Match Stats for entering class of 2013

[Gfunk6]

You guys know the drill, right?

Each year we request users anonymously post their match statistics (whether or not they successfully matched) in the format below. Since the impressions account is gone feel free to PM your match stats anonymously or email to gfunk6266(at)yahoo(dot)com

Cheers,

G

--Board Scores:
--AOA and class rank: if known
--GPA:
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc)
--Research: (none, some radonc with no publications, radonc publications, other pubs)
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery, medicine and radonc)
--# and where you did away rotations:
--# of programs you applied to:
--Where invited for interviews:
--Where matched:
--Matched at what number on rank list:
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call to a program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc)
--Plans if not matched:
--Prelim year:
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list:
--Other:

---

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[ramsesthenice]

-- 253/259
-- Not AOA
-- Top 20 med school
-- 9 pubs, 3 first author, 1 cancer, the rest neuropharmacology
-- honors in all but surgery, HP in sry
-- no away rotations
-- applied to 32 programs
-- interviews at: Vanderbilt, Michigan, Stanford, Yale, Duke, UNC, Cincinnatti, Case Western, Ohio State, Rochester, Montinfore, Rush, U Chicago, Robert Wood Johnson
-- Matched: #1 on my list
-- Prelim: prelim med, #1 on my list

 

[Gfunk6]

Here's an anonymous stat block I received, thanks!

--Board Scores: 255 / 247 (took late, did not report)
--AOA and class rank: AOA, top 5-10%
--GPA: N/A
--Reputation of medical school: top 20
--Research: one first author and one second author Red Journal manuscript at the time of application, one second author paper in PRO accepted during interview season, one oral presentation at ABS, RSNA abstract research prize, four ASTRO posters
--Honors in clerkships: Medicine, Surgery, Peds, Neuro/Psych, Outpatient Medicine/Peds, Rad Onc home rotation, both rad onc away rotations
--# and where you did away rotations: 2, one "top tier" and one "mid tier"
--# of programs you applied to: 49
--Where invited for interviews: Case Western, Georgetown, Minnesota, Rochester, Penn, Utah, Fox Chase, U Washington, UC Davis, City of Hope, UCSD, Kentucky, UPMC, Emory, Jefferson, Duke, Wisconsin, Cleveland Clinic, Sinai, Tufts, CPMC
--Where matched: A place I am very excited about
--Matched at what number on rank list: #1
--Anything that helped your app: I had heard of rad onc prior to coming to med school, so I met some faculty at my home program and set up some research projects for the summer after 1st year. This was HUGE for me and was the single most important reason I was able to match successfully at a great program without taking dedicated research time off during med school. I think that I may have had a few more "top tier" interviews had I taken some time off for research and/or worked with some more prominent rad oncs, but I wouldn't change the way I did things.
--Plans if not matched: Prelim and hope something opened up during the year.
--Prelim year: TY at home institution
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1

 

[RadOnc2013]

--Board Scores: Step 1 255; I took Step 2 too late for it to matter.
--AOA and class rank: I was in the 3rd quarter of my class.

--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc): Top 25
--Research:
I had the following Radiation Oncology research: 1 first author paper submitted, 1 first author oral presentation at RSNA, 4 first author abstracts (really only about 2 different projects though), 6th author on one accepted paper, 2nd author on a book chapter, and 6th author on a couple of accepted abstracts. I also had my name on a couple of non-Rad Onc papers and abstracts.

--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery, medicine and radonc): Honors in Neuro and Family Med. High Pass in Psych. All other rotations were Passes.

--# and where you did away rotations: 1

--# of programs you applied to: Every program in the country

--Where invited for interviews:
I went on 15 interviews, including USC, UC Irvine, CPMC, Minnesota, Cleveland Clinic, Case, Wisconsin, MCW, Rush, Northwestern, Miami, Long Island, NY Methodist, Cornell, and Buffalo. I was invited to an additional 11 interviews, but I either did not or could not attend (the good ones conflicted with other good programs, unfortunately). These included Moffit, Nebraska, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisville, Syracuse, Rochester, Henry Ford, Wayne State, UNC, and UTMB.

--Where matched:

--Matched at what number on rank list: #2

--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call to a program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc):
I had one letter from a big name who I did research with since the first year of med school. I had another letter from a big name that I met on my clinical rotation at my home program. My third Rad Onc letter was from an attending at my home program who a few attendings on the interview trail knew as well.

--Plans if not matched:
I applied to and interviewed for a back-up specialty, which was a waste of hard work, time, and money.

--Prelim year: I interviewed at a mix of TYs and prelim medicine programs.

--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1

--Other:
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t match into Rad Onc. I had an obviously non-Rad Onc advisor from my school tell me that I needed a back-up specialty; she said this was because matching in Rad Onc would be dicey for me. This clearly turned out not to be true - I had far more interview offers than I could even attend . If you start research early in med school (or take a year off to do research if you developed interest late), be productive, and prove to one or two big names in the field that you can do strong work, then you can match. It’s not like trying to get into plastics or derm; if you prove enough interest and do good work, you can earn yourself a spot without being anywhere near AOA.

 

[Gfunk6]

Another stat block, muchos gracias!

-Board Scores: *253/230 (after rank lists)
--AOA and class rank: not AOA
--GPA: N/A
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc) Top 50
--Research: cancer research with pubs and abstracts before med school, PhD in basic cancer research 2 first author pubs, 1 small clinical radonc project and 1 small basic science radonc project
--Honors in clerkships: (Honors in surgery, pediatrics, family medicine, home and away radonc rotations) *high pass everything else
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 away top tier midwest program
--# of programs you applied to: 18
--Where invited for interviews: Iowa, Tufts, VCU, MCW, UWisc
--Where matched: : )
--Matched at what number on rank list: 2
--Anything that helped your app: The PhD with a published story that was very easy to explain to an oncology crowd was incredibly helpful. *I also had one letter from a big wig that was mentioned over and over on the interview trail. *I also had several people offer to make phone calls on my behalf. I won't know for sure how much it mattered, but I matched where one of these calls was placed. *
-plan if not matched: *prelim and reapply.....
--Prelim year: prelim med
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: 3
--Other: *As you can see I took a large gamble on a small application list, and I won't lie it definitely hurt me in terms of getting enough interviews to not be nervous. *This is not an easy field to be picky about location, especially when research opportunities are a big part of your criteria for programs. **Fortunately I loved the programs I did interview at and my biggest worry was matching. *In retrospect I should have found a way to do another away or two if for nothing else then to enhance my peace of mind about the process. *I am really excited about where I'm going and can't wait to start.

