be people who are difficult to work with.
this only reflects my experience however so YMMV
No jobs are available in my city. In fact there are a number of desirable Metros in which there are not jobs available . Compared to other fields we are worse off.sometimes I wonder if we're living in the same universe.
personally, for each of the past 3 years, there's been plenty of jobs and folks have been happy. The residents who are good get better jobs. I don't know a single resident coming out of training who is miserable "babysitting a linac in the middle of nowhere" so to speak.
it may be be true that salaries aren't as lucrative as they were in the past (that's what SDN tells me), but at least where I'm at, rad onc is respected as a partner in oncology, the salaries are competitive for the work, and our opinions are sought after. happiness and compensation are from what I hear loosely correlated anyway (otherwise neurosurgeries would be the happiest doctors).
It wasn't long ago that I was also in a "our field is dying" phase but my opinion has slowly been changed by continuous evidence at multiple programs (more and less prestigious) that folks are happy. the people who aren't happy seem to be people who are difficult to work with.
this only reflects my experience however so YMMV
list of programs that did not fill?
University of Texas Medical Branch |
University of Kentucky |
University of Arkansas |
University of Alabama |
Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson |
Kaiser Permanente Southern California |
Detroit Medical Center/Wayne State |
Dartmouth-Hitchcock |
In that case it's a waste of taxpayer resources for them to be trained and the spots should be cut.Anecdotally, a fair number of the FMGs I have seen these past several application cycles are foreign born and are planning on practicing abroad. If this is a truly the case, they may have less of an impact on the job market.
100%. Need more psych, critical care docs even urologists.In that case it's a waste of taxpayer resources for them to be trained and the spots should be cut.
Huge point.100%. Need more psych, critical care docs even urologists.
sometimes I wonder if we're living in the same universe.
personally, for each of the past 3 years, there's been plenty of jobs and folks have been happy. The residents who are good get better jobs. I don't know a single resident coming out of training who is miserable "babysitting a linac in the middle of nowhere" so to speak.
And this is where ASTROs position is blatantly wrong, hurts everyone that isn't at the top and wastes societal resources training docs we don't need in the system with training dollars better spent elsewhereHuge point.
Every radonc out away from major metros knows how scarce other specialists and even PCPs are. (Medonc, ENT, Surgonc...even GI is understaffed in the setting our present demographic shift....literally 7 months to consult near where I live).
I honestly believe that we are in the best staffed specialty in all of medicine. Literally every other field needs more docs than we do (with the possible exception of path?).
The shortage of docs in other specialties is compromising the viability of many smaller hospitals. Not radiation oncology.
the whole paradigm has changed.Fair perspective.
However unless you have numbers and location, it’s all a wash. I’m sure for an optimistic glass half full person, depending on your peers in college and med school and how they’re doing, depending on your residency program, depending on your spouse/SO and whether they’re SAHM SAHD versus having their own career and geography preferences, and if your roots are in the Midwest then rad onc may have been okay last few years. Of course if you’re academic at certain centers then everything is always good all the time.
Established faculty at big, name brand academic centers are probably doing pretty well, they live in a totally different world versus rad oncs in the community. My impression versus 15-20 years ago is that faculty used to have to publish, run trials, get grants to be relevant, now there’s other leadership opportunities associated with managing a large clinical enterprise, so that makes the job easier and more secure.
link to the full postFrom the prolific Sheriff of Sodium, it appears we still rank in the top 5 of unfilled spots by percentage.
We're still competitive, just playing a different game! CAN'T TAKE OUR CROWN!
View attachment 384180
Interesting blog. From his post in 2021:
Go back to 2011, [... and] the 85% match rate for U.S. seniors in radiation oncology was lower than the rate for neurosurgery or otolaryngology, and radiation oncology applicants had the same mean Step 1 score as those entering orthopedics.