Interview impressions

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
University of Minnesota .... One thing that sticks out about this program is that it is a division of the radiology department rather than a stand-alone department.

This is inaccurate, our department is not a division of radiology.

Members don't see this ad.
 
This is inaccurate, our department is not a division of radiology.

I think the poster misunderstood that your Department (while separate) is under the umbrella of the ALRT which also includes the Departments of Radiology, Anesthesiology and Pathology.
 
Here are some more reviews, thanks!

Moffitt/University of South Florida

I was very impressed by this program. The department has grown tremendously since the chair Dr. Stevens arrived from MDACC in 2006. They currently have 21 faculty or so with a few more on the way. The cancer center itself is gorgeous, with great ancillary staff to minimize scut for residents. Good research databases available with a tissue database that has collected thousands of samples for "personalized medicine." The program is flush with cash. They have the third highest clinical volume behind MDACC and MSKCC, so there is no shortage of cases and pathology. A new program, but will definitely be a top program very soon. Approved for 12 residents interviewed 24 for 3 spots.

U. Washington

I think this program has made great strides in the right direction. The new program director is Dr. Kane from Princess Margaret. She is a huge advocate for the residents and has eliminated cross cover of faculty. The residents do seem to work harder than average with hours typically from 7 am to 7 pm and driving between multiple sites in Seattle. Research is not handed to you, but can definitely be found. They are getting a proton center in 2013 and the current chair Dr. Laramore will be leaving to direct the proton center with a new chair on the way. Seattle! Interviewed 28 for 2 spots.

Fox Chase

This program has undergone some transitions recently. Temple recently acquired Fox Chase due to financial issues. Dr. Horwitz assured all the applicants during the interview day that no major changes would be made to the structure of the cancer center and department. They have a new program director Dr. Meyer from Cornell, who took over for Dr. Horwitz. It's an adult cancer center so residents do peds at Penn. Overall, the residents seemed really happy. Great ancillary staff with minimal scut work for residents. Awesome research databases and funding for travel. Interviewed 20 for 2 spots.

USC

This program is definitely headed in the right direction with Dr. Chang, serving as the new chair. He is hiring several new faculty. Research opportunities are not there currently but this should change with Dr. Chang as the chair. LA County where you spend the majority of your time has a beautiful new hospital and rad onc department. Adopted the 5 min presentation done at MDACC during this interview cycle. Great hours and obvious perks of being in LA. Interviewed 30-40 for 3 spots.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
A couple more.

Ohio State University. Great things are happening here. They have a new departmental chair and program director - both with stellar pedigrees, and extremely energetic and motivated. They have secured $$$ (forgot how much, but a truly astronomical sum) for various "hardware" projects (equipment, construction). They are hiring new academic faculty like crazy - I enjoyed the interviews because sometimes we interviewed with up to 3 of such new hires. Clearly, you will be EXPECTED to do research, and bench research specifically, to your heart's content. Didactic program is being revamped. I think their aim is to make this into a top academic program, and from what I was able to observe - they will succeed. Why did I not rank them #1? Here it is: most of the faculty have themselves just recently been residents, and need to establish their careers before they will care about mine. Also, I didn't want to be in a program that is so much in flux - even though it is moving in the right direction, kinks will need to be ironed out. And also (for me) Columbus, OH is not a desirable location.

Cornell - I almost cancelled my interview there but was in the city for something else, and so I went. And ended up being tremendously impressed! As their full name suggests, they cover two hospitals (and two completely different patient populations): Weill Cornell on the UWS, and NY Hospital Queens. In Queens, they do a ton of gyn cases "thanks" (sad for the patient, advantageous for the resident) to the large population of immigrants and the indigent who didn't get appropriate preventive care. You can choose to do as much research - or as little - as you desire. You can collaborate with any of the Tri-Institution labs. Moreover, your research time can be split - you don't need to take a full year all at once. And for those who don't want to do bench research - well, you'll do some clinical studies and be done. The residents publish well, go to meetings and win awards. There is some debate regarding the long-term prospects for the program... the whole "are Columbia and Cornell rad oncs going to merge?" question continues to be asked... Also, I've not had the pleasure to meet Dr. Chao, neither at Cornell nor at Columbia. Would be appropriate to ask him some questions.
 
UC Irvine is a growing program with great variety: 3 main site UC Irvine University Hospital (NCI designated Cancer Center), Long Beach Memorial, Long Beach VA. They have a brand new program director from Princess Margaret Hospital which is a powerhouse in the radiation oncology community. He specializes in head and neck and they get quite a bit of volume of H&N cases which they predominantly use rapid arc trilogy to treat with. Other highlights are Dr. Kuo who treats plenty of brain patients with gammaknife at beautiful oceanfront newport beach Hoag Hospital and we use cyberknife out of orange coast memorial. Dr. Syed is revolutionary in brachytherapy and plenty of experience with implants. The chairman Dr. Ramsinghani is a breast and gyn expert with plenty of experience in APBI. A proton center is being built at Long beach memorial which will help bolster the pediatric experience. Also Dr. Linda Chan trained out of UCSF and is well versed in the literature. Research opportunities are abundant, with great radiobiology training by the Limoli lab.
 
UC Irvine is a growing program with great variety: 3 main site UC Irvine University Hospital (NCI designated Cancer Center), Long Beach Memorial, Long Beach VA. They have a brand new program director from Princess Margaret Hospital which is a powerhouse in the radiation oncology community. He specializes in head and neck and they get quite a bit of volume of H&N cases which they predominantly use rapid arc trilogy to treat with. Other highlights are Dr. Kuo who treats plenty of brain patients with gammaknife at beautiful oceanfront newport beach Hoag Hospital and we use cyberknife out of orange coast memorial. Dr. Syed is revolutionary in brachytherapy and plenty of experience with implants. The chairman Dr. Ramsinghani is a breast and gyn expert with plenty of experience in APBI. A proton center is being built at Long beach memorial which will help bolster the pediatric experience. Also Dr. Linda Chan trained out of UCSF and is well versed in the literature. Research opportunities are abundant, with great radiobiology training by the Limoli lab.

Hmmm . . . this seems more like an advertisement than an interview "impression." :laugh:
 
Im just doing some recruiting and Newport Beach helps :). I did interview at UC Irvine last year and can answer any questions applicants might have. Message me if you want more info thanks.
 
My wife is watching Downton Abbey with my mother-in-law, so as of this moment I officially have no excuse not to contribute. This thread has been incredibly helpful the last few years, and I am duty bound to pay it forward.

I feel like impressions are so deeply colored by priorities that it is prudent to give a little background: I prefer physics research, and value clinical training highly. I also don't mind smaller cities, and in many ways prefer them for familial reasons, and have no preference for geography.

So my journey started out with...

Loyola University

Location: Located in one of the western suburbs of Chicago, Loyola is in Maywood, IL. The residents said the area around the school was “yucky” and this was apparent with just a little exploring. However, I did have time to visit the suburb Oak Park where many residents live and it seemed much nicer. About half of the residents live in the city, and say it takes them a half hour door to door to commute form the loop, which I imagine would be very important to most applicants!

Facilities/Technology: Have four linacs currently I believe, with one recently commissioned True Beam, and a novalis machine. Clearly a close relationship with Varian, so it makes sense. They use Eclipse for planning, and Epic for the EMR. Resident said you can access both from home via VPN, which is a big plus. Clinic is fairly standard, decent. Residents each get a desk and computer, the room was “meh”, but apparently in the next couple years a brand new 100 million dollar research building is being erected which will house new offices for the department, so the new office should be nicer.

Research: Currently, it is largely geared towards physics/clinical research. Apparently they have hired a radiobiologist who started last year but was told by one of the residents that she was still “Getting her baring.” I didn't meet her so I can't really speak to how working with her would be. Everyone said she was nice, and it sounds like the goal is to have some radiobiology research opportunities available to those who would like it.

Faculty: Big shake up here last year, so its a little early to tell whats going on. The Chair Dr. Emami is great, but announced recently that he is stepping down next year. At our interview day, they were unable to tell us who the new chair would be as they were in negotiations. Dr. Emami was great, and is excited to stay on as a professor and see patients, do research and teach. I truly believe his passion is teaching, so I think this will overall be good for residents. However, like with any new chair, there is a lot of unknown. They recently lost three faculty, so the PD is brand new from Northwestern, and a junior faculty from Louisville. Both seemed very nice, and I’m guessing will add to the diversity of training in the department.

Residents: The residents seemed very nice. In fact, all but one were at the dinner and it was very easy to talk with them. The current chief resident is amazing, and I found myself being very sad that she would be gone if I matched here.

Work: Rule of thumb, is 7-6, M-F. M,T,Th and Friday there is didactic conference at 7AM, and wednesday afternoons from 4-6. When you are done in the afternoon seems to depend largely on the “service” you are on. You are assigned to one attending for 3 month period. You are not responsible for cross covering other residents while they are on vacation, as the attendings just take care of it themselves.

Overall Impression: This seems like a great place if you want to go into private practice. The chair stated that of all the residents he’s taught all of them stayed with their first job except for one, so clearly they were at least satisfied with their employment out of residency. I left impressed with the department, and confident that I would be a competent/caring physician. New chair will likely increase the research opportunities, making this a wonderful Chicago area program for those that want to be near the city.

Thats it for my first stop. These reviews will likely get shorter, as like many, my note taking waned as the interview season went on :)
 
Start this off with a twofer, as apparently Downton Abbey episodes last an entire hour.

Shortly after enjoying the lack of snow in Loyola, I was off to the, then highly contested, swing state of Ohio!

In retrospect, I really liked this program. They know their strength (Clinical training, Peds) and are actively trying to add more research. The cost of living in Cincinnati is incredible, and I think the Midwest is just chronically misunderstood :)

University of Cincinnati

Location: Cincinnati, OH is actually a really pretty town. Definitely not as big as your typical “big city” but seems to have a lot to offer. Your typical midwestern city as far as I could tell. Definitely a sports town. For those with a family this seems like a great spot. Low cost of living, with lots of things to do for families (museum, parks, etc)

Facilities/Tech: There was unfortunately no powerpoint presentation so this is a little hard to remember. 3 lin acs at the university hospital, and 3 at their satellite in west chester north of the city. (In West chester it was one novalis not sure of the other two) They have an HDR suite near it all, it didn’t seem like it got much use. Resident work room was small but had cubicle like desks giving some privacy. Talk of protons in 3.5-4 years, but no down payment, and no ground breaking as of yet.

Research: “This is primarily a clinical place.” Words spoken by at least half of my interviewers. This is definitely not a bad thing, unless you like research, then it is. I am convinced that you get a clinical education barely second to none here. That said, they will give you up to 6 months of dedicated research months at the expense of your elective months. Right now, it is entirely clinical. Although they are working on trying to expand the basic science options. 3 months is a safer bet on what you’ll get here. Overall, I deeply appreciated a program knowing what their strength was and being honest about it.

Faculty: Really nice group of folks. Enjoyed my conversations with all of them. Most of them trained at UC, but all of the new faculty they are hiring (at least another 3-4) will be from other institutions and should breed some diversity.

Residents: Great group of folks, but also mostly from UC. Three people form the current class applying, so I don’t like my chances. One on one with attendings, 2 month rotations. Would be great coworkers.

Work: One hour of didactics per day, at least from an attending. As well as new patient conference, which is slightly long. Every Monday, EVERY single patient is presented. My interview day it took 1.5 hours in a slightly dark room, after dealing with a time change and being at the hospital BY 7 AM. Ugh. Residents said you get out between 5-6 each day, fairly universally. All in all, residents seemed to really enjoy their didactics!