 

[rad0nc]

--Board Scores: 241/258 (Step 2 not in until late December but notified programs)
--AOA and class rank: Senior AOA top quartile
--GPA: good mix of honors and high-pass in preclinical years and mostly honors clinical years
--Reputation of medical school: unranked state school
--Research: PhD before medical school in engineering. One 2nd author rad onc pub submitted during interviews
--Honors in clerkships: Everything except Surgery and OB/Gyn
--# and where you did away rotations: 3
--# of programs you applied to: 40
--Where invited for interviews: 9
--Where matched: Great midwest program
--Matched at what number on rank list: 1
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call to a program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc) - Worked really hard during away rotation at the place I matched and picked up research while I was there.
--Plans if not matched: cry
--Prelim year: excellent transitional year program
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: 1
--Other: This forum is invaluable for Rad Onc applications. I would have been completely lost if I didn't have the guidance of Gfunk and the residents on this board. It is important to use this board, while at the same time not getting psyched out by all the 260+ people with 5 first author rad onc publications.

 

[Sheldor]

http://www.nrmp.org/data/datatables2012.pdf

It's no charting outcomes, but it gives us a little info.

Looks like 171 spots, with 222 US senior applicants (257 total). Congrats to those who matched, seems to be getting more difficult each year!

 

[Gfunk6]

More anonymous stats, thanks!

--Board Scores: step 1 - 260s; step 2 - not taken before rank list submitted
--AOA and class rank: top 5%
--GPA: NA
--Reputation of medical school: top 50
--Research: 1st author non-rad onc; 1st author case report non-rad onc; co-author non-rad onc; ~5 posters - only one rad onc related; had multiple rad onc projects in the works.
--Honors in clerkships: all honors except surgery
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 at a very well respected program
--# of programs you applied to: 73
--Where invited for interviews: 21 invitations and attended 14. Attended the following: UTMB, Minn, Mayo (Rochester), Maryland, Duke, Penn, Utah, OSU, Cleveland Clinic, UAB, Rochester, Beaumont, UNC, and Arizona. Did not attend the following: UCSD, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Cinci, Buffalo, and one is escaping me...
--Where matched: Great place
--Matched at what number on rank list: Top third of list
--Anything that helped your app: big wig letters, great board score and grades.
--Plans if not matched: reapply
--Prelim year: TY
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: 1st
--Other: When coming from a med school that is not top 20, you are at a disadvantage in terms of landing interviews at MDACC, Harvard, etc. I think a year off doing research at the NIH (or NIH equivalent) really would have vaulted my application. Having said that, I'm glad that I did not take a year off. I am extremely happy with how things turned out.

 

[Gfunk6]

Yet another anonymous stat block, it is appreciated!

--Board Scores: 255/ step 2: will take next week
--AOA and class rank: not AOA, middle of class
--GPA: --
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc): top 25
--Research: (none, some radonc with no publications, radonc publications, other pubs): 1 radonc first author clinical publication accepted during interviews, 1 radonc first author clinical pub submitted, 1 second author basic science paper from undergrad, 2 non-first author clinical pubs in another field, numerous abstracts from other field, 1 abstract in radonc
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery, medicine and radonc): all 3 radonc, surgery, family, neurology, electives
--# and where you did away rotations: 3, one at big name place, one at home institution(clinically oriented, non-academic place), one at mid-tier place
--# of programs you applied to: 79
--Where invited for interviews: attended: UTMB, Rochester, Michigan, UTSW, Colorado, UMDNJ, Penn, Utah, City of Hope, Baylor, Moffitt, Davis, Ohio State, Einstein, Cleveland Clinic, Kaiser LA, USC, CPMC, canceled: William Beaumont, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tufts, Methodist Houston, Rush
--Where matched:
--Matched at what number on rank list: #3
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call to a program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc): Research in radiation oncology, supportive mentors. I took a year off to do research in a different field and only discovered radonc during my research year. So I really had to rush to get radonc specific research done. That was really the key. Oh, and having people you worked with know people at other schools doesn't hurt... =)
--Plans if not matched: had no plan B
--Prelim year: easy prelim medicine in desired location
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: 2
--Other: If you want it enough, it can be done =)

 

[johnbeck]

66% match rate for all comers. 76% for US seniors. That's insane. Without looking, rad onc may have the lowest match rate this year (plastics may be the exception).

By comparison, the rad onc match rate for all comers last year was 77%, and for US seniors it was 85%.

 

[Gfunk6]

More stats!

--Board Scores: 243
--AOA and class rank: Junior AOA, top 25%
--GPA: N/A
--Reputation of medical school: Top 25-50 med school
--Research: Nothing in press before apps went in, 1 basic science first author abstract from college, 1 basic science paper from gap year that was accepted and went into press during interviews (middle author), 1 rad onc first author review paper submitted, 1 rad onc first author research paper submitted, 1 abstract submitted and accepted during interview season
--Honors in clerkships: Primary Care, Medicine, Pediatrics, Surgery, Radiology, Rad Onc
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 middle-tier programs, 1 east coast and 1 west coast
--# of programs you applied to: All programs
--Where invited for interviews: Vanderbilt, USC, UCI, Maryland, City of Hope, Kaiser LA, UC Davis, Utah, Robert Wood Johnson, UCLA, Tufts, CPMC, U of Rochester, Mayo Jacksonville, UTMB, Beaumont, Albert Einstein
--Matched at what number on rank list: My #2
--Anything that helped your app: Big-wig LoRs, strong support from my home institution's PD, did really well on my two away rotations
--Plans if not matched: Do intern year and look for PGY-2 spots or re-apply and do research for a year after internship
--Prelim year: Medicine
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1
--Other: I switched to rad onc at the very beginning of our 4th year (though we start 4th year pretty early) and didn't want to take a year off, worked my tail off and got into a good middle-tier program in a great location so I'm pretty happy. Would recommend deciding on rad onc much earlier than I did and doing research earlier on to have some stuff that's actually published by the time applications have to go in.

 

[deleted4401]

Wonder why suddenly even seemingly more competitive in terms of percentage matched and in terms of the few samples of who matched ... Wondering even more why applicant's match location appears to be a greater secret than where the applicant lost their virginity.

 

[Gfunk6]

More stats goodness.

--Board Scores: 260's Step 1/Step 2
--AOA and class rank: no class rank
--GPA: NA
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc) unranked state school
--Research: (none, some radonc with no publications, radonc publications, other pubs) 1st author basic science (oncology related), contributing author basic science (high-profile oncology related), presentations at several well-known conferences, 4th year rad onc research with contributing author contributions on submitted papers (no published rad onc research)
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery, medicine and radonc) Honors only given during 3rd year, honored all clerkships except peds
--# and where you did away rotations: local private practice group (clinical), prestigious institution in the South (research), in-state institution with residency program (clinical)
--# of programs you applied to: Approximately 50
--Where invited for interviews: 19 (did not attend) - Thomas Jefferson, SUNY-Upstate, Rochester, Roswell Park, Cleveland Clinic, MUSC, Kentucky, UTMB, Baylor, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, MCW, Wayne State, Beaumont, Loyola and University of Chicago
--Where matched: Program in midwest/east
--Matched at what number on rank list: #1
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call to a program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc) Board scores and grades, one outstanding letter of recommendation from big name institution, research experience (translatable to rad onc), prayer
--Plans if not matched: Pre-lim/TY and re-apply
--Prelim year: same institution as Advanced program
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1
--Other: I was couples matching, which made selecting programs to apply to and interview at difficult at times, but I feel we are an outgoing, friendly couple and my fiance is definitely like-able, which probably helped us get our top pick (which is under the radar and very couples friendly)

 

[Gfunk6]

Moar stats!!

