Any D.O's applying for Rad Onc?

[Impressions]

Are there any D.O's applying to rad onc this year?

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[thesauce]

I met one on the trail

 

[Freight Train]

Yes. I am a DO candidate currently applying to Rad Onc programs. How about yourself? I have heard from a PD friend of mine that there are "lots" of DO's applying this year. Don't know if that's good or bad. I guess we'll see...

 

[Impressions]

I am a D.O. as well, haven't met any other D.O's applying for rad onc yet. I applied to 40 programs and only have 2 interviews so far, starting to get really worried. Are you applying for any back up programs?

 

[Freight Train]

Nope. I'm risking it all. We'll see if it pays off!!! Thought about applying for a backup, but there wasn't anything else I liked enough to commit to it for a lifetime (not to mention the hassel of writing 2 personal statements and getting more LORs--all my LORs are Rad Onc). Anyway, I've worked pretty hard over the last year and a half to put myself in a position to match (lots of research projects including a 1st author submission to red journal and a poster at ASTRO; great LORs from big names in the field; several away rotations at mid-tier programs known to be "DO friendly"; lots of contacts in the field from all my aways; and of course, great step 1 USMLE score, class rank, and grades). Long story short... I have 9 interview invites so far (I personally think that the invites are basically finished), which I am thrilled about. But the reality is, of my 9 interviews I have "connections" at 7 of them (either rotated there or had someone call the PD for me to ask them to interview me). Applying as a DO is not easy! There are definitely programs that will NOT interview you no matter what your credentials are. But there certainly are several programs that have taken DOs, and several others that are open to taking DOs. You probably should've applied to more programs or done more aways, but maybe you have a backup???