Overall Impression: Overall, I liked this place. Everyone was friendly, and it seemed like the clinical education was great. Seems like there is just enough research/name recognition (especially for Peds) that if you wanted to go academics you probably could, although they mainly turn out private practice docs (Not that there is anything wrong with that). My biggest complaint was the lack of a presentation, making it difficult to get an overview of what the program had to offer. Very happy place, and it would be great to match there.
 
I will try to begin posting reviews from each of the programs I interviewed at. Probably will get shorter with time. I take few notes, so most is from memory, so pardon any errors.

Mayo Clinic (Rochester)

Location: Well, that's get it out of the way first. Rochester is not my cup of tea. The city is basically Mayo Clinic and IBM. Certainly cost of living is low (and most of the residents owned homes), but seemed like a relative lack of cultural activities, as you might expect for a city of its size and relative homogeneity. About 1.5 hours to the Twin cities, which are awesome. TBH, I think this (great) program probably suffers the most based on their location, in terms of attracting top talent.

Facilities/Technology: The Mayo Clinic in general is gorgeous. The Rad Onc facilities were meh. Not bad, not great. Do not remember at all # or each type of equipment represented (first interview and terrible note taker), but definitely got the sense that they had everything you could ask for. Ground has already been broken on a proton facility down the street from main facility. Proton facility funded entirely by donation. From what I hear, Mayo has a fantastic home-grown EMR.

Research: Predominately geared towards clinical research. Dr. Laack commented that there is one particularly strong translational researcher, but unfortunately he wasn't there during my interview day. Mayo in general benefits from having a very well developed patient database system, both institutionally and departmentally. Residents get 6 months, potentially more for the right project. Residents had a very impressive number of publications, and Mayo is extremely generous with regards to conference/travel funding for meetings. I believe one of the Chief's had been to 6 conferences (2 international) within the prior year all paid for in full by Mayo.

Didactics: Mayo Clinic had a fantastic morning conference that interviewees got to attend. I was definitely impressed with the knowledge-base of the residents. Presenter essentially "pimps" (benignly) another resident as they go through a case. Well attending by faculty with frequent educational discussion throughout the conference. I very much enjoyed it.

Faculty: Seems like most of the faculty trained here. PD is Dr. Laack; she was very friendly. One of my favorite interviewers of the whole circuit was Dr. Neben-Wittich. She was so kind and incredibly fun to talk with. Didn't have a chance to meet with Chair. Dr. Olivier seemed great, as did recent hire from WashU (Daniel Ma).

Residents: The residents seemed very nice. If I remember correctly mostly male with 2/year. May have been slight predominance of Midwesterners, as you might expect, but I can't recall.

Clinical Load: Definitely got the sense that case volume and diversity was pretty high at Mayo Clinic. Don't recall if single attending coverage. With regards to training, something that was pretty unique about this program was the Senior Resident Associate rotation during the PGY5 year. Essentially the resident operates as an attending, and has complete independence over their patients. Attendings do not have to sign off on the SRA's work. There was also a significant amount of time doing Locums at regional Mayo facilities. Each day of locums work was additional paid time for the residents. Basically, I don't think that any program comes close with regards to moonlighting opportunities (though that wasn't something that I was actively seeking).

Interview Day: Mayo pays for hotel at Doubletree or Hilton (thanks!). Dinner with residents night before, almost all residents attended. Welcome session followed by morning conference. After that had 3-4 interviews (25-30min each) before lunch (taken out to restaurant by residents). 3-4 more interviews in the afternoon followed by a brief wrap-up session. N.b. each Mayo interviewer asks ~2 ethical questions e.g. "give me an example of a difficult patient you took care of," or "an example when you had to be the leader of a team…," and as a result I felt like Mayo had one of the most formal interview days. Nonetheless, everyone was very nice and I had no abrasive interactions.

Overall Impression: I thought this was a phenomenal training program. Clinical volume is high, great clinical research opportunities, and very nice faculty and residents. Protons coming on line soon if that's important to you. Unfortunately, Rochester isn't the most hopping town, but I'd be willing to live there for the quality of training that you get. Loved the idea of the Senior Resident Association program during the final year. I think anyone who trains here gets fantastic training, and I'd be happy to have the opportunity.
 
Last edited:
University of Pennsylvania

Location: Philadelphia! So, many will not agree but Philadelphia is my second favorite city on the east coast after Boston (sorry NYC and DC). I love Center City, love the urban grit, SEPTA is pretty good. Sure you may not want to venture too far North, South, East or West but that doesn't bother me. Great foodie AND sports town. It's much more affordable then NYC and Boston, and many of the residents lived in Center City, often in walking distance to Penn. Quick train or bus rides to NY and DC for nice weekend excursions.

Facilities/Technology: Hands down the most beautiful facilities of any radiation oncology department I visited. 100,000+ sq ft, all under one roof, right across street from HUP and CHOP. As everyone knows, protons galore here. 4 other linacs at Penn. Pennsylvania Hospital with 2 linacs and gammaknife in Center City. VA has 2 linacs. Only deficient modality was prostate brachytherapy, but was told that this would be changed by the time current applicants would arrive. Resident room very spacious. Can't recall specifics of EMR…perhaps transitioning to EPIC?

Research: It's Penn--they have tons of research funding. Research time currently fragmented, 3 x 3-month blocks, may make basic science work a bit tougher. Several faculty commented that this may be changing and may become more flexible soon. Rad Onc facility itself is within brand new complex for translational research. Seems like there are no lack of opportunities to produce solid research here.

Didactics: From my understanding, a very good twice-weekly didactic series that is run/taught by both faculty and residents. Residents seemed very happy with it. Physics course once weekly x first 6 months, followed by one weekly radbio x 4months, repeated annually. Strong tumor boards given great med onc/surg onc.

Faculty: Steve Hahn is hands down the most impressive, dynamic chairman I met, but you probably already knew that. I really dug my interaction with Vapiwala, seemed like she had a good educational vision. Dr. A (APD) was also very cool, though heard he was leaving for Seattle. Dr. Glatstein was one of the most fun interviewers of the trail; basically a wise man sitting among heaps of journal articles waxing on about some of the failures of modern medicine, NCCN guidelines, etc. This place has a very large, and relatively young faculty fueled by their recent expansion.

Residents: Awesome group of residents, among the top 3 groups in the country IMO. Definitely got the feeling that I would fit in well there. Chiefs were both awesome. All of them seemed very interested in applicants, very friendly. 4 per year, good mix female-male.

Clinical Load: You're going to work hard at this program. Period. May not be MSK intense, but I think this program is above the mean for radiation oncology programs. That said, I did not get the sense that the residents felt overworked. All seemed very happy with QOL both in and outside of work. Currently transitioned to single-attending coverage, hopefully will stay that way. You can attain beast-mode clinical savvy at this program. Not sure what else to say that hasn't been said before. With regards to the categorical nature of this program, and thus requirement to spend internship in prelim medicine at HUP, I personally feel that this is a strength of the program, not least because I'm couples matching and it makes it easier to coordinate. My ego is also such that I want to put myself through some self-torture and take advantage of the opportunity to learn how to take care of sick patients during my intern year, regardless of how much I will use said training in the future. The fact that you are training with some of the brightest internal medicine co-residents in the country is only a positive. Lastly, opportunity to do an oncology elective in Zambia(?) during residency.

Interview Day: Informal cocktail hour at PGY-2's crib in nice loft building in Center City. About half the residents attended. Interview day is split into morning session and afternoon session; I did morning session. Had overview of program by Drs. Hahn and Vapiwala in morning. 6 back-to-back 25-30 minutes interviews with chair, PD, APD, Glatstein, another clinical faculty member, and physicist. All very laid back. No odd-ball questions. Followed by tour with chief residents (proton facilities are cool, yo). Wrap up interview day with Q&A session my internal medicine PD re: prelim year. Took morning session folks to amazing, long lunch at the White Dog Cafe. Top 3 restaurant venues of the trail. Oh, and Ms. Cordie Baffic is the most put-together program coordinator in the country. So helpful and organized!

Overall Impression: This place was truly amazing. I think Penn is right outside of HROP/MDA/MSK, and has continued upward trajectory powered by it's dynamic, humanistic chair and all the resources of its great institution. Couple this with virtually all the technology you could ask for, a great group of residents, and an awesome town and you've got all the makings for an awesome 5 years. Personally, I ranked this program higher than a couple of the big three because I felt that I would fit in here so well.
 
University of Wisconsin

Location: I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed Madison, WI. Sure it’s a college town, but compared to Ann Arbor, for instance, it’s considerably larger and has a bit more going on given that it’s the state capital, too. The geography, given that the city lies between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, is quite unique and pretty. It’s seems that there are a fair number of outdoors stuff to do. That being said, like Rochester, still not an ideal location for me personally, but I could more easily see myself being happy here.

Facilities/Technology: Roughly half of the department is very new and the other half is a bit older, but undergoing renovations. You can go all crazy with tomotherapy here. Also had the opportunity to visit some of the lab space, which was beautiful. I believe there is also one satellite facility that residents rotate at on the east side of Madison. They use Epic for EMR system.

Research: 6 months of dedicated research time. Most residents pursued clinical research. Both Dr. Harari and some newly recruited faculty, e.g. Kozak (from HROP), are doing some good translational work. The lab facilities were impressive. Faculty seemed very supportive to help you achieve whatever project you’d like to pursue.

Didactics: 100% faculty-led didactics program that the residents raved about. Also heard that there RadBio courses (taught by Soren Bentzen) were phenomenal.

Faculty: Dr. Harari was an incredibly kind, humble man. Very much enjoyed the opportunity to chat with him, particularly over dinner. The PD seemed very nice. One downside of this interview is that because there were only two panel interviews, I didn’t have quite as much time to speak one-on-one with any of the faculty members. My sense is that they were all very nice, down-to-earth individuals. Seems like historically many of the faculty had trained there, but had recently recruited some fresh bodies from HROP and MSK.

Residents: Mostly male group (I think 7/8). 2 per year. Probably the resident group I would most want to head to a sports bar and grab a beer with. Most seem to be from or have ties to the upper Midwest. All seemed to genuinely love the program, didactics, etc.

Clinical Load: I didn’t get a good sense of the volume that Wisconsin gets, although I remember some of the residents commenting that the patient population is probably not as diverse as many urban centers, but that’s to be expected. I also remember that they don’t treat the VA patients, as those patients go to MCW, despite the VA being right down the street from their facility. I will mention that they have 2 spots, and one is categorical (doing a custom-made onc-discipline heavy internship at UW-Madison) and one is advanced.

Interview Day: Wisconsin is probably the most appreciative and respectful program when it comes to applicants’ time/schedule. First, they provide one night in a hotel right down the street from the medical center. Second, it’s an incredibly efficient day which starts at 12:15p and ends by 5p! Starts with an overview of the program and introduction of all the faculty, residents, etc. Half the applicant group will then have two 15-minute panel interviews (each with 6-8 faculty) members. Very benign interviews, really felt like they were just trying to get to know you personally. Don't recall any odd questions at all. During the second half of afternoon, residents take applicants on a pretty extensive tour. Then have dinner that evening in Downtown Madison with all the residents and a handful of residents.

Overall Impression: I went in to this interview knowing that it was a good program, but was more impressed than I had anticipated I would be. Very caring and passionate faculty and a cool group of resident, and well above average facilities. Madison is what you make of it. Midwesterners and those from small towns would probably love it. You can also get all the good college football/basketball/hockey that your heart desires with the Badgers.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Yale

Location: Admittedly, New Haven is a bit ghetto. The undergrad campus and the town square are beautiful, but definitely seems like there are a lot of bad areas. Reportedly the food scene is actually very good for a city of it's size. Roughly 1.5 hours to NYC, 3 hours to Boston, so at least can get to some other large metro areas fairly easily. There are many nice and affordable suburbs around NH, some on the coast that have a ton of New England charm.