--Board Scores: 261/266
--AOA and class rank: AOA, top 5%
--Reputation of medical school: top 20
--Research: 1st author paper and co-author paper (both non rad onc)
--Honors in clerkships: Honors in all
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 home and 2 away
--# of programs you applied to: 65
--Where invited for interviews: Invited for 23, attended 13 (some top tier, some solid mid tier, a couple smaller clinical programs)
--Where matched: Amazing place, top tier
--Matched at what number on rank list: #1
--Anything that helped your app: Good letters of rec, away rotation at placed I matched
--Plans if not matched: Prelim med/reapply
--Prelim year: Sweet prelim med spot in home town
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1

 

[wyme84]

I'm with SimulD -- where are all the 'normal' people?

 

[Gfunk6]

> 240 may be the new normal. We'll see if the NRMP puts out updated stats.

Board Scores: 250s, step 2 not submitted till january
--AOA and class rank: Junior AOA, top 10%
--GPA: N/A
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc): unranked state school
--Research: 2 basic science oral presentations in unrelated field, 2 rad onc abstracts presented, 1 radonc submitted, 1 onc case report, some public health stuff ( no pubs)
--Honors in clerkships: all except peds/family med
--# and where you did away rotations: 3
--# of programs you applied to: almost all
--Where invited for interviews: all over the place... invited on 19, went on 16
--Where matched: one of the places I rotated
--Anything that helped your app: Good LORs, hard work on away rotation, attempting research at the last second
--Plans if not matched: prelim medicine yr at fancy academic place
--Prelim year: Awesome TY near home
--Other: I think rotating at a range of academic --> community style programs gave me a good idea about the type of residency/career I want. If you aren't interested in the academic grind, there are plenty of programs that train excellent clinicians. Don't forget that you need to live with the program for 4-5 years.

 

[Gfunk6]

Another case in point.

--Board Scores: 254/256
--AOA and class rank: AOA, Top 20%
--GPA: N/A
--Reputation of medical school: middle tier state school
--Research: 2 RadOnc manuscripts submitted at time of ERAS submission, no pubs
--Honors in clerkships: honors in everything except surgery
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 state universities, upper middle tier
--# of programs you applied to: 50
--Where invited for interviews: 10 programs, mostly southeast/midwest state universities, middle to upper middle tier.
--Where matched: Nice location that I am very happy about
--Matched at what number on list: #6
--Anything that helped your app: strong letters from aways
--Plans if not matched: didn't think about it...probably would have done intern year and waited for a spot to open
--Prelim year: Prelim Medicine
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: 1
--Other: From all of the available information, it seems like this years match was very competitive. I really hope the NRMP releases a full report for this years match because it seems as if there has been a sudden and sharp increase in the competitiveness of what was already a competitive field. Future applicants really need to try to get at least one first author publication or ASTRO presentation or something like that. A year off to do dedicated research is becoming commonplace for MD candidates. Having two papers submitted at the time my application went in was good enough to match, but likely was not enough to garner interviews at top tier places and is likely the reason I slid to #6 on my list. As you can see, I have competitive scores/grades compared to the other posters in this thread who mostly matched at their top choice. Unlike other competitive fields, 250+ boards, AOA and all honors are not the ticket in RadOnc. It all helps, but research helps more.

 

[Gfunk6]

More groovy stats

--Board Scores: 241/263 (submitted in November)
--AOA and class rank: AOA, Top 20%
--GPA: N/A
--Reputation of medical school: Mid tier private school with a solid
radonc program
--Research: 2 radonc manuscripts submitted at time of ERAS (1 FA), 5
abstracts (3 FA)
--Honors in clerkships: Medicine, Radonc, Psych, Family Med, Excellent
in everything else
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 big name places
--# of programs you applied to: 50
--Where invited for interviews: 11 programs, mainly in the northeast
with a smattering of Mid-atlantic/Mid-west. Mostly mid-tier with a few
from the top.
--Where matched: Top-tier program in the midwest.
--Matched at what number on list: #3
--Anything that helped your app: One of my away letters got mentioned
multiple times. I hope it was because I busted my butt during the
rotation and managed to head up a new project at the same time.
--Plans if not matched: Not sure, likely wrap up some research/reapply.
--Prelim year: Prelim Medicine
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: 1
--Other: I was lucky enough to at least get exposed to radonc during
MS1, which allowed me to start working on some research during MS2,
present, etc. I think being MD-only from a mid-tier school hurt me
from getting Harvard/MSKCC/MDACC IVs and a dedicated research year
would have helped. Nevertheless, I'm absolutely thrilled with the way
the match turned out. Still can't believe it!

 

[Gfunk6]

moar

--Board Scores: Step 1 266, Step 2 276
--AOA and class rank: Yes for AOA, class rank unknown
--Reputation of medical school: top 20
--Research: First author on 2 papers (1 of them radonc), >2nd author on 2 other papers (not radonc and 1 was from college research), 1 oral & 2 posters (not radonc); after ERAS apps went out I also had 2 oral presentations and 1 poster in radonc that I updated people on along the way
--Honors in clerkships: all honors except surgery (HP)
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 months research elective
--# of programs you applied to: 34
--Where invited for interviews: went to Mayo, Yale, Michigan, Penn, Duke, UCLA, Stanford, Mount Sinai, MDAnderson, Vanderbilt, MSKCC, Harvard, Thomas Jefferson, U of Chicago
--Where matched:
--Matched at what number on rank list: #1
--Anything that helped your app: productive research year at another top institution even though research was not radonc or cancer related, spending time in a top radonc program in addition to my home radonc program
--Plans if not matched: complete intern year and apply again
--Prelim year: TY in NYC
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list:#1
--Other: I am very happy about having done a research year and would definitely recommend this to anyone who does not have special reasons to complete med school in 4 years and who is obviously not an MD/PhD. Good !

 

[Gfunk6]

moar!

