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Does anyone else think that the level of nepotism in radonc is high?
Completely agree and I think it's unfortunate. It exists not only in selection of residents but hiring attendings. What I find especially unfortunate is that certain programs continue to interview other candidates as if they are considering outsider when they already know who they intend to hire, based solely on family connection.There's some incredible nepotism I saw on the trail this year.
There's some incredible nepotism I saw on the trail this year.
There's a program in NYC where one of the residents is the daughter of one of the attendings. In that same program this year, the chairman was interviewing his own son for a residency position.
Yes, exactly. Was told the position will be going to the son. Not sure if that's true or not since I don't know the rank list. Another example, I've been told of another place where an attending position is 'guaranteed' to the son-in-law of one of the chairs or vice chairs. I can't say whether or not he deserves the position but what would bother me is that if the spot is going to him anyway, why bother having the charade of bringing in other candidates and wasting everyone's time to 'hide' the nepotism.There's a program in NYC where one of the residents is the daughter of one of the attendings. In that same program this year, the chairman was interviewing his own son for a residency position.
There's a program in NYC where one of the residents is the daughter of one of the attendings. In that same program this year, the chairman was interviewing his own son for a residency position.
Which program? Please tell us so that we in the field can give them ****.
That's major conflict of interest. Can ASTRO be petitioned to do something about this?
There was an applicant a few years ago who had strong connections to a prominent program where they interviewed. It was assumed that they would have a free spot there, and yet they ended up at a different program. So I would reserve judgement for now.
I understand that everyone is stressed out about the rank list and matching, but, seriously, you likely have no idea what's going on. It's possible that person didn't even rank that program 1st, 2nd, 3rd.... etc. He may not even want to go there! You also don't know what considerations were taken into account given the situation - the program probably feels weird about it, too. I think it would be weird if he didn't get an interview there. And if you had those connections, you would feel the same way, too.
So take a chill pill, and if you don't match, it's nobody's fault but your own.
I also know of such a program where a resident is child of an attending (sigh). I worked side by side with child and mother and where my intern should have given the chance to do X procedure the mother said she wanted child to do it because she had not done it before...sighThere's a program in NYC where one of the residents is the daughter of one of the attendings. In that same program this year, the chairman was interviewing his own son for a residency position.
Is the problem that the son was granted an interview? Unless I'm mistaken, the match hasn't happened yet.
If the kid is qualified for a radonc position at this program, should they be disqualified from an interview because of the family relationship? I personally don't think so.
As someone above stated, programs nearly always give preference to known quantities - be it their own medical students or those who have rotated through and are well known and well liked.
It's not as if this program is interviewing a chiropractor for a radonc residency - they are interviewing a medical student who is interested in radonc and for all you know is every bit as qualified as you are.
If I were the kid's Dad and on faculty, I personally would worry about how it would look so would try to encourage my kid to train elsewhere..they would probably learn better from other people too..but if my kid was qualified for consideration and wanted to train at my program, I would not close the door on them just because others might raise their eyebrows.
I had more than one interview that I felt was money and time wasted because the program had basically decided who they were going to match. But having been on the other end of the process now I can tell you that surprises happen every year, despite perceived promises by either programs or candidates.
In this scenario, it sounds like the only thing you are confident about is that the kid was given an interview. He has not matched. Even if he did, he may have every right to. I don't see any "proof" of wrongdoing.
You'd really be something else if you don't think having a daddy who is chair wouldn't influence your probably of getting accepted in the field. His dad will probably get him hired somewhere else. But realistically nepotism happens everywhere including medicine. It's probably worst in a small field like ours. The only thing we can do is to call it out when we see it.
SDN has become an unsafe and intolerant forum to discuss important issues. PM me.
Obviously.If I was chair of NY Methodist and my son/daughter was interested in radonc, I'd be using my connections to get them a spot at MSKCC, MGH, Yale, or some other top tier east coast program.