Facilities/Technology: Brand new Smilow Cancer Center is beautiful. Rad onc facilities in the basement are well above average. Don't remember the specifics about technology. Yale-New Haven recently purchased a large, neighboring hospital (St. Raphael's), which had its own rad onc dept. I believe St. Raphael's has a gammaknife that the residents will now have access to, as well as a lot of prostate brachy which was something previously lacking here. Yale also have numerous satellites around Connecticut, including two that residents rotate at.

Research: 9 months guaranteed for all, easily extended to 12-months for worthy projects. Basic science opportunities through Dr. Glazer et al. are probably among the strongest in the country, along with Stanford, HROP, and WashU. Holman supported. For more clinically-oriented folks, can participate in the RWJ Clinical Scholars program. Seem to have a uniquely robust program in clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in radiation oncology. The residents seem to be very productive.

Didactics: I believe they were more resident-led, but I think they do have weekly lunch lectures by faculty in conjunction with their disease-specific resident lecture series. Weekly physics and radbio lectures.

Faculty: Lynn Wilson is to the PD role what Hahn is to the chairmanship at Penn. Wilson was probably a very successful salesman in a past life. He does an excellent job at speaking to Yale's strengths, and is one of the few programs to use real data to back it up. Some concern with how long he may hang around. Wilson is also the vice chairman and clinical director. Glazer, the chair, is almost if not entirely in the lab. All the faculty I met were very nice. The number of faculty was much larger than I had expected, I want to say 24 or so clinical faculty.

Residents: Currently have three per class, although taking 5 this year as they recently got approved for two more spots. The residents seemed like the happiest group in the country. Very cohesive group. Special shout-out to Arie – he was probably the funniest resident I met on the trail.

Clinical Load: From what I recall, each resident covers two attendings, but always have at least one academic day/week. Wilson has worked to remove as much scutwork as possible, so resident work is almost 100% patient care allowing for more efficiency. Residents spent about 20% of the training at two satellite rotations about 45-60 minutes away in Norwich and New London, CT. Residents universally seemed to see this is a strength of the program, as they rotate with attendings who are also based out of the main campus (i.e. there are not dedicated faculty at those centers), and there is greater autonomy overall. One of the residents commented that the department also subsidizes travel costs. Will soon likely rotate at the St. Raphael's campus, which is just a few blocks from Smilow.

Interview Day: Cocktail hour the night before at a really nice penthouse hotel bar with finger foods and dessert. Good attendance by both faculty and residents. Interview day starts with tour and overview (data-based) of the residency program by Wilson. Also have a couple talks by residents and faculty. Each applicant meets with Glazer and Wilson for about 30 minutes. Then have two additional 30-minute interviews with other faculty. Chair interview very research heavy discussion, but a great chat. All the interviewers were very nice and laidback.

Overall Impression: Fantastic training program with arguably the best program director at its helm. The residents couldn't be happier and the facilities are nice and shiny. Probably the most supportive training program in the country. If you and your family are cool with New Haven, you'd be crazy not to rank this program very highly.
 
Last edited:
Thomas Jefferson

Location: As mentioned in my Penn review, I love Philadelphia. Jefferson is Center City, wedged between the urban core and the historical Independence Hall area.

Facilities/Technology: Facilities at Jefferson were probably below average compared to my other interviews. Again, don't remember specifics about technology, but recall being shown a gamma knife, which was really far from the main department. New resident room currently under construction. Overall, I was a bit underwhelmed with the facilities here.

Research: 8 months guaranteed. Jefferson has very strong ties with RTOG, and should you wish the residents have many opportunities to take advantage of said relationship. Have recently recruited several productive physician scientists. Also had recently recruited Hurwitz from Dana-Farber who had some very interesting expertise in patient quality and safety, with multiple research opportunities there.

Didactics: Don't recall.

Faculty: Dr. Dicker is the chair. He seemed very dynamic during the program overview, but had almost the opposite impression during my interview with him; not sure what to make of him. The new PD, Dr. Bar-Ad was very nice. Don't recall too many other faculty specifically, as everyone seemed very nice.

Residents: 2 per year. Half of them went to Jefferson for medical school. 7/8 male. I wasn't able to make it to the dinner the evening prior so didn't get to talk to this group as much as my other programs, but everyone was very nice and seemed to have no complaints about the program.

Clinical Load: Some of the highlights that I remember include: required 4-week GYN rotation at WashU and 6-week peds rotation at St. Jude's. There is at least one satellite facility that residents spend time rotating at, which residents all praised as a great experience.

Interview Day: Dinner the night before with the residents, which I was unable to attend. Overview of the program by PD, physicist, and chair. Followed by eleven 12-minute interviews. Chair interview, as alluded above, was pretty strange. Received very vague answers to my questions, and really had to do all the talking to keep the conversation going. Otherwise, all the interviewers were very friendly and benign. Had catered lunch with the residents followed by continuation of interviews, and ended with a pretty extensive tour.

Overall Impression: As you can probably tell, I really loved Penn, so given that Jefferson is in the same city I kept comparing this program to Penn only to be a bit underwhelmed. That being said, I think the training is solid and the opportunities for research doing RTOG secondary analyses, for instance, are unparalleled. This department has also produced a couple up-and-coming chairs (Case Western and Emory) in the past few years. So, understand that while I didn't love this program I was looking at it through the lens of my love affair with Penn, and probably didn't get it as much of a chance as I should have.
 
Last edited:
Johns Hopkins

Location: Ahh, Baltimore. A similar urban grit as Philadelphia, but taken to the extreme. I think one of the residents described it well when they said that Baltimore is a “checkerboard,” with good areas quickly (and frequently) fading into bad areas and back to good areas when moving from block-to-block. I did like the neighborhood feel, with Mt Vernon being particularly charming. Hopkins’ medical campus does appear to be in a relatively unsafe area, unfortunately. Very close to DC, which is a plus. Oh, and the Ravens just won the Super Bowl!

Facilities/Technology: The facilities at the Weinberg Building were pretty nice overall; I would say above average. The lab space available was among the best, with a lot of dedicated space for their department. In the words of Ace Ventura, the brand new Hopkins Hospital is B-E-A-UTIFUL. Marble and glass all around. Not sure that we would spend any significant time there, but thought I would comment on it anyway. Oh, and the original hospital is pretty cool, big status Jesus and all. Talks of building protons in DC within the next few years – seemed like this was really going to happen. If protons come online, really will have all the bells and whistles.

Research: Up to 12 months. Basic science is golden here. Department also has their own clinical trials office and rich database structure. So, the world is your oyster. Faculty seemed very supportive of residents’ interests. This was the one place I visited where I was genuinely excited about the physics projects going on. Dr. Wong’s work was incredible.

Didactics: I recall that there were three weekly conferences; don’t remember if more faculty vs resident led. Heard that the multi-disciplinary conferences and tumor boards were balls-to-the-wall amazing, given the strengths of those fields at Hopkins.

Faculty: I’m sure many of you will not be surprised to hear that I thought Dr. DeWeese was such a lovable chair. Probably the “chillest” chair interview I had. I had heard rumors that the new PD, Dr. Terazakis, was on the intense side, but didn’t find this to be true at all. Dr. Herman was pretty darn cool. Recently recruited physician-scientist Dr. Tran seemed to be doing some legit work (n.b. one of the more difficult, albeit interesting, interview questions came from Dr. Tran: In less than 60 seconds, talk to me as if you were on the Channel 4 news, appealing to the lay-public for funding for your research projects). Overall, seemed like a fantastic group of people to work with who really cherished nurturing future academicians.

Residents: 3 per year. Good mix of backgrounds/schools represented. All seemed very motivated and hard-working. Was incredibly kind of them to show up on a Saturday to visit with us, show us around, etc.

Clinical Load: From what I understand, this is a place with pretty high volume where the residents work pretty hard. Didn’t get the sense that they were scutted out or overworked, but that you will likely put in more hours here than most programs. Residents still had time to enjoy life and crank out some research.

Interview Day: One of a few programs that interviews on Saturdays (so money for scheduling interviews). Informal dinner at the community lounge of one of the resident’s sweet condo building the night before interview. Very well attended by residents. Interview day started off with overview of program by Drs. DeWeese, Terezakis, Wong (physics), and Marikki (basic science director). Shortly thereafter interviews started up. Somewhere around 8-10 20-25 minute interviews throughout the day. Solid lunch with great Indian food. Tour in the afternoon…very comprehensive with tour of old hospital (Jesus), new hospital, basic sciences lab, in addition to cancer center.

Overall Impression: The Johns Hopkins program is baller, and I think it's only going to get better in the next five years. It’s really rising to the reputation of its parent institution. Will be interesting to see whether protons will be coming online (certainly not a huge issue either way). Sure, you risk getting shot in Baltimore, but who doesn’t like living on the edge? You can definitely get your basic science on here. I’d be absolutely thrilled to end up at this program.
 
Member392: we really appreciate your thoughtful reviews

Thanks for the feedback. I've found this thread incredibly useful over the past year. Just want to be as thorough as I can be for future applicants. I hope others start chiming in!
 
Colorado

Location: Denver is a great city. Colorado is an awesome state. Beautiful scenery, some hip areas downtown, good beer, Boulder nearby (hipster paradise), mountains and skiing close by, public transit is getting better by the day. Can’t ask for much more. University of Colorado Medical Center is in Aurora, about 10-15 minutes from downtown. Aurora is not quite as cool as Denver, but it’s plenty close enough that many residents live in Denver and commute to campus, which is what I think I would do.

Facilities/Technology: The whole medical center is pretty new. I believe they said the cancer center was one of the first newer building built there. Nice department overall. SBRT like whoa here. Think they had all the standard technology. Had one satellite facility with tomotherapy, though IIRC residents don’t rotate there.

Research: 3 months protected, bummer. Seem to do a lot of research with SBRT. I don’t remember any other specifics, unfortunately.

Didactics: As with research, the specifics are really lacking here.

Faculty: Overall, a very nice group of faculty. One of the more senior faculties I encountered, i.e. very top heavy with a lot of full professors. Also a very athletic group, what with all the triathlon, iron man, marathoners. The PD, Dr. Liu seemed to be trying to ramp up the didactics in this program. Dr. Gaspar had a sheet full of business/ethical interview questions…fortunately we got to talking about hockey and completely avoided those. Really enjoyed meeting with a recently recruited faculty member from MDA, though her name escapes me.

Residents: 2 per year. Like the faculty, a very outdoorsy group. Similar to Wisconsin residents, could definitely get some beers with these folks.

Clinical Load: Colorado has a pretty large catchment area, and so the clinical load is reasonably high, as far as I recall. Definitely seemed like the residents/training program has a good sense of work/life balance.

Interview Day: Dinner the night before in Downtown Denver (didn’t know they didn’t cover the beer until after it had been ordered…darn), and all the residents attended. Interview day started off with breakfast, and program/department overview by Liu and Gaspar. Then had 6-7 15-20 minute interviews throughout the morning. That was followed by lunch with residents and then a tour. Day ends at very reasonable time, like 2p.

Overall Impression: For the outdoorsy, brewery-loving applicant, I think Colorado is a hidden gem. I think you would have a very high quality of life here. I wish there was more research time/infrastructure, but I think with a little elbow grease you could be successful here.
 