--Board Scores: Step I low 250s
--AOA and class rank: Not AOA, unknown
--Reputation of medical school: Top 50
--Research: 1 radonc pubished, 1 radonc pub accepted at start of interview season, 1 small review onc accepted, 1 basic science submitted, 2 middle author non-radonc pubs, several ASTRO abstracts
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery, medicine and radonc) 1 non-core clerkship and medicine sub-i, HP everything else
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 top-tier and home program
--# of programs you applied to: almost every program
--Where invited for interviews: 33, interviewed at 16 (some top-tier, some mid-tier, couple random ones, noticed regional bias in where they were coming in from, mostly interviews from east and west coasts and a few mid-west)
--Where matched: =), place I'm really excited about
--Matched at what number on rank list: 1
--Anything that helped your app: dedicated research time between 3rd and 4th yr as part of a fellowship program in basic science lab. couple big wig letters from my fellowship institution. Strong home letters as well.
--Plans if not matched: cry and eat a tub of ice-cream... then hope for an open spot next yr?
--Prelim year: my home program
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: 1
--Other: Research definitely helped bolster my application as my clinical clerkship grades were solid but not stellar. The strong letters also garnered a lot of mention on the interview trail, extra bonus if they're from big-wigs. Depending on your goals, you do not need to embark on the dedicated research time, however if a top-tier program is your goal, dedicated research time is starting to be almost a necessary pre-requisite, unless you were dead-set on med school upon enrollment! I did not give Rad Onc serious thought (didn't even know about it!) until the tail-end of 3rd yr.

 

[Gfunk6]

moar!

--Board Scores: 248 (step 2 taken way late)
--AOA and class rank: top 1/4, not AOA
--GPA: nein.
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc): top 10
--Research: (none, some radonc with no publications, radonc publications, other pubs): lots of rad onc abstracts (2 1st author, with awards), 3 1st author rad onc pubs cooking at time of ERAS submission, 2 non rad onc pubs)
--Honors in clerkships: (especially surgery, medicine and radonc): honors in med, surg, rad onc and >80% in general
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 at top tier programs
--# of programs you applied to: 32
--Where invited for interviews: 8 top tier programs, 4 middle tier programs
--Where matched: a top tier program I wanted to attend
--Matched at what number on rank list: #1
--Anything that helped your app: (ie: a phone call to a program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc): very strong LORs and away rotation
--Plans if not matched: mime, MD.
--Prelim year: prelim medicine
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1
--Other: Away rotations are pretty key IMO. They get you interviews, LORs if you need them, and improve your chances of matching if you impress/fit in with the department. I matched at one of my aways. Research (and by that I mean, publications, is CRITICAL - it's all we talked about on interviews) and non-reserach ECs (all that wonderful wonderful leadership/volunteerism etc.) means jack in this field.*

 

[RadOncDoc21]

Okay this is mundane! Bottom line you guys are all great with Godly stats and all matched at . I guess Rad Onc is the new Derm now... Congrats!

-R

 

[medgator]

Okay this is mundane! Bottom line you guys are all great with Godly stats and all matched at . I guess Rad Onc is the new Derm now... Congrats!

-R

I think derm/plastics is still more numbers oriented than rad onc. You don't "need" a 240+ to match into rad onc. Honestly, a 232 + research/LORs trumps a 260/AOA with no research or big whig LORs any day of the week IMO. Not necessarily true with derm.

 

[Gfunk6]

moar!!

--board scores: Step 1 235 (sorry to break the 240+ streak we had going!) step 2 250
--aoa and class rank: Senior aoa; top 25%
--gpa: N/a
--reputation of medical school: None to speak of
--research: 2 first author rad onc papers submitted (1 of which was accepted late on the interview trail), a couple non-first author papers submitted/accepted, 4 first author rad onc abstracts, few more non first author abstracts
--honors in clerkships: Peds, psychiatry, 3 rad onc aways
--# and where you did away rotations: 3 aways -1 at a top-tier program, 2 at mid-tier programs
--# of programs you applied to: All of them
--where invited for interviews: 19 invites: Allegheny, arizona, city of hope, cleveland clinic, iowa, loyola, maryland, mayo jacksonville, minnesota, mcw, nebraska, ohio st, rwj-umdnj, unc, upmc, wayne st, william beaumont, wustl, yale
--where matched: At a place i did not rotate
--matched at what number on rank list: #2 !!
--anything that helped your app: I decided on rad onc very late in my third year and ultimately took a year off for rad onc research. I talked to several people on the trail who also took a year off for research; it seems to be a trend. I know of people who did not take the year off and don't have phds who matched, so don't feel obligated to take the year, although it'll be tough to break into the top-tier programs. The research was a great talking point during interviews. I also had 2 'big wig' letters.
--plans if not matched: Definitely had reached the 'magic' number of interviews, so if i didn't match, i'd work on my personality and charisma .
--prelim year: Program in my home town
--matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1
--other: My grades/scores were 'mediocre' compared to others who have posted, but i definitely helped boost my application with research. If you have excellent grades and scores with no research - you can match. If you have average grades and scores with lots of research - you can match. I think if you're a superstar across all fronts with a winning personality, then you're competitive for the top 3 programs.

 

[Gfunk6]

I didn't know Step I scores went this high . . .

--Board Scores: 275
--Reputation of medical school: Top 10
--Research: 1 year full-time research (basic), 1 first author radiation oncology paper. Additionally had several 1st author papers from undergrad.
--Honors in clerkships: Luckily, in all clerkships
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 (where I matched)
--# of programs you applied to: 20 programs
--Where invited for interviews: 13 programs
--Matched at what number on rank list: 1
--Anything that helped your app: A strong research background adds credence, and literally 99% of the people at the places I interviewed had at least a year out if not a PhD, so I would recommend it if you are on the fence.
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1
--Other: If you are going for a program of any "prestige" that is either traditionally above OR BELOW what advisors tell you your application is, do an away there to show that you are serious and to experience the program first hand. Everyone says this for applicants that are aiming for top tier programs, but it is JUST AS TRUE if you are coming from a top program and looking at a slightly less prestigious program, for whatever reason. Rad Onc is very small and competitive, if a program doesn't think you will rank them highly it has nothing to gain by blowing an interview spot on you even if you have what is considered a strong application. Keep this in mind.

 

[Gfunk6]

These stat blocks are looking less like residency applications and more like junior faculty applications . . .

