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(As a general disclaimer, this post is not meant for those medical students who have their hearts set on this field. This is only for people on the fence - those who could be happy in other specialties.)
(Also, going back to the pre-COVID days where RadOnc economics was one of the biggest concerns makes me nostalgic.)
In trying to keep up with all the far-reaching effects of the COVID pandemic, I have been reading a lot of concern from current third-year medical students who have been quarantined and therefore pulled off clinical rotations. It seems many institutions have put a hold on away rotations, and people are understandably very concerned about the effect this will have on residency applications. This seems especially salient in a field like Radiation Oncology, where away rotations were the main mechanism by which recommendation letters and networking was achieved - historically crucial to the Match (back when we were competitive).
We have now had two (three?) years of people realizing the declining job outlook secondary to oversupply, and worsening performance in the Match as a result. While this year was definitely a struggle, there was still a decent handful of ultra-competitive folks. There will ALWAYS be people who have their heart set on RadOnc and they might have an amazing CV, just as (I assume) there are always some very competitive people interested in Pathology and Nuclear Medicine.
However, there’s been speculation that some of this year’s all-stars were still pursuing Radiation Oncology through a sort of “sunk cost fallacy”. I feel like the field has been struggling for long enough now that we’ve cut back on the number of “M1 Gunners” who started doing RadOnc research the second they entered medical school and believe they MUST continue on with this career path.
However, I implore you, fence-sitting medical students who have been crafting a RadOnc-oriented ERAS application: use this quarantine and lack of away rotations to give yourself permission to pursue other fields. Now is the time to make this decision, and no PD will think twice about the fact that you had some RadOnc experience pre-COVID and decided to pursue Heme/Onc or something else instead.
This post is partially born out of my own reality as I am ramping up to enter the job search as a senior resident. Many universities (and state governments) have instituted hiring freezes that will last for the next 3-15 months (some universities have decided to freeze hiring until the end of the 2020-2021 academic year (!!)). It was always going to be rough given that 1) RadOnc has been a tough job market forever and 2) the well-documented oversupply of residents combined with APM and general supervision. However, me and my class are also looking at 1) massive hiring freezes at academic medical centers, 2) large losses of revenues for academic and private practices based on lost RVUs with canceled elective procedures, and 3) folks potentially delaying retirement for a few years after their 401ks took a bath. This obviously doesn’t affect just Radiation Oncology - I’ve heard about offers being rescinded for this year’s graduating residents/fellows in other specialties (I don’t personally know of that in RadOnc though...yet). While cancer is not an elective procedure and there will always be a need for Radiation Oncologists regardless of global events, this is going to be a tremendous kick in the teeth for my class and the classes which follow it - for who knows how long.
Anyway, my thesis: fence sitters, avoid sunk costs. Kids who LOVE Radiation Oncology - see you at ASTRO!
(Also, going back to the pre-COVID days where RadOnc economics was one of the biggest concerns makes me nostalgic.)
In trying to keep up with all the far-reaching effects of the COVID pandemic, I have been reading a lot of concern from current third-year medical students who have been quarantined and therefore pulled off clinical rotations. It seems many institutions have put a hold on away rotations, and people are understandably very concerned about the effect this will have on residency applications. This seems especially salient in a field like Radiation Oncology, where away rotations were the main mechanism by which recommendation letters and networking was achieved - historically crucial to the Match (back when we were competitive).
We have now had two (three?) years of people realizing the declining job outlook secondary to oversupply, and worsening performance in the Match as a result. While this year was definitely a struggle, there was still a decent handful of ultra-competitive folks. There will ALWAYS be people who have their heart set on RadOnc and they might have an amazing CV, just as (I assume) there are always some very competitive people interested in Pathology and Nuclear Medicine.
However, there’s been speculation that some of this year’s all-stars were still pursuing Radiation Oncology through a sort of “sunk cost fallacy”. I feel like the field has been struggling for long enough now that we’ve cut back on the number of “M1 Gunners” who started doing RadOnc research the second they entered medical school and believe they MUST continue on with this career path.
However, I implore you, fence-sitting medical students who have been crafting a RadOnc-oriented ERAS application: use this quarantine and lack of away rotations to give yourself permission to pursue other fields. Now is the time to make this decision, and no PD will think twice about the fact that you had some RadOnc experience pre-COVID and decided to pursue Heme/Onc or something else instead.
This post is partially born out of my own reality as I am ramping up to enter the job search as a senior resident. Many universities (and state governments) have instituted hiring freezes that will last for the next 3-15 months (some universities have decided to freeze hiring until the end of the 2020-2021 academic year (!!)). It was always going to be rough given that 1) RadOnc has been a tough job market forever and 2) the well-documented oversupply of residents combined with APM and general supervision. However, me and my class are also looking at 1) massive hiring freezes at academic medical centers, 2) large losses of revenues for academic and private practices based on lost RVUs with canceled elective procedures, and 3) folks potentially delaying retirement for a few years after their 401ks took a bath. This obviously doesn’t affect just Radiation Oncology - I’ve heard about offers being rescinded for this year’s graduating residents/fellows in other specialties (I don’t personally know of that in RadOnc though...yet). While cancer is not an elective procedure and there will always be a need for Radiation Oncologists regardless of global events, this is going to be a tremendous kick in the teeth for my class and the classes which follow it - for who knows how long.
Anyway, my thesis: fence sitters, avoid sunk costs. Kids who LOVE Radiation Oncology - see you at ASTRO!