Stanford

Location: Palo Alto is a gorgeous, manicured town. Granted it’s a suburb, but it’s one of the cuter suburbs I’ve visited. Stanford University is one of the prettiest in the country. About 40 minutes to San Francisco. Bay area is amazing in general. Downside, of course, is SF-like rental prices for suburban living. They do offer a generous moving stipend, but no monthly housing stipend a la UCSF.

Facilities/Technology: The Cancer Center is absolutely beautiful, just like the rest of the campus. Close relationship with Varian = lots of toys, including abundant cyberknife experience. Think they had 7 state of the art linacs at their main facility. I was really impressed, so not much else to add.

Research: 9-12 months research. Holman supported. Unique program called the Advanced Residency Training program which allows residents in specific programs (including rad onc) to pursue a PhD at Stanford during your residency training. Arguably no better place to do basic science in the country. Enjoyed my chat with Dr. Diehn and learning about some of his lung cancer stem cell work. Also have robust clinical trials/clinical database infrastructure in place.

Didactics: Don’t remember much about didactics, but I think Dr. Chang was hoping to pump them up with some roids.

Faculty: Very impressive folks here. Everyone I met was top-notch. Dr. Le seems like a great fit as Chair. It seems that many on this board thought that Stanford had been stagnating as of recently, and depended too much on its history. I think Dr. Le is very motivated to continue to advance radiation oncology at Stanford, and I appreciated her vision. Sarah Donaldson is a real charmer, the female counterpart to Lynn Wilson at Yale. Chang seems like a great PD from his overview of the program, although my interview with him was a bit too “down to business” for me. I didn’t have the chance to meet/interview with Hoppe, although some applicants did.

Residents: Taking 4 this year. I think they have 3-4 per year. Seems like almost all male. West coast predominate, but that’s to be expected. Seemed like cool people, maybe a bit overworked?

Clinical Load: Had heard that Stanford had previously been heavy on the scut in recent years. Several of the residents commented that this has been improving, as all attendings now have nurse coordinators to help with records, calling patients, etc., and less of this work was falling on the resident. Nonetheless, some of my fellow applicants who had rotated there said that it was still on the busier side, with room for improvement with regards to efficiency.

Interview Day: Breakfast tour, then program overview, followed by 10-12 interviews throughout the day, roughly 25-30 minutes a piece. Exhausting day given its length, but glad I had the opportunity to meet so many people. The day was capped off by an amazing sushi dinner with residents (another of my top 3 dinner venues for the season). Interviewers overall very nice; probably talked a bit more about my research here than other places.

Overall Impression: This is firmly in the top 10 radiation oncology programs out there, and I think any rumors of stagnation should be laid to rest. Having visited both UCSF (review to come) and Stanford, I think that Stanford now has the edge in the Bay Area (just my personal opinion, feel free to disagree). Palo Alto has better weather anyway, and Stanford has been rocking in football recently (Rose Bowl Champs!). Would be ecstatic to train here.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I've found this thread incredibly useful over the past year. Just want to be as thorough as I can be for future applicants. I hope others start chiming in!

Hey! I'm chiming :)

This one was an interesting day. As I read back through what I wrote, I was definitely less than impressed with LA. I'm from California, and lived all over So-cal, so maybe I was just in a bad mood from travel fatigue, but the traffic just really got to me...

University of Southern California

Location: Los Angeles is a complete hole. I don’t care how much you go on about diversity and how great the mexican food is. It is a trafficky, expensive hole with beautiful weather. (Remember my bias?:) ) The weather was great, but one of the current residents told me he found a great two bedroom in a low cost area for $1700. That did it for me. Maybe the middle of the country has spoiled me?

Facilities/Tech: While you do rotate briefly at the Norris Cancer Center, and the childrens hospital, Over 80% of your time is spent at the county hospital. LAC was fairly recently built, so it is at least new. That said, it is definitely a county hospital complete with airport style x-ray machines to get in. The facilities were adequate, but sterile. Tile, bare walls, etc. Currently have gamma knife and a cyber knife, and by the end of next year should have an up and running true beam. No Brachy.

Research: The new chair seems to want this to be a priority, however, I just didn’t feel it. Saying you want to be the number 1 cancer center in California, and top 20 in the nation is great, but then giving your residents 10 weeks of research time is counter-intuitive. They are in the process of hiring a physician-scientist with the goal of them being a bridge for the department from clinical to basic science research. Perhaps they do have a plan in place to bolster the ability of residents to do research, but all I have to go on is what I can find out during the interview day

Faculty: Two panel interviews, one with the physics department and one with the MDs. All of the MD’s seemed nice enough. Dr. Chang really does have a vision for the department, and I enjoyed hearing him talk more in detail about it at the pre-interview dinner.

Residents: A very interest structure, that currently goes 3-2-1-0. This year they are recruiting for 2 spots. The ones there seemed nice, but it was hard to judge, since there was one PGY-3, and no PGY-2’s, so the only person who will be there when this class arrives is the lone PGY-3, who was very nice. Very little didactics. Used to be essentially zero, but apparently Change has instituted a once weekly lecture from the faculty. (Another positive Changprovement)

Work: Sounds like 8 to 5-6 most days. Many cases, one of the PGY-4’s was already at over 600 cases logged. That said, clearly they weren’t having to stay too late in the evening to get those cases.

Overall Impression: I used to live in LA, so I was excited to go back for a visit. However, having not lived there for a while, I think I lost my ability to deal with hour plus drives to get anywhere at anytime of the day. Also, I didn’t like how difficult it was to find out about rotation structure and research. Dr. Chang has only been the chair for 14 months or so, so I don’t think its fair to judge the state of the department based on his leadership, yet. He spoke passionately about his goals, and so I hope that the resources at USC allow him to accomplish what he set out to do.

Tip: The hotel they recommend you stay in is $500 for a room normally, discounted to $250 for applicants if its still available. I recommend hotwire.com (more on this in an advice post I'm writing) and get a 4 star hotel in Pasadena. Pasadena is great, safe and relatively close. I was able to make it to my interview without significant traffic.
 
Back to the center of the country. Iowa is the traffic bizzaro-world of LA, and for that I was thankful.

I'll preface this review by saying that I really, really liked this program, but people there the same day, and others, had differing opinions. It is humorous how we left with such different takes, but I think it really emphasizes how individual this process is when you're looking for a program that you fit in with.

University of Iowa

Location: Iowa city is a typical midwest college town, and I thought amazing. Lots to do, with college town culture, but without the big city traffic. All residents lived within 10 minutes door to door of the department, which for me was huge. Supposedly does get cold during the winter, but thats par for the course most places. The area where the restaurant is was busy, with people walking all around.

Facilities/Tech: Facilities were great! Carpetting through out made a surprising difference to the feel of the department. Right now they have 4 Lin-acs, all Siemmans, but they pointed out that as these go out of date they will be replacing them with new ones from Elekta or Varian.

Research: Extremely supportive of research. They have different pathways to choose from during your time there. The research pathway is 4 weeks during 1st year, 4 weeks during 2nd year, then 16 weeks during 3rd year. They space it like that to accomplish goals, IE first you have 2 weeks to find a project, then another 2 weeks tow write an abstact, etc. Extremely supportive of the Holman pathway, so if that interests you, this is one of the places. Their rad bio program is top notch, and has countless opportunities to get involved.

Faculty: All extremely friendly. The PD, Dr. Anderson (head and neck from Cleveland clinic I believe), was very nice. The chair Dr. Buatti, trained at University of Arizona, and seems to have brought the department to a very good place. The rest of the faculty were great. They have a woman with a Masters in Education who arranges all of the didactics for the residents as well as the bio PhD students, and the result is a very, very well organized didactic series.

Residents: Also, very, very nice group of people. All seem laid back, and happy. You have Rad Bio, formal course in one of the premeir radiation biology facilities int he country, every Fall, with physics in the spring.

Work: Conferences often at 7:30, with lectures until 9:30 every day. Clinic after that. Didn’t find out what time people left, but they implied that it wasn’t that bad. 60-80 patients on treatment at anyone time.

Overall Impression: Went into it expecting average, and got well above average. I am absolutely sure that I would come out of this program well trained, and extremely well educated. The location, while a negative for some, is a huge plus if you have a family and want a good quality of life.

Let me again add, that this was my impression when I left the interview day but I know others left with a less rosy picture of this program. Perhaps the truth is in the middle?
 
I was very impressed with UAB. This program really drove home to me how many amazing programs there are outside of the "top 10" often talked about on this site. Great research and clinical opportunities here, with a great cost of living to boot.

Heading down south to...

University of Alabama

Location: Birmingham is a great city in the south. It is on the small side of medium-ish, which is a relative plus for me. Plenty to do, especially outdoors and for those who love being active. Apparently Atlanta is a quick two hour drive, and there you can find anything you need. Admittedly, Birmingham won't be for everyone but there is plenty of activity with nice suburbs, if thats your thing.

Facilities/Tech: The facility is incredible. They just moved the department into its new department two years ago, and it shows. The new building is large, multistory and very well thought out. For those interested in basic science, there are labs located directly above the clinic, making it very easy to run up to the lab between patients. They have the cutting edge technology from varian. They have a research agreement with Varian, and therefore get first dibs on the really cool stuff. Three true-beams essentially.

Research: This was one of the reasons I loved this program so much. Supportive of Holman, which while I’m not interested in, show cases their dedication to creating leaders in the field. “Clinical research” Track gives you 6 months of research time. Paired with a nearly every week academic day, and you have the potential to be incredibly productive. With my physics bent, I was glad to hear about the many options available for those who wish to collaborate with physics.

Faculty: All seemed great. Dr. Bonner is an incredibly nice person, who had clearly taken the time to read my application. Having flown all over creation, it is nice to know that you matter enough to the department to have read my application. The new PD Dr. Burnett was extremely easy to talk to, and I think will carry this department continually towards greatness.

Residents: Some of the nicest guys I’ve met. No females, at least I didn’t see any, but a great group of people. I wasn’t able to attend the dinner the night before due to travel issues, but loved everyone I met during the interview day. Very family friendly, with a majority having children, and all but a couple married.

Didactics: Resident lead teaching, with a physics course three days a week. Rad Bio doesn’t have a formal curriculum, but is self directed learning culminating in a one weekend seminar by one of the authors of THE rad bio book, Miller I believe?

Work: Definitely seemed reasonable, although specific hours were hard to obtain. 7-9 is protected for education, but I did hear mention of conferences at 6:30, a little early for me, but oh well. They did say that a bad day ended at 6, which leads me to believe that closer to 5 is the norm.

Overall Impression: Loved it. I'm not hung up on getting to one of the fabled big cities, so the location is fine with me. But mostly loved it because I could make my CV whatever I wanted here, and that is important to me. Loved it.
 
Off to the east. I think that after reading all of the hype about Yale before going there, my expectations may have been a little too high. Perhaps I was expecting wood paneling, chalk boards, and tweed coats. Who knows, but it definitely slightly colored my impression. I know Member392 just posted a review, and I largely agree whole heartedly, but figured I'd still post mine for completeness! (slightly abridge, since there is an abundance on these programs...)


Yale

Location: New Haven is a very interesting place. As Ghetto as I’d been warned, but also pretty great. Lots of neat, ethnic cuisine, and the business of a big city. For example: on the way back to the hotel at 9:30 at night there were still lots of people out walking. Definitely in the north-east, the culture exudes from the place. This is either good or bad. Many residents live in the suburbs, such as Hamden, and have an easy commute into the university.

Facilities/Tech: The facilities are top notch, with the new building having just opened in the last few years. Very nice, very big. Tech was standard, with less lin-acs than I would have thought, maybe 3 i think? This must be wrong. Either way, it was a very impressive department. I saw some jotting down notes during Wilson's presentation, so perhaps they can comment better!