--Board Scores: 259/271
--AOA and class rank: Not AOA, no class ranks
--GPA: NA
--Reputation of medical school: top 10
--Research: PhD with heme/onc focus. 2 first author heme/onc publications, several mid-author publications. Handful of abstracts and presentations. No radonc-specific research
--Honors in clerkships: Ob/Gyn, Internal Medicine, RadOnc. Passes in surgery and pediatrics.
--# and where you did away rotations: None
--# of programs you applied to: ~35
--Where invited for interviews: CWRU, Michigan, UAB, UTSW, Utah, Iowa, Stanford, Maryland, Hopkins, WashU, MSKCC, UCSD, MCW, Vanderbilt. Couldn't attend Tufts, Rush, Cleveland Clinic, Emory
--Matched at what number on rank list: 1
--Anything that helped your app: 2 letters (1 rad onc, 1 heme/onc) were mentioned at most of my interviews. PhD was definitely helpful.
--Plans if not matched: too terrified to truly consider it…probably would have taken a year and re-applied into radonc and another field, but my family would likely have murdered me
--Prelim year: TY in hometown
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: 1
--Other: Several points from my experience that may or may not be generalize-able; 1. you don't have to honor every rotation to be successful in getting interviews or matching. I had middle-of the road clinical grades but made up for it with strong research and boards scores; 2. away rotations are not a complete necessity if you're coming from a strong institution and you do not have a "dream" program/location; 3. PhDs definitely do not have to be related to rad onc. Mine gave me a wealth of good stories to tell and formed the basis of my answers to interview questions like: "tell me a time you failed" "what are you most proud of" and "tell me how you deal with difficult personalities." 4. When going to an interview, read the pubmed abstracts of all the people you will interview with. Take a couple notes and jot down any questions you want to ask. This will educate you about what is cutting edge in the field, give you new ideas about solving problems in the field, let you know if the research at that institution is what you want to be doing and will make you look awesome when you talk about it with the interviewer.
5. The single biggest piece of interview advice I can give (other than be a decent human being) is to develop some sort of narrative around yourself and your desired career path. Be able to state specific career goals such as "in 20 years I want to be… combining novel therapies with XRT in phase I trials, pioneering new patient safety methods, leading large co-operative group trials, etc. These need to be genuine and you need to be enthusiastic about them, but remember that they aren't set in stone and will probably change. Ideally, you can back up your ability to achieve these goals with your experiences from medschool. You should be able to list a few of the steps that you'll need to accomplish to get you to the goal, and this will give you something to evaluate the program on (i.e. do they offer grant-writing assistance/mentorship? what level of success have they had in residents getting RSNA grants funded? can I get co-op group experience? Can I take formal process/patient safety courses?). Lastly, it will be helpful to have generated some specific ideas that are based in the literature to share with your interviewers. What kind of novel therapies do you want to combine with XRT? What are some key patient safety-issues that need to be addressed? What randomized studies need to be done ASAP and why? Doing this will not only help you clarify your career goals and what steps you need to take to get them done, but it will let residency programs know that you are ambitious, bright, full of new ideas, well-prepared and someone who they will want to have associated with their institution. Remember that there's no penalty if your career goals change, so I think this is still a worthwhile exercise even if you're unsure about where you want to be in 20 years.

 

[Gfunk6]

And here's another.

--Board Scores: Step 1 245, Step 2 259
--Not AOA
--Reputation of medical school: top 30?
--Research: in radonc, 1 poster at a respectable national meeting; other than that I have a PhD in basic sciences. I would say that my mudfud status didn't help me at all - during interviews, I got a bunch of questions like "how come you didn't do radonc research"? I would say that (for the purposes of matching in radonc) it is better to be a med student who took off a year for radonc research, than to have PhD in sciences with no immediate translation into radonc.
--I did 3 away rotations, and this was extremely useful! Not only did aways help solidify my conviction that radonc is the field for me - I also made some important contacts and got great LORs.
--# of programs you applied to: 60.
--Where invited for interviews: 9 programs, and NONE of them were from the top tier. Painful. I ranked 7 (two were so bad, with no research done, that I decided it would be better to not match and reapply).
--Where matched: a good program.
--Matched at what number on rank list: #1 (however, i don't quite understand why this matters; I didn't get invited to interview at the programs where I really wanted to do, so who cares how I ranked the programs with which I was stuck?)
--Anything that helped your app: I do want to thank SDN. Overall, I am disappointed in how I performed in the application process, so I am not going to toot my horn here.
--Plans if not matched: go for prelim and try get a position outside of match. If not, do a year of research... reapply... Did not list any backup specialties.
--Prelim year: A very nice TY.
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1.
--Other: Guys and gals, do radonc research. And publish it and present it. Especially those of you who are mudfuds - don't listen to the rumor that just being an MD/PhD is going to help you. This is not medicine or psychiatry. Your PhD does not matter unless you have some radonc research to show it.

 

[RadOncDoc21]

yet you still matched!

-R

 

[Gfunk6]

You guys have been exceptional this year with feedback! I thank you on behalf of all future applicants.

--Board Scores: 246, 252 (took step 2 early to get it done with.. A few attendings actually mentioned that they were pleasantly surprised that I was willing to take it early since I did decent first go around)
--AOA and class rank if known: Not AOA, unsure of rank
--Reputation of medical school: (top 10, top 25, etc): Unranked
--Research: (none, some radonc with no publications, radonc publications, other pubs): First author rad onc published, first author onc submitted, second author rad onc published during interviews, abstracts/presentations at RSNA, ACRO, Radium, and a couple smaller conferences. Almost all research was rad onc/onc related
--Honors in clerkships (especially surgery, medicine and radonc): H in medicine, surgery, peds, ob/gyn, three radonc rotations. Mix of H, HP, and P during first and second yrs
--# and where you did away rotations: 2 aways in the northeast
--# of programs you applied to: Around 50
--Where invited for interviews: Invited to 20 interviews, went to 15. Mostly mid-tier in the northeast with a couple in the south/midwest
--Where matched: One of my aways
--Matched at what number on rank list: #2!
--Anything that helped your app (ie: a phone call to a program, big-wig letter of recs, MD/PhD, other degree, SDN Forum, etc): I had a combo of decent research, decent grades, and letters from 2 "big wigs". I also found out about the field early enough where I ended up not needing to take time off.. Most attendings seemed impressed with my productivity without dedicated research time.
--Plans if not matched: Ahhhh.. I told myself I'd do my prelim yr and reapply.. So thankful to have matched.
--Prelim year: TY Near home
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #2
--Other: I definitely feel like coming from a non top 50 med school prevented me from getting any top tier interviews. Made some good friends along the way who actually had less competitive applications but often received better interviews which I attribute to their school affiliation. With that said, I can't complain at all and am very excited about where I matched. I think it's definitely important to get something published as first author if possible. I had a couple of manuscripts where I was buried and it was as if they didn't exist. Also, if possible I would definitely try to get something put out for ASTRO. Even though I had a decent amount of work done, I've never had an ASTRO poster and I couldn't believe how many people focused on this aspect of my application rather than the work I had done.. Do something to stand out!!! Everyone nowadays has LOR, research, and grades.. you have to do something that makes you more appealing! Doing aways in different regions will probably help expand the number of interviews you get as well.

 

[Gfunk6]

And another one!