Research: Dedicated year, nearly no questions asked. Basic science it will be together, clinical they may break it up. Very, very supportive. They truly don’t care what kind of research you do, so long as you do what you are passionate about. I think that really stood out to me here, more than anywhere else. They want YOU to succeed and be a productive radiation oncologist doing what drives you. Dr. Glazer made this clear, so it is a top down philosophy that was very, very refreshing.

Faculty: Only met a few, and they were nice. Dr. Wilson, is definitely a force to be reckoned with. He is so full of awesome, that I kept thinking, "He will definitely be offered a chair position somewhere, what will that mean for the residency?" Ultimately, I am confident that what he has created will keep going, but it did give me pause. The other faculty that I met seemed top notch, can't go wrong.

Residents: Great group of people. Very happy, very funny. The rapport that they have with each other is awesome, and definitely something I'd be happy to be a part of. You can tell they get the best of the best, in both caliber and personality.

Work: Great work hours, with plenty of time for study/research. Academic day on Thursdays for didactics, and potentially another academic day depending on the service. Cover two attendings at a time, and cross coverage is required for vacations, etc.

Overall Impression: Overall, clearly the department that everyone has made it out to be. This department highlighted for me the big difference between the "top 10" and the top caliber mid-tier programs, that being research. The research at Yale is just, incredible. The clinical side is similar to other great programs. Clearly one of the best departments in the country, with one of the best PD's in the country, a short train ride from one of the best cities in the country. Done and done.
 
Last one for the night...

I was very excited to visit the University of Maryland, because I'd heard so many great things about it, and it didn't disappoint!

University of Maryland

Location: Downtown Blatimore. Definitely big cityish, definitely didn’t feel safe. My hotel was down the block and there were many people around who looked less than savory. That said, Downtown baltimore did seem kind of cool, and at least one of the residents lived downtown, but most commuted from a bit aways. Parking available (not sure of cost)

Facilities/Tech: For whatever reason they didn’t go into details about the tech available at the downtown site. On the tour the resident said, “four machines” and they showed us a gamma knife. The facilities are decent, so no real complaints there. They, also have a couple sattelites,but the residents raved about their experiences there. Building a new proton center which is supposed to go online in 2014.

Research: 6 months in a row during the PGY-4 year. They emphasize having a project ready to go by the time you start in order to maximize the experience. This is apparently a recent change, and one that everyone likes. Sounds like you can work in wet labs or do clinical research, with the department supporting whatever you choose. With my physics bent, it was nice to speak with physcissits about opportuniites and hear that they are supported by the PD>

Faculty: Everyone seemd very nice, and would be pleasant to work with. They are going to be “doubling” the facutly over the next few years so it will grow even more. Of note, Mehta is now the director of the soon to be open proton center. (I had heard he was going to Ohio State, so was very excited to see him on my interview schedule.)

Residents: Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it to the night before dinner due to travel issues, but all of the residents seemed great. I spent as much time as I could in the resident room during interview breaks and liked everyone I interacted with.

Work: They seem to work a little harder than most places. No academic day, which I didn’t like. Protected education time from 7:30 to 9, that sounds like it is iron clad, which is nice. You cover two attendings at a time whose clinic days are on opposite days, thus no academic day for you. (said like the soup nazi). Couldn’t get a good answer on when they leave, best I got was “once everything is done.)

Overall Impression: Overall, I was impressed. It seems like the training is top notch, and the opportunites for research are on the up. During my interview Mehta said that he joined the program because he thought it was just about to skyrocket up, and I think he was right. Not sure how I feel about it, since i’m not a fan of baltimore but the program makes a very, very compelling argument. This is definitely just outside the top tier, and is going to be making some big strides the next few years.
 
To as close to the center of the country as possible!

Oklahoma University

Location: So I didn't get as much time in OKC as I would have liked, but I what I did see was great. It is the perfectly sized city, not too big, not too small. One of the faculty was a "foodie" and told me about a lot of great, local ethnic cuisine. Seems like you get the great cost of living of the middle, with the amenities of a large state capital.

Facilities/Tech: The facilities are great! They are new within the last couple years, so everything is still shiny. They have a fountain in the waiting room which was a nice touch. I think they had three lin-acs? They are in the process of getting protons. Single gantry I believe, like the one going in at Wash U. So they are being held up by technical difficulties with the vendor, but it will definitely be in place in the next couple few years.

Research: You get adequate time to perform research, but I'm not remember how many months. I got the sense that they don't give you as much time as other places. When asked, I believe they said that, "Everyone is required to do one project." Never the best sign if you are looking to do a lot of research. One of the new faculty who was previously a resident had 12 first author publications, so clearly you can be productive if you are a go getter.

Faculty: I feel like often, the faculty, are the strength of some of these smaller programs. They were all down to earth, and great to talk to. The Chair is both a Heme onc as well as Rad Onc, and still staffs the Heme/onc service for a month or two every year. This obviously comes with some unique learning opportunities.

Residents: Everyone was very nice, no concerns there.

Work: Seems to be around the same as elsewhere. Nothing stood out, but I didn't get exact hours. They do have a couple PAs in the department which helps off load some of the scut like activity. You interview with them, which is interesting.

Overall Impression: This is a solid, regional program. I was thankful to get to interview at some less talked about programs, and this one was great. Its on the smaller side, but has good clinical and some research opportunities. There is no dinner the night before, and the interview day is not the best run. They are a young program and still working out the kinks of the interview day. I didn't get a copy of my schedule or any other information, and there was no presentation. If you wouldn't mind living in Oklahoma, definitely include this when you apply.
 
Back to the west!

This was a program that I was very excited to visit, but had mixed feelings about. On to the review!

UC Davis

Location: Sacramento is a great town. The downsides are few, but could be important: Cost, and traffic. This is California, and although it is one of the less expensive areas to live in CA, there is still some artificial price hikes due to location. The positives are that it is on the cheaper side for the state, TONS to do, and lots within a 1.5 hour drive in any direction. Certainly, the location shouldn't be a deterrent as you can find whatever big city thing you want, or just drive over to the bay for an evening.

Facilities/tech: Unfortunately, I didn't take good notes on the tech when I left, whoops. They did just add the HD collimator to their machines as an upgrade, and spoke about how they are continually in the process of upgrading their machines. If this program has a weakness, in my opinion, it is the building. It is just small, and not one of the nice, new big shiny cancer centers sweeping the country. There were maybe 6-8 exam rooms total, and at times there were 3 or more attendings with clinic. Not terrible, but could just be a little bigger/nicer.

Research: So they used to offer 12 months, no questions asked. But due to some problems with that, they now officially offer "6-12 months", but really it sounds like its closer to 6 months. To get more, you need to have a good project going and give benchmarks as to your progress as you go. I left essentially feeling like I could accomplish anything I wanted research wise, which is great.

Faculty: This is the huge, huge strength of this program. Dr. Chen is one of the more awesome PD's I met, up there with Wilson, IMO. He is very invested in education, and you get the sense that its not out of obligation, but because he genuinely wants to train Radiation Oncologists. Their faculty has a lot of diversity as well, which is something I saw as a positive: UCSF, Stanford, etc. Honestly, loved my talk with all of them, but really, with Dr. Chen as the leader, this program will continue its sharp upward trend.

Residents: Great group of people. A couple girls, which was nice and a couple military. Again, made for a diverse group that made for fun conversations at the dinner, and throughout the day.

Work: Again, about what you'd expect. They are currently upgrading one of two mirrored machines, so the one runs later in the evening requiring a resident to stay until it is finished. However, this will be done soon and so wouldn't effect our class. Importantly, the resident who was supposed to cover was told to leave and make it to the dinner, which is a very good sign!

Overall Impression: If this program was anywhere else in the country I think it would consistently be talked about as a great program. I think it suffers from comparisons to its neighbors in the state, which is a shame. However, if you want to work in CA when you are done, employers will be making that same comparison. That said, I loved this program and would be ecstatic to train there. Dr. Chen, great faculty, fun co-residents makes for a killer combination.
 
These reviews are really great and spot on! I will try to contribute today as I also found this thread enjoyable and helpful prior/during application process.
 
As I mentioned, I think that the above reviews are a great representation of what I experienced as well. Before I get into some other programs, a couple thoughts on some of the above reviews that I visited, in order of above:

UPenn: first year scared me a little more than above but EVERYTHING about the rad onc program is unbeatable.

UWisconsin: Personally, added bonus to this place was the Apple computers! Residents seemed happiest here out of anywhere.

Colorado: They did have one guy doing a year of research, but as mentioned above it seems like this would take a bit more work than other places to produce any bench research. The room for equipment expansion seemed a little lacking but everything is made up for by location and a brand new hospital.

Stanford: Agree with above. Dr. Chang seemed like a great PD and I also preferred to UCSF. Being from the other coast, Stanford just seemed a bit more welcoming and glad to have me visit.

USC: Personally, my interviews were a bit more awkward than I was expecting but I actually thought LA was pretty cool. I think this program will be great in the future but a problem may be competing with UCLA.

UAB: I actually thought this was my favorite of the south. Great people and facilities. I had some of the most personal interviews here. It seemed like the program was on top of obtaining new technology and the research opportunities seemed abundant.

Maryland: I was a little less impressed than above. Residents seemed somewhat divided on their enthusiasm about the program. I definitely think the proton center is a huge bonus and the faculty is second to none. Found it strange that the PD was at the satellite and that the residents I talked with MUCH preferred the satellite campus to main hospital. Bonus is the incredible reputation of the physics department if that interests you.
 
Last edited:
I'll attempt to go in some type of alphabetic order over next couple weeks.

Starting with a program that pleasantly surprised me on the trail! Hadn't heard the best things about this program on the blogs over the past year, so it was nice to go visit myself and see that all the negatives about the stability of the program are just plain not true. Can't fix Detroit though :)

Beaumont

Location: This is obviously one of the biggest downsides of the program. While the hospital is actually in Royal Oak, which seemed nice enough, its association with Detroit is a huge bummer. Most of the residents didn’t even travel into Detroit proper they said. A big perk is the lower coast of living and the ability to purchase a nice size house for a very reasonable price in a pretty nice suburb. Nightlife is probably lacking for us single folks.
Facilities/Tech: The Beaumont hospital and medical campus was very impressive. The hospital is relatively new and in great shape. The technology was definitely up to date, and it seemed like the department had a great relationship with Elekta. They also recently installed MRI simulation and are opening a new satellite campus. Plans for protons but stalled by some government issue..??...it sounded like no protons during our classes residency.
Research: 12 months protected. They were eager to boast (and rightfully so!) that they had something like 40 abstracts accepted to ASTRO this year, which put them at/near top of the list as an institution. So, surprisingly to me, the research opportunities at Beaumont seemed on par with almost every other program I visited. Dr. Wilson, their big radbio guy, was an interesting character and seemed to be involved with some neat projects. They had a scaled down animal image-guided linac with animal size PET/SPECT/CT and MRI scanner which seemed pretty awesome.
Faculty: Another issue (that was possibly addressed too many times by faculty during interviews) was the loss of the chair and other faculty members a couple? years back. Personally, what happened in the past doesn’t bother me presently since they seemed to have recovered very well and are currently interviewing some really big names for the new chair. Additionally, the faculty there now seemed great, particularly the PD.
Residents: Take 3 every year. Super laid-back group of residents that seemed very happy. I think most the residents were from the mid-west and Michigan with a couple random schools thrown in there.
Work: Everyone seemed very happy with the work load. Residents were definitely not overworked and life seemed nice as a resident at Beaumont. I believe you get all of your cases here.
Wild card: The built in Transitional Year was pretty awesome. It’s a “cancer-structured” TY year and you are one-on-one with an attending, for example ENT, where during your rotation you would only be required to see head/neck cancer cases. Same for GYN rotation, urology, etc. Seems to me like a more valuable year in terms of educational purposes, with the perks of a TY year of course. Other programs should consider this structure in my opinion!
Overall Impression: This program surprised me in a good way! If you are willing to live in Royal Oak I think program is really, really great. Has everything you would need for a productive and enjoyable 5 years without the stresses that come with some of the other big name programs. I think once the faculty stabilizes this program will return to huge name status because all of the pieces are there.
 
The transitional oncologic year at Beaumont does seem like a pretty good idea. This seems more useful then spending the majority of intern year managing hypertension, diabetes and all the social issues that come with pre-lim internal medicine.
 
I just wanted to say that, overall, I was very impressed with the quality of training available in Radiation Oncology. I personally did not interview at a bad program, or a program that I would not feel comfortable training at (and I'm not a top tier candidate). I don't think you can really go wrong with just about any residency program in the country in terms of becoming a good radiation oncologist. There are probably less than a handful of programs to stay away from and those can largely be determined by word of mouth.

Mayo Clinic Florida

Location: When I initially drove into Jacksonville from the west, it was not very impressing. However, Mayo Clinic is located 20 miles or so SE of Jacksonville and outside the city (I think). The area had a very suburban feel. The medical center is just inside the intercoastal waterway which was a beautiful area. Jacksonville Beach is just over a bridge and less than 10 minute drive door to door. Traffic was not bad at all, and apparently Jacksonville Beach is not a big tourist destination in the summer so traffic never really gets unmanageable. Housing seemed to be affordable and abundant around the medical center or near the beach. Dinner the night before was at one of the resident's condo's one block from the beach.

Facilities/tech: This was my first interview and I didn't do a great job of noting all the technology. The medical center was beautiful, and the Rad Onc department is on the first floor right when you walk in the main entrance. Department itself was nice, above average decor but pretty standard from what I saw at other interviews. All offices, clinics, and vaults in the same location. Resident areas pretty standard, nothing that particularly stood out. I think they had 3? machines. You also rotate at the Shands Proton facility for 3 months which is about a 30 minute drive from Mayo.

Research: Get a pretty standard 6 month block during the PGY4 year. You get access to a huge database of all patients treated across all the Mayo sites which could be very productive. The past residents appeard to have been pretty productive, especially considering the size of the program. One resident in the recent past had done a prospective trial. The chairman said that they have lab space available in a very nice basic science building on the campus, but no one has taken advantage of it yet. He did sound very welcoming to basic or translational research if one so desired. Overall, I think you could do very good clinical and retrospective projects here, and you have easy access to the mothership and the arizona facility. Apparently it is also very easy to go to the other locations, so one could probably spend some research time in Rochester or Arizona at the proton facility if desired.

Faculty: Faculty seemed very nice, and a number are either from Mayo Rochester or Mayo Florida. They seemed very interested in patient care and resident learning. They were all very nice and easy to talk with. Great mix of young, mid-career, and older faculty. Also, it seemed that the department has grown significantly in the last few years, adding a number of past residents on as faculty. All the young faculty were easy to talk with and very funny. The physics department was small, but high quality. Dr. Serago is a past president of AAPM and seemed to be well known in the physics realm.

Residents: Very friendly group of residents who seemed to get along very well, which is incredibly important in a small program. They all helped each other out and had each other's backs. 3 guys and 1 girl, but there were a number of females that graduated previously from the program. Residents were also from all over the country and a very diverse group. Great group of people.

Work: As I said earlier, there seems to have been a significant increase in volume at Mayo Florida over recent years. The hospital is currently adding two additional floors and the faculty has expanded. The residents and faculty did seem to be at odds some over how to address this volume. This was perhaps the only negative thing I noticed on the interview. Personally, I favor a higher clinical volume, but the residents seemed to be trying to resist covering multiple attendings. I did not get the impression, though, that the residents are overworked by any means. They seemed very happy, and the workload seemed very manageable. In terms of rotations, you spend 2 months a service and rotate through every service each year for years 1-2 and 4. In year 3, you have the 6 month research block, a couple of elective months which include private practice locations, and a month at WashU for Gyn/Brachy. You also spend 3 months at Shands Proton facility during this year. This seemed to be a really great opportunity for seeing pediatric cases and getting proton experience.

Overall Impression: I think you can get excellent clinical training at this program considering its size. The department is definitely growing in volume. It is heavy on early stage disease, breast, etc., and I doubt you will see any indigent/underserved populations with very advanced disease. Proton experience, and the opportunity to rotate or do research at other Mayo locations gives this program a number of opportunities you won't find in similarly sized programs. Location is beautiful, and you could easily live at or near the beach.
 
Apparently all of us who are posting reviews interviewed at the same places :)

Wisconsin - I won't post another one, but agree with the above two.

Beaumont - Agree with the above! I thought that Beaumont is still a great institution, and provides amazing training. For me, the lack of general name recognition was a little tough, but it was still ranked pretty highly for me.

Medical College of Wisconsin

Location: Located in a nice suburbs of Milwaukee. As is my recurring theme, this is either good or bad. Either way, there are plenty of nice neighborhoods around the hospital. A couple of the residents live downtown in the "bit city" portion of Milwaukee and said they really liked it.

Facilities/Tech: The cancer center is beautiful, and the department is located on the second floor. I didn't take notes about the equipment but recall that it was all top of the line, and varied so that there wouldn't be any worries about training.

Research: Another place that supports research, but doesn't prioritize it. You can get as many months as you need, up to 6 I believe, but they really only expect/require you to complete the one required project per the ACGME. That said, if you are a self started Dr. Lawton will support you doing as much research as you can find time for!

Faculty: All seemed great, with some big names. Dr. White left to go to Ohio State, but Dr. Lawton is still the PD, and is wonderful. She is a very easy person to talk to, and I'd be very excited to get to train with her. They take a lot of their own graduates on as faculty, so its not the most diverse roster around, but they all seemed like they cared about education which is very important.

Residents: Again, no dinner the night before which makes it difficult to really get to know the residents. The ones I met throughout the day and talked to at lunch all seemed like great people. Seems to be a lot of people who went to MCW for medical school or are from the area, but that makes sense.

Work: My biggest concern about this program is that you cover two attendings at a time while on service. In theory, the two you cover don't both have clinic at the same time on the same day. From what I could gather this is mostly true, but are occasional times that may feel pulled in two directions. I was reassured that this is very rare, but this set up definitely means no academic day in which to catch up on dications, do research etc. So that is probably important to know.

Overall Impression: This is definitely an upper middle tier program that provides incredible clinical training, with perhaps less support for research. If you want to live and practice in the midwest (And aren't concerned with have 30+ publications when you finish residency) this should be very high on your list!
 
I just wanted to say that, overall, I was very impressed with the quality of training available in Radiation Oncology. I personally did not interview at a bad program, or a program that I would not feel comfortable training at (and I'm not a top tier candidate). I don't think you can really go wrong with just about any residency program in the country in terms of becoming a good radiation oncologist. There are probably less than a handful of programs to stay away from and those can largely be determined by word of mouth.

THIS x 1000. Going into the season I was so hung up on the "top 10" programs on SDN, but there are so many great places to train out there, that I think the biggest difference between the top 10 and the rest is research. I wasn't the strongest candidate either, and I didn't interview hardly anywhere that I didn't feel like would train me to be an excellent physician.

Indiana University

Location: Unfortunately due to travel arrangements I got in late the night before and left immediately after so I didn't get a good feel for Indianapolis. It seems like a typical medium sized midwestern city, which depending on how you feel is either a strength or a negative. There are plenty of things to do because of its size, but cost of living is low.

Facilities/Tech: The main facilities are very nice, and have a few lin acs. The tour was at the end of the day and I missed it so unfortunately I can't give details. They have multiple satellite facilities, and a VA that you rotate through. All of them are relatively close, the furthest away being an hour, and that is the proton center. It sounds like the rotations at the proton center aren't required, but that most residents choose to do at least one rotation out there. There is one site that is near the main hospital that provides a more "private practice" feel that the residents seemed to really like.

Research: Supported, and for a self started there would be plenty of opportunities. It is definitely a program that focuses more on the clinical side of things (not bad at all), but just means that you need to seek out the research, but it is there to find.

Faculty: All seemed like great people. The chair gave a talk in the morning that was very down to earth, and informative. I liked that he took the time to really explain the satellite situation. They were going to take 3 residents this year, but decreased it to 2 due to changes in reimbursement patterns and uncertainty, which was an interesting comment. Everyone else I interviewed with seemed like they'd be a pleasure to work with and learn from.

Residents: Missed the night before dinner due to travel, but everyone seemed great! A lot of funny folks, that would be fun to work with. Again, a lot of them are from the area.

Work: Mostly 8 to 5. There is a lecture once a month on the history of rad onc given by the chair that starts earlier (7?), but otherwise it seems like a great schedule. To get out at 5 would mean doing some reading at home, but its nice to have that as an option if you have a family.

Overall Impression: Another great midwestern program that has a proven track record of placing their graduates into private practices in the area. Not everyone wants to be the chair at BigNameUniversity someday, and so I just wanted to make sure that people knew that there are a ton of programs that put their focus on clinical training and help you become a great radiation oncologist. This probably isn't as high in the tier as MCW, but a great option for the right candidate.
 
I will skip some of the schools that were discussed at length in recent posts (yale, JHU, Stanford). Also I'm only mentioning things that were important to me, so please take it with a grain of salt.

Wash U-St Louis: The best and most organized interview day. Hallahan is amazingly invested into the interview, the new PD is very proactive and will be a great asset for the residents. Holman almost guaranteed if needed. They have a special translational research institute that facilitates the transition of basic discoveries into the clinic (patents, drug development etc…). Really good labs at WashU and research core. Hallahan himself has a lot of money for research (which is a rarity in rad onc). Clinical operation very efficient, residents don't do a lot of scut but log many of cases and are typically out by 5pm. In addition to basic research, there are ample opportunities for clinical research as well. They have a clinical research office including statisticians on board. Physics is very proactive. very well rounded program. st louis is so so, but has nice pockets, including the central west end where the university is. Housing is cheap 600-1200 depending on location.

MD Anderson: Since much has been written on this program, I will only briefly mention the most pertinent thoughts. Fantastic program with a reasonable case load. The best for clinical training, very well organized and good focus on resident education. Really great opportunities for retrospective and prospective clinical research. Departmental support for basic science is unclear. Residents place well. Fanciest interview on the trail. Houston? You must really love living in the south to be happy here, to me it is close to home, therefore it was not an issue for me.

MSKCC: Amazing place, upbeat, happy residents although they are busy. Work is about 11 hrs/day but free on weekends. Amazing teaching and one-on-one mentoring. World famous faculty. 12 months guaranteed (required) research in PGY-4. Really good clinical database for clinical research. Extremely strong support for basic science from the top down. Residents can do research at MSK, Cornell, or the Rockefeller University (which is a basic science powerhouse). Strong support for Holman pathway. The chair is involved and the new program director is really proactive and supportive. It seems that this program has taken a U-turn with the new departmental and program leadership. Their residents place in phenomenal institutions and also do really well in private practice. Life is NYC is amazing with subsidized housing and the highest stipend in the nation. Probably the sexiest institution out there, very good integration between research and the clinic.