--Board Scores: Step 1 255, Step 2 260 (reported)
--AOA and class rank: Junior AOA
--GPA: N/A
--Reputation of medical school: unranked state school
--Research: 6 rad onc pubs at time of application (five first author), 2 ASTRO abstracts, rad onc book chapter
--Honors in clerkships: Honored all 3rd year clerkships, home rad onc rotation, and both away rad onc rotations
--# and where you did away rotations: 2, at top-tier places
--# of programs you applied to: 55
--Where invited for interviews: (in no particular order, and I did not attend all) MD Anderson, MSKCC, Wisconsin, Michigan, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Mt. Sinai, NY Methodist, Emory, Wash U, Columbia, Cornell, Einstein, Yale, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson, Colorado, UCLA, UCSD, Maryland, Miami, Mayo (Rochester), Jefferson, Fox Chase, Penn, Duke
--Where matched: great place
--Matched at what number on rank list: #1
--Anything that helped your app: I used three rad onc letters - one from home chairman, another from a big wig at an away rotation, and the last from a medium wig at an away rotation. I did a year of research in a rad onc department during medical school. My chairman offered to call my number 1. I asked my letter writers from each away rotation to put in a word to their program directors and chairs.
--Plans if not matched: come to grips with the fact that I must interview terribly
--Prelim year: interviewed at TY and prelim programs
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #2 in a good city
--Other: I hope that my experience shows future applicants from non-powerhouse medical schools that with a lot of hard work, you can still earn invites from really good programs. Work your tail off at away rotations, give a solid presentation, and keep in touch with your letter writers. Apply broadly if you are able to and do not overlook the programs that aren't the 'top tier' type places - there is tremendous opportunity and strong training at some smaller programs. Please join SDN and share your honest thoughts to help future applicants!

 

[Pewl]

Heh, if I didn't know better I'd say there was a whole lot of trollin' going on in this thread...

 

[Sheldor]

Heh, if I didn't know better I'd say there was a whole lot of trollin' going on in this thread...

This years crop of applicants are really impressive. I'm tempted to be thankful that I'm applying this year and not last, but I'm guessing this is part of a trend.

The Rad Onc secret is out.

 

[RadOnc37]

Have to ask... for example, from the Gfunk post at 12:31AM on 3/21/12: guy took one year off for research and has 6 rad onc publications (5 first author), as well as 1 book chapter. I've seen similar numbers from a few other posts. With these publications, are we talking about all research projects, or are we lumping in radonc case reports?

Delving into this further, for example, in one of the fastest forms of radonc publications (where your data is collected completely from optimizations and not from patient outcomes), you're talking (conservatively) maybe 300 optimizations per study (assuming your sample size is reasonable). Six different projects = 1800 total calculations. That's about 36/week over a 50-week year (a very manageable workload). I understand that once an idea is in mind, determination can allow you to gather data quickly, but you also have to factor in analyzing the data, adjusting as necessary, writing the papers and getting responses/editing and resubmitting. Studies with models don't go faster than that. Analyses of genetics in relation to outcomes don't go that much faster. Clinical trials certainly don't go faster. While this by no means describes all rad onc project designs... I'm just putting it out there that 6 pubs and 1 book chapter seems like an unusually successful year (not meaning to intentionally target that guy. A genuine congrats to him. I'm looking instead to express the message behind it).

 

[deleted4401]

Fair question but at a place with good infrastructure, you can pound stuff out. For example, I did some pancreas SRS work from a database. Got 3 abstracts out of it and two papers. Once the data was collected, didn't take long.. Just weeks. Other people in my residency did similar things and were able to crank out 5 papers in a clinical year. With the help of a good med student, it wasn't too taxing. Yeah, it's retrospective and not groundbreaking, but it's something, especially for an applicant. Places like Beaumont and UPMC and Stanford make it really easy to do outcomes research and retrospective studies.

 

[RSAgator]

So now that we've heard from all the demi-gods, where are all the mortal applicants? =)

 

[Gfunk6]

Heracles . . .

--Board Scores: Step 1 230s, Step 2 240s (reported)
--AOA and class rank: N/A
--GPA: N/A
--Reputation of medical school: Top 10
--Research: 6 first-author clinical pubs/chapters (3 rad onc), 10+ national/international presentations (mostly rad onc)
--Honors in clerkships: Everything
--# and where you did away rotations: 0
--# of programs you applied to: 24
--Where invited for interviews: 16, went on 10
--Matched at what number on rank list: #2
--Anything that helped your app: research record, strong support from well-respected department, masters degree
--Plans if not matched: continue at prelim program, maybe reapply
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #2
--Other: Strong research, clinical performance, and LORs could largely offset mediocre scores, as I was fortunate enough to get interviews at every program I wanted (and got rejected from many of my "backups"). Would've been really happy anywhere from #1-6 on my list and am thrilled where I ended up for both rad onc and prelim. There are so many phenomenal rad onc programs out there, so try not to stress so much about the particulars! Best of luck to you all, future applicants.

 

[Gfunk6]

Orpheus . . .

--Board Scores: Step 1 265, Step 2 - not submitted
--AOA and class rank: AOA, top 10%
--GPA: 3.96
--Reputation of medical school: unranked state school with a home program
--Research: paltry -- one radiobiology poster presentation, one 3rd author radonc manuscript submitted, one 1st author poster submitted, one ongoing project from my away that many found interesting (probably because of who I was working with), and other failed projects throughout medical school that I was able to spin into learning experiences (because they honestly were)
--Honors in clerkships: Perfect marks in all 3rd year clerkships, home rad onc rotation, and away rad onc rotation
--# and where you did away rotations: 1, upper-mid-tier place within my reach with prominent names on faculty, stayed on for a second month to complete a research rotation
--# of programs you applied to: 53
--Where invited for interviews: 14 went on 11, (in no particular order, and I did not attend all) UPenn, Galveston, MUSC, UChicago, Rush, Colorado, Duke, UCSD, Oklahoma, Beaumont, UAB, Ohio State, Cleveland Clinic, City of Hope
--Where matched: place where I spent two months away
--Matched at what number on rank list: #1
--Anything that helped your app: Board score and grades probably helped the most. I also had extensive extra-curriculars/leadership positions, but its tough to say how much that helped -- my sense is not much. I used three rad onc letters - one from home chair, another from a big wig at away rotation, and the last from chair at away rotation. Also, had a letter from home PD and an outstanding letter from a surgeon that I used where I felt it was appropriate. Some commented that they enjoyed seeing one of my four letters from a non-rad onc. My chairman offered to call my number 1, but ended up not needing him to do this. Not attempting to sound conceded but have been told I'm easy to get along with and likely interview well. I'm excited and passionate about this field and hope it showed.
--Plans if not matched: do prelim year and look for spot to open up outside the match
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1, excellent TY in same city as advanced program
--Other: To me, the most important thing is being honest with your strengths and weakness in order to gameplan effectively. Real mentorship is best for this (start early) but often times SDN is a great second option. I knew I was not likely a strong candidate for MDACC/Harvard/MSKCC so I focused on a place where I was both competitive and could obtain letters from well known docs. Be smart with aways, they are so key. Wherever you decided to rotate, just work incredibly hard and be friendly so as not to waste it. Don't be scared to try for this field if you love it. Based on the outstanding folks I met on the trail this winter, this should be one hell of a specialty for the duration of my career.