Harvard: Great program, with famous faculty etc… but a little underwhelming and I felt that the program lacked coordination. Unlike the two other programs in the big three, this program is a little fragmented with all the hospitals having different systems etc… but clinical training is definitely at the top and everyone has 1 year of protected research time where they can do anything they want within the harvard system. The departmental support for basic science is definitely below MSK, Michigan, and WashU. They tend to frequently higher their graduates in fully clinical instructor positions with little or no research support which creates an inbred environment. The strength of this place is sheer size, but per capita they would definitely be overtaken by other programs. Boston is a great intellectual city that is also safe with a vibrant student community.

UCSF: Great location, really good program. The strength of UCSF comes from their clinical research opportunities. If you like CNS you will have a blast with the BTRC (Brain tumor research center). Unclear/lukewarm support for holman and basic research in general, they are heading towards longer non-holman research time for everyone but still far off from other programs such as MSK, Wash U, Harvard etc… It is a pity, in my opinion, because they will loose many top applicants for this reason. It seemed to me that this is the place where physician-scientist with good intentions may easily drown due to the lack of support, but some do/can make it. Finally, my friend who rotated there warned me about the interview with the chair and it was as strange as the warnings indicated. He is definitely apt at multitasking and at avoiding eye contact. But of course he is world famous and is an asset to the department. San francisco does not need qualifications, amazing city!

U Michigan: Mostly happy residents, really strong basic science support, amazing core facility, great mentorship and attitude. 3-4 week holidays, holman is 21 months of full time uninterrupted research, Ted Lawrence very supportive, cheap and nice ann arbor, good for family. Core includes mouse fMRI, irradiation etc... can do research anywhere on campus, nice residents. Busy first year 7 am to 7pm, 450 cases by end of PGY2, chiefs can plan their PGY4-5 schedules. Good academic placements including 80-20 positions.

UCLA: Happy residents, nights and weekends are truly free. Incredibly supportive chair, really good division of molecular oncology and physics. Chair supportive of research and will think outside the box to support his residents. Nice area of town. Residents have one short call day/week. Support for Holman. Not sure if there is time for academic productivity within the clinical week during the academic days, but residents are definitely free during nights and weekends.

Columbia: One of my strangest interviews. Obviously it is a great school with a history of very strong radiobiology research. Clinically they are in the complete revamping phase. The department is expanding, but they still only have 7 faculty on board, which is very small given the size of the hospital! The chair trained at MDACC and is doing great things to the program but it still has ways to go. One of the least personal encounters however. They only guarantee 6 months of research with a additional 6 mo if residents guarantee research funding. They do NOT support holman. They will most likely join with Cornell in the next few years.

NYU: Really good chair, extremely supportive of research, happy residents, weeks are a mix between long and short days, but there is no short call. Holman supported and encouraged. 100% graduates go into academics in really good places.

UAB: Happy residents, very very supportive of research, holman almost guaranteed, labs next door. A nice place for family oriented individuals.
 
To keep with my attempt at some strange alphabetical order....

Dallas - UT Southwestern

I had heard the rumors….overworked residents; Dr. Hak Choy can be very stern, intimidating, and outright mean during the interviews; malignant environment in general; etc. I found that while these may have been true in the past, I feel UTSW has moved away from those times and I was nothing but impressed with the Saturday interview. Dr. Choy played classical music in the background and was nothing but awesome during my interview (and I heard similar things from other applicants at my interview day as well). All the faculty were super laid back, with many just wearing street clothes for an even less stressful and informal interview.

UT Southwestern

Location:
The Big D! Dallas really is a big city and with that comes the traffic, more expensive living cost, etc. but in my opinion it is much better than Houston or any other of the Texas cities for that matter. Dallas is clean, slightly a bit more pretentious than my liking, but overall would be an awesome place to live for 4 years as a young professional. Sports, museums, outdoor activities, cool downtown, awesome bar scene…it has it all.
Facilities/Tech: UTSW definitely doesn't take any short cuts when it comes to technology. Dr. Choy emphasized the importance of training residents with the most state-of-the-art equipment and claims to change out machines every 3 years. Had every piece of equipment you would need (with talks of protons if that's something you like) and doing some trials in the future with GammaPod. They also had a machine called Vero, which I had never heard of, that is some type of specialized SBRT machine (only one in North America is at UTSW, which I googled and is true). The cancer center is extremely nice with plenty of lab space in the adjacent building. UTSW is not lacking in the facilities and technology department.
Research: Also very abundant here. Doing really neat things in multiple departments including clinical protocol design, physics and engineering, as well as molecular radiation biology. They have one new professor from MD Anderson doing some really interesting research into cachexia and they have endless opportunities for clinical protocols and trials if that's your forte. I was told by other applicants that the lab environment was great as well if you're looking for bench work.
Faculty: Unless they are great actors, everyone seemed super nice and genuine. Big names with Drs. Choy, Timmerman (godfather of SBRT), and Nedzi. Also, mix of some younger and older people, which made the environment seem very balanced. Dr. Meyer was one of the more quiet PDs, but seemed like a good guy who cared for his residents.
Residents: Taking 3 this year and additionally one PGY-2 outside the match. Dr. Choy told me during interview he was planning to take 4 from the match next year though. Current residents seemed nice and fun to be around. From all over the country it seemed like. Huge mix of personalities.
Work: I definitely got the impression that they work harder here than some other places. Some residents admitted that it used to be much worse but workload has improved over the last couple years with the hiring of more staff and increasing the residency program numbers. Not the place for you if your not looking to work hard in clinic and on significant research projects.
Wild card: Biggest issue here is you need to weigh the reputation of the past (long hours, unhappy residents, etc) verus the impression they give at the interview (acknowledgment things weren't the greatest in the past for residents and making significant changes/improvements in residency program). I believe the latter.
Overall Impression: Hands down this would be an incredible place to train. Great city and faculty, incredible research opportunities on all fronts, and a dedication to top-line equipment and facilities. I'm under the impression that this will be a top program soon and I would love to end up here.
 
Last edited:
UCSF

Location: Not a Californian, but IMO San Francisco is the best city in the country. A dense, beautiful urban environment, with good weather (okay no SoCal great), gorgeous geography around the bay area, good food, etc. And they almost won the Super Bowl, thanks to a blackout in NOLA. All of this comes with high costs, but fortunately UCSF provides a meager housing stipend, which when considering a couples match = $1,300/month for housing. Not too shabby.

Facilities/Technology: Mount Zion facility, where approximately 2/3 of training occurs, is pretty nice overall. Parnassus, however…one big dump with a holy view. Granted, I didn’t go to each program, but the Parnassus facilities were the dingiest I encountered. Talks of clinic space at UCSF’s new Mission Bay campus, but not sure what the time frame for this is. With regards to tech, my impression is they have most technology you would expect for a program of its stature.

Research: I think it was somewhere in the 9-12 month range. UCSF has tons of resources, and was told that there was an excellent translational research center that residents could get involved with, though I don’t know that any have. Was hard to get a sense for what kind of research residents/attendings are involved with. As I explain below, this whole interview day was a bit poor on the information side.

Didactics: Reportedly has been a sore spot for the department in the past. Dr. Haas-Kogan was actively trying to improve the didactics series. Sounds like mostly attending-driven currently, but that she hoped to have split the burden of work a bit more with the residents.

Faculty: Dr. Roach...hmm. Sure, he seemed nice, and the residents commented that he’s a beast in the clinic and they love working with him. Would have been nice to see that side of him. Kind of makes me wonder why he even interviews folks if he’s unable to maintain solid eye contact and not stop staring at his computer. Dr. Haas-Kogan, however, I loved. She was very well-spoken, funny, and direct. Seemed like she really advocates for the residents. Sue Yom was also one of my favorite interviewers I had the chance to speak with. All around seemed like a friendly, approachable group.

Residents: 3 per year. Those that I had the opportunity to meet were very nice. One looked kinda like Ray Romano, and he was hilarious. Resident interviewer was also really cool, had good recommendations of things to do for the weekend I was there. Undoubtedly, a very bright group who seemed to be happy with the program.

Clinical Load: I had the sense that the hours here were pretty good overall, with adequate time to explore/enjoy the wonderful city of SF. CNS is particularly strong here. Only weakness with regards to services was lymphoma, per residents, given the lymphoma rockstars down in Palo Alto.

Interview Day: Breakfast during grand rounds (actually a very good prostate talk). I think there were eight 20-minute interviews, one rad bio, one physics, one resident, PD, chair, and three other attendings. Followed by tour of Mt. Zion, then shuttle for tour at Parnassus, then out to lunch at a nice Italian place. Unfortunately, there was no dinner as my interview day was the night of the department holiday party, hence why we went out to lunch. Now on to a few complaints about this interview day. This was one of the most poorly organized days overall. There was no department or residency program overview at all. I did get a folder, but only had my interview schedule. As a result, the program does a very poor job at selling itself. Whether this is an example of a being more “West coast laid back” or lazy, it’s hard to say. However, their left coast peers did a far better job at selling themselves (especially its very close neighbor, Stanford).

Overall Impression: The location is unbeatable. However, I do think they lean on their location and their reputation too much when it comes to residency recruitment. Is it a great program? Probably. Would it attract top talent if it were in the middle of the country? Maybe not. Now, I don’t want to get into an argument about the importance of geography, because I agree with many that geography is a huge consideration when choosing your training program. All I’m trying to say is that I was more impressed with almost every other “top 10” program’s sales pitch. All this complaining to ultimately say that I still ranked it very highly because of the location, the quality of the residents, and the couples match.
 
Emory

Location: Atlanta. Sprawling mess like Houston. I'm sure there are tons of things to do, but I don't care for it personally. Emory itself is located in a pretty nice suburb not too far from downtown. There are a couple of others sites that residents rotate at, including Grady (downtown Atlanta), and Emory Midtown in, you guessed, it Midtown Atlanta. Residents said driving between the sites isn't too bad, maybe 15-20 minutes depending on traffic. On the plus side, Atlanta has very good restaurants and is affordable. The Georgia Aquarium is also pretty sweet (whale sharks and beluga whales, yes please).

Facilities/Technology: Main campus facilities seem pretty nice overall. Probably above average for rad onc programs that I visited. The Emory campus is beautiful, and as a nice touch has the CDC just down the street. Not sure that that matters, unless you really want to pursue an MPH while in residency. Emory Midtown was very nice (former private hospital). Grady was better than I expected, but still looked like a non-descript building that was pieced together as cheaply as possible, but hey, it's a county facility so what can you expect? Protons being built in Midtown Atlanta. With addition of protons, truly will be no lack of technology available. Varian testing site.

Research: 6 months of research. Seemed to have a pretty productive basic/translational science group that was actively supported. I don't think Holman was supported here, but I might be wrong. One of the chief residents had done some sort of clinical scholars program, which the department covered, where he got an MSCI. Unfortunately, the PD told me that he didn't know that the dept would continue to be able to support that financially. Seems like there are a ton of opportunities here overall.

Didactics: Emory had a very well-developed didactic schedule, including weekly faculty-led didactics, Friday morning conferences and lectures, etc. If off-site, the MTWH sessions were video-broadcasted to other facilities, but all residents go to the main campus for Friday morning didactics.

Faculty: I've heard great things about Dr. Curran, but I was unable to meet him as he was in meetings the morning of my interview, so perhaps others can comment. The PD ( Dr. Jani) was nice, but not the warmest character. Per the residents, he will do everything to support you, but don't expect him to try to be your friend. Most faculty seemed very well put together. However, there were two rather awkward/inappropriate faculty interactions. First, one of the faculty members actively bad-mouthed some of the other Rad Onc programs in the SE, which doesn't seem like a particularly strong way to recruit applicants. Another faculty member was filling out my evaluation (i.e. circling 1-5 on my communication skills, etc.) with the sheet about 2 feet from me. Pretty awkward.