 

[ramsesthenice]

Simul D is right, this thread is kinda lame since we are all being so secretive with our match results. Applicants can tell who's who anyways. Before we applied, the one thing we wanted to know from these threads was what calibur of people really ended up at what places. Lets be nice and share...

-- board scores: 253/259
-- AOA: nope
-- Top 20 med school
-- publications: 9 papaers, 3 first author, 1 cancer, the rest neuropharmacology, 20+ abstracts posters etc.
-- med school grades: honors in all but surgery, HP in sry
-- no away rotations
-- applied to 32 programs
-- interviews at: Vanderbilt, Michigan, Stanford, Yale, Duke, UNC, Cincinnatti, Case Western, Ohio State, Rochester, Montinfore, Rush, U Chicago, Robert Wood Johnson
-- Matched: #1 on my list, UNC
-- Prelim: prelim med UNC
-- Things that helped: Having a PhD and a ton of research both before and during med school was key for me (at least interviews made it seem that way). In response to earlier posts, I had ZERO rad onc specific research and it did not hurt me one bit. I am a pharmacologist by training and I am a huge proponant of multimodal therapy. I plan to develop experimental therapeutics (either find novel compounds, improve delivery, etc) with the intention of improving clinical responses to radiation therapy. I can't disagree more that rad onc specific research is essential IF you have been succesful in your previous endevors and you have a convincing plan. People in 3rd year discovering rad onc for the first time that have done good research don't have to flip out just yet.

Since Im the only resident they took this year, I've pretty much outed myself already anyway so I will also add that this was my home program. Can't help but think that had to help too.

 

[radiadouken]

Simul D is right, this thread is kinda lame since we are all being so secretive with our match results. Applicants can tell who's who anyways. Before we applied, the one thing we wanted to know from these threads was what calibur of people really ended up at what places. Lets be nice and share...

-- board scores: 253/259
-- AOA: nope
-- Top 20 med school
-- publications: 9 papaers, 3 first author, 1 cancer, the rest neuropharmacology, 20+ abstracts posters etc.
-- med school grades: honors in all but surgery, HP in sry
-- no away rotations
-- applied to 32 programs
-- interviews at: Vanderbilt, Michigan, Stanford, Yale, Duke, UNC, Cincinnatti, Case Western, Ohio State, Rochester, Montinfore, Rush, U Chicago, Robert Wood Johnson
-- Matched: #1 on my list, UNC
-- Prelim: prelim med UNC
-- Things that helped: Having a PhD and a ton of research both before and during med school was key for me (at least interviews made it seem that way). In response to earlier posts, I had ZERO rad onc specific research and it did not hurt me one bit. I am a pharmacologist by training and I am a huge proponant of multimodal therapy. I plan to develop experimental therapeutics (either find novel compounds, improve delivery, etc) with the intention of improving clinical responses to radiation therapy. I can't disagree more that rad onc specific research is essential IF you have been succesful in your previous endevors and you have a convincing plan. People in 3rd year discovering rad onc for the first time that have done good research don't have to flip out just yet.

Since Im the only resident they took this year, I've pretty much outed myself already anyway so I will also add that this was my home program. Can't help but think that had to help too.

Dude. Pretty unnecessary to call out someone's name on this board. Also, I fail to see why revealing where you matched is so important. I think there's plenty of useful info knowing an applicant's numbers, research experience, pedigree and the kinds of programs they interviewed at. Most applicants clearly fit into tiers and match within their tier. Sure it's icing on the cake to know what program they matched at but realistically far less will contribute if there's pressure to "out yourself." Because you're right, if you were on the trail, you can probably tell who's who. Just my $0.02.

 

[RadOnc37]

(message removed by original author)

 

[ramsesthenice]

Radiaduken,
First, agree about the name. Can you edit your quote to reflect my edit?

The useful part as an applicant would be knowing how tiered things really are. We assume a lot based on these stats but how teired are the final results. Also I remember wanting to know if the super applucants on this page that matched in their top picks all went for the obvious choices or not. If people disagree thats totally cool. But if people pm gfunk its still pretty anonymous and I hope a few people will. I think there is helpful info in there.

 

[Radbio22]

I absolutely agree with UNC, as a third year it was exceptionally useful to know where applicants with certain specific app stats were matching. I understand that some don't want to reveal where they matched but at least list the programs you received interviews at, instead of just saying middle tier and top tier programs, I don't think that is useful at all.

 

[Sheldor]

I absolutely agree with UNC, as a third year it was exceptionally useful to know where applicants with certain specific app stats were matching. I understand that some don't want to reveal where they matched but at least list the programs you received interviews at, instead of just saying middle tier and top tier programs, I don't think that is useful at all.

Agree with this agreement. To be honest though, I'm just thankful that people have chosen to share as much as they have. Of course this years stats make me feel inadequate, but it is still nice to have so much data.

That said, I'll take what I can get, but it is nice to see what kind of stats end up getting what location.

 

[Manor2012]

-- 256/257
-- Not AOA
-- Not Top 20 med school
-- 2 pubs, 1 first author, oral presentation at RSNA, multiple other poster presentations/oral presentations
-- honors in all but pediatrics
-- aways at Univ of Cincinnati and Cleveland Clinic
-- applied to 50+ programs, couples matched (wife applied to Pediatrics)
-- interviews at: University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Cincinnati, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio State, Rochester, Syracuse, Roswell Park, Iowa, MUSC, Virginia, Wake Forest
Invited to interview but did not go: UTMB, Nebraska, Oklahoma
-- Matched: Did not match into radiation oncology
-- Prelim: prelim med, #1 on my list
Wife matched into peds, I matched only into a prelim med year.
Rough luck, thought I would match somewhere... Match week was not fun for me. Maybe more research would have helped? Several projects fell through unfortunately... Did what I could, just didn't work out. Best advice I can give, choose your research projects carefully and know which ones will pay off and not just get you lame poster presentations. Being at a middle tier med school plus not having piles of pubs did me in.
Well, now it's off to medicine!

 

[Gfunk6]

I'm very sorry it didn't work out for you. On paper it looks like any program would be lucky to have you as a resident. I would not give up hope however as PGY-2 spots do tend to open up during your internship outside the Match.

Be diligent about looking for these spots and I think you may be a Radiation Oncologist yet.

-- 256/257
-- Not AOA
-- Not Top 20 med school
-- 2 pubs, 1 first author, oral presentation at RSNA, multiple other poster presentations/oral presentations
-- honors in all but pediatrics
-- aways at Univ of Cincinnati and Cleveland Clinic
-- applied to 50+ programs, couples matched (wife applied to Pediatrics)
-- interviews at: University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Cincinnati, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio State, Rochester, Syracuse, Roswell Park, Iowa, MUSC, Virginia, Wake Forest
Invited to interview but did not go: UTMB, Nebraska, Oklahoma
-- Matched: Did not match into radiation oncology
-- Prelim: prelim med, #1 on my list
Wife matched into peds, I matched only into a prelim med year.
Rough luck, thought I would match somewhere... Match week was not fun for me. Maybe more research would have helped? Several projects fell through unfortunately... Did what I could, just didn't work out. Best advice I can give, choose your research projects carefully and know which ones will pay off and not just get you lame poster presentations. Being at a middle tier med school plus not having piles of pubs did me in.
Well, now it's off to medicine!

 

[medgator]

-- Matched: Did not match into radiation oncology
-- Prelim: prelim med, #1 on my list
Wife matched into peds, I matched only into a prelim med year.
Rough luck, thought I would match somewhere... Match week was not fun for me. Maybe more research would have helped? Several projects fell through unfortunately... Did what I could, just didn't work out. Best advice I can give, choose your research projects carefully and know which ones will pay off and not just get you lame poster presentations. Being at a middle tier med school plus not having piles of pubs did me in.
Well, now it's off to medicine!

You have good stats and it sounds like you made a decent effort to get some research under your belt. It's a tough field to match into and as gfunk said above, keep your ears to the ground. Spots open up mid-year more than you can imagine.

 

[Gfunk6]

Speaking of good stats . . .

--Board Scores: 260/260 (took Step 2 early and reported)
--AOA and class rank: AOA
--GPA: N/A
--Reputation of medical school: Top 10
--Research: 5 first author imaging pubs (not rad onc related), 2 rad onc posters, 1 rad onc first author paper submitted (subsequently rejected - did NOT update programs about this particular development )
--Honors in clerkships: Honored IM, Surgery, OB/GYN, Family Medicine, Neurology, home rad onc rotation
--# and where you did away rotations: 1 at mid-tier
--# of programs you applied to: 26
--Where invited for interviews (13 total, went on 9): Stanford, University of Chicago, MDACC, Vanderbilt, UCSF, Kaiser LA, MSKCC, UW, CPMC, UCSD, City of Hope, Harvard, Michigan
--Where matched: A lovely little spot
--Matched at what number on rank list: #2
--Anything that helped your app: While I had little rad onc research compared to many other applicants, my research was looked upon favorably on the interview trail because it involved technical skills that were useful both clinically and in research within rad onc.
--Plans if not matched: whiskey-soaked murderous rampage in my home department (cheers for anonymity - please don't report me Gfunk)
--Prelim year: No-longer-cush TY (thanks, work hour restrictions)
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1
--Other: A few points:
1) I found a lot of regional bias in where I got interviews, exacerbated by the fact that I did not do an away rotation on the East Coast. If you think there is ANY chance you would want to end up in a particular region, I would suggest doing an away there to prove that you're serious.
2) I want to echo an earlier poster's point that it is essential to construct a narrative about yourself for the interview trail. When every freaking applicant has 250+ board scores, multiple publications, and a rec letter from a demigod, you have to be able to sit down with an interviewer and tell them what unique skills/experiences/attributes you bring to a program that set you apart from other applicants, and to fit this narrative in with your larger career goals.
3) Based on my experience, significant research in rad onc is not essential. What IS essential is a track record of productive research, preferably in a field that requires skills that are relevant to radiation oncology.
4) There will come a time in early November when people start posting interview dates on this forum and you will FREAK THE F*&# OUT about matching. I did, even though I was fairly confident in my application. Do your best to stay calm and be patient; if things are still not looking good early-mid December it may be time to start worrying.

 

[Aphtalyfe]

-- 256/257
-- Not AOA
-- Not Top 20 med school
-- 2 pubs, 1 first author, oral presentation at RSNA, multiple other poster presentations/oral presentations
-- honors in all but pediatrics
-- aways at Univ of Cincinnati and Cleveland Clinic
-- applied to 50+ programs, couples matched (wife applied to Pediatrics)
-- interviews at: University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Cincinnati, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio State, Rochester, Syracuse, Roswell Park, Iowa, MUSC, Virginia, Wake Forest
Invited to interview but did not go: UTMB, Nebraska, Oklahoma
-- Matched: Did not match into radiation oncology
-- Prelim: prelim med, #1 on my list
Wife matched into peds, I matched only into a prelim med year.
Rough luck, thought I would match somewhere... Match week was not fun for me. Maybe more research would have helped? Several projects fell through unfortunately... Did what I could, just didn't work out. Best advice I can give, choose your research projects carefully and know which ones will pay off and not just get you lame poster presentations. Being at a middle tier med school plus not having piles of pubs did me in.
Well, now it's off to medicine!

I'm very sorry it didn't work out for you. On paper it looks like any program would be lucky to have you as a resident. I would not give up hope however as PGY-2 spots do tend to open up during your internship outside the Match.

Be diligent about looking for these spots and I think you may be a Radiation Oncologist yet.

Ummm... wow. Not being able to match with those stats is pretty discouraging... Thank you for posting though.

 

[Gfunk6]

More, more!

--Board Scores: Step 1 245, Step 2 259
--Not AOA
--Reputation of medical school: top 30?
--Research: in radonc, 1 poster at a respectable national meeting; other than that I have a PhD in basic sciences. I would say that my mudfud status didn't help me at all - during interviews, I got a bunch of questions like "how come you didn't do radonc research"? I would say that (for the purposes of matching in radonc) it is better to be a med student who took off a year for radonc research, than to have PhD in sciences with no immediate translation into radonc.
--I did 3 away rotations, and this was extremely useful! Not only did aways help solidify my conviction that radonc is the field for me - I also made some important contacts and got great LORs.
--# of programs you applied to: 60.
--Where invited for interviews: 9 programs, and NONE of them were from the top tier. Painful. I ranked 7 (two were so bad, with no research done, that I decided it would be better to not match and reapply).
--Where matched: a good program.
--Matched at what number on rank list: #1 (however, i don't quite understand why this matters; I didn't get invited to interview at the programs where I really wanted to do, so who cares how I ranked the programs with which I was stuck?)
--Anything that helped your app: I do want to thank SDN. Overall, I am disappointed in how I performed in the application process, so I am not going to toot my horn here.
--Plans if not matched: go for prelim and try get a position outside of match. If not, do a year of research... reapply... Did not list any backup specialties.
--Prelim year: A very nice TY.
--Matched at what number of prelim yr on list: #1.
--Other: Guys and gals, do radonc research. And publish it and present it. Especially those of you who are mudfuds - don't listen to the rumor that just being an MD/PhD is going to help you. This is not medicine or psychiatry. Your PhD does not matter unless you have some radonc research to show it.

 

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