Residents: Four per year. Interestingly, a couple of their residency spots (as at Duke) are paid for by the military so there are a couple military guys. Mostly southerners as you would expect. Overall, seemed to be a fun group.

Clinical Load: Seems like a busy place, but not overly so. Their residents definitely meet all their requirements without difficulty. Additionally, they have a very broad and diverse patient population as reflected by the variety of training sites and the populations each serves. Notably, this is another categorical program, with residents doing prelim medicine. As compared to my relative excitement for doing prelim medicine at Penn, I didn't quite care as much for doing medicine at Emory, if only because most of it is done at Grady. May be a plus for some, but not as much for me.

Interview Day: Dinner the evening before with residents at a pretty nice, relatively upscale Mexican restaurant in Midtown. Breakfast with very good, data-driven (a la Yale) program overview. Dr. Jani may not be the most personable fellow, but he definitely seems to be running a strong program as evidenced by the publications, grant funding, and board pass rates of their graduates. 6 or so interviews in the morning, followed by catered lunch and then a long tour, through the cancer center, a bit through Emory campus, then Grady and Emory Midtown.

Overall Impression: I think Emory is a program on the rise; if it isn't there yet, it's probably soon to be the second best program in the SE (after Duke). Soon to have all the toys, and has among the most diverse of training sites available (from wealthy population at Emory and Emory midtown to poorest of the poor at Grady), with resultant breadth of disease. Location and a few strange faculty interactions bumped this lower on the list, but I'm confident that I would receive excellent training here.
 
Last edited:
Duke

Location: The research triangle area seems to be very pretty, but as is the trend, I like more urban areas. Nonetheless, Duke makes up for being in Durham. On the plus side, I think there are a ton of outdoorsy stuff in the area. Duke’s campus is also beautiful. Low cost of living, and could definitely buy a decently large place. Great place for families.

Facilities/Technology: Duke has a brand new cancer center, opened within the year. Oh my goodness it was beautiful. It’s so pretty that other residency programs were showing it off (my better half actually toured it, and they were interviewing in a non-related specialty). The rad onc department is partially located in the new building, and partly in the older department space. Had just installed 3-4 True Beams in the new department space. Currently renovating older department space. Overall, great facilities and tech here. Beautiful view of the undergrad campus and rolling Carolina hills from the top floor of cancer center.

Research: I don’t recall how much time they provide, but I’m thinking in the 9-month range? Someone please correct me if I’m wrong. Seemed to be a very supportive environment, with ample opportunities in basic sciences, translational, retrospective, and prospective clinical research. Residents very productive.

Didactics: I recall being impressed with the quality of didactics available here. Dr. Lee, the PD, is an educational visionary (has and Masters of Ed) and is trying to incorporate novel teaching techniques. Expect this place to go all Khan Academy on you. I think good things coming down the pipeline with regards to regards to resident education.

Faculty: Dr. Willett was as nice and charming a gentleman as Harari at Wisconsin. Dr. Lee, as mentioned, is rather unique in his approach to residency education and has really beefed up the program. Dr. Brizel asked some tough questions, but was a delight to chat with. Dr. Larrier was hilarious! I was really impressed with all of my interviewers. Had heard there was a history of “malignant” faculty-resident interactions maybe some 10 years ago, but definitely did not think there was any of that present now. Definitely a top-down culture of resident support, starting with Dr. Willett and Lee.

Residents: I believe there were 3 per year. Like Emory, a couple military folks here. Many of them seem very interested in academics, and indeed they do well with academic placement. Tend to be a married group.

Clinical Load: Residents commented that Duke was definitely a busy place. Although the research triangle area is not a huge population center, Duke catchment area is rather large (and indeed appears to be expanding with intended growth with satellite facilities, although Lee did not intend residents would spend any time at any of them).

Interview Day: Dinner the night before, unfortunately couldn’t make it due to travel schedule. Breakfast in the morning, program overview, followed by ten 30-min interviews, with a lunch sandwiched between. Definitely one of the longer days out there. The program coordinator, Ms Hoppenworth, is a real sweetheart.

Overall Impression: I loved this program. Has all the workings for a successful learning environment, with great faculty, co-residents, new shiny cancer center, etc. The program more than made up for my reservations about the area. I think this is the best program in the SE, and rightly so. Would move it up the list.
 
Harvard: Great program, with famous faculty etc… but a little underwhelming and I felt that the program lacked coordination. Unlike the two other programs in the big three, this program is a little fragmented with all the hospitals having different systems etc… but clinical training is definitely at the top and everyone has 1 year of protected research time where they can do anything they want within the harvard system. The departmental support for basic science is definitely below MSK, Michigan, and WashU. They tend to frequently higher their graduates in fully clinical instructor positions with little or no research support which creates an inbred environment. The strength of this place is sheer size, but per capita they would definitely be overtaken by other programs. Boston is a great intellectual city that is also safe with a vibrant student community.

As someone quite familiar with HROP, I just want to correct a bit of the above: You often read in these interview impressions about the fear of "fragmentation", especially insofar as it comes to different software programs (EMRs, scheduling, planning, contouring, etc). Firstly, MGH and BWH have the same EMR programs, so no issue there. From the planning/contouring perspective, I think exposure to multiple platforms is actually a benefit; you come out with an understanding of the ins-and-outs, pluses/minuses of each of these, leaving you better equipped when you enter the job market. Planning softwares often have kinks and quirks that, if you've had previous exposure to them, gives you an idea of what their capabilities/limitations are and how to overcome them. From a training perspective, exposure to the attendings at the three primary HROP institutions gives you a broad/varied/and deep sense of the variations in treatment philosophies for a given sub-site; it forces you to think more critically of the rationales behind certain treatment decisions and gives you the intellectual flexibility to avoid unnecessary dogmatism.

Beyond just software programs and treatment philosophies, you see a wide variety of attending styles, meet a huge number of allied oncologists, get a sense for the styles of leadership that you might like to work under, and ultimately really feel a part of the largest cancer research community in the world. In addition, you get exposure to different patient populations. The rotation at Boston Medical Center allows you to work with a predominantly uninsured/free care community that you simply would never see at Dana-Farber/MGH/MSKCC/MDACC.

All of these things are possible BECAUSE of the multi-institutional nature of the program. Honestly, when you're a resident, the biggest ramp up is just learning a new sub-site, becoming familiar with a new set of attendings, and learning new styles; this happens regardless of the number of participating hospitals in your residency. Learning the software is, in my opinion, the easiest part of the ramp up (and after your first year, isn't an issue).

Re: institutional support for bench research. I'm not quite sure what the OP is talking about. Maybe the program didn't sell it enough, but we routinely have 1-2 Holman residents per year. Holman is strongly supported by the administration. As for faculty hires, each year for the past 4 years we have hired 1-2 physician-scientists who spend 80% of their time in the lab; all of these are fmr HROP Holman residents. It's one thing to allow Holmans, it's quite another level of support to then hire them on to do exactly what they've trained to do. This is an unparalleled level of institutional devotion to physician scientists.

On the clinical research side, the program will pay for a summer program in biostats and clinical research at the School of Public Health for its residents (in fact, it'll strongly encourage it). There are databases galore and the clinical research infrastructure is unparalleled. All of the recent clinical faculty hires have ample research time (2 days a week for many) and have been extraordinarily productive.

And the OP is right, a lot of recent hires are internal. But you have to ask yourself: why isn't this true of every program? The experience the residents have here is such that they want to stay. I can't think of a stronger endorsement of a program by its residents than the decision to stay on as junior faculty.

I certainly don't mean to pick on the OP; it's hard to get a sense of a program after a 1-2 day visit and to then accurately relay it in these impressions. But realize that the surest way to evaluate the quality of a program is to speak to the residents.

With that in mind, I don't think there is a single resident in our program that would disagree with what I've said.

Good luck to everyone with Match! And enjoy the remainder of the 4th year!
 
Last edited:
supplement to previous emory review

Emory

Location: Atlanta. I feel like Atlanta is a really cool city if you get out into some of its neighborhoods. It has pretty much anything you could ask for.

Facilities/Technology: Main campus has the academic/tertiary referral center with lots of weird cases and high volume. Grady is a great opportunity to spread your wings with added independence. You wil also see it all at Grady, and they just installed a new Varian machine. Midtown gives more of the private practice feel and is also the home of one of the south's most prominent sarcoma surgeons so you see a lot of that. Protons will be about 2-3 blocks down from midtown, but apparently won't be ready for treatment until our PGY4 year or so. Emory's locations run the gamut of possible practice settings. Also, free ipad and $1000 yearly "book" fund plus travel expenses to meetings.

Research: apparently no questions asked 6mo research.

Didactics: --

Faculty: I was able to meet Dr. Curran, and he was a great guy. Very nice and easy to talk with. All the faculty, for that matter, were great to talk with. I think they have a strong group of faculty with a good number of MD/PhD's who spend a significant amout of time in the lab. Also a lot of young faculty. There are also some really excellent clinicians you get the opportunity to work with. I believe Dr. Beitler and the head and neck service is one of the busiest in the country. Also, there will probably be a large number of additional faculty coming on as the proton center gains traction.

Residents: Four this year. Probably 2:1 male female, maybe half are married. Residents were a great group. It seemed like the department is very well funded and provides great support to the resident.

Clinical Load: concur with previous. you would probably see just about everything at this program

Interview Day: Lots of people at the interview day, but it was run well. Good tour of all the sites, and fortunately they did not feel compelled to make you interview will all the faculty like some larger programs do. All my interviews were low-stress. One physicisit interview that wasn't too awkward.

Overall Impression: One of the most diverse training settings in the country. Good support from the department. They have risen to the top of the programs in the south, but I think they are only going to continue rising until they are one of the prominent programs in the country.
 
Disclaimer: I think for my contribution I’ll post impressions of some of the places I visited in the middle tiers because it seems like lots of these places don’t get much press on SDN. I’ll forgo discussing top tier programs further, and I’ll skip impressions for any program I visited but did not rank.
These impressions are from my personal notes at the end of each interview day, away rotations, and conversations with applicants and mentors. I’ve tried to be very honest, which includes pointing out some negatives of programs. I don’t mean to offend, just presenting my impressions. Feel free to disagree as these interview experiences are super short and it is tough to get a good feel for programs in half a day or so.
In evaluating programs, job placement, perceived support of program leadership, and gut feeling were paramount for me. Also, I found that the best way to convey my impression of a program to family or friends was through comparing it to a car, so I’ll do the same here. When pointing out the flaws of a car, it’s important that people know whether you are criticizing a Ferrari or a Kia.
With that said, lets get started….

Utah
In terms of a facilities, imagine a four star hotel built into the side of a mountain and you have the Huntsman Cancer Institute. I liked this program. Good faculty. However, I wouldn’t describe the chairman as gregarious. Smaller program with 2 residents per year. About 6 years ago or so they had the highest number of publications per resident in the country, but I doubt they are near the top now. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great place to train, but with so many programs making great strides someone has to move down the list. The residents were nice. Didactics appear to be solid and I was actually surprised to hear that they have a borderline intense chart rounds session with pimping (which I think is a good thing). Utah is one of the programs that probably attracts more qualified applicants than the program would otherwise, based on location and dearth of other programs in the mountain states. I would be happy to train here.
Car equivalent: Infiniti G35—beautiful exterior, solid performance.

UPMC
Great technology (other than protons) and great clinical training due to Dr. Beriwal. Got grilled by a few interviewers; however, I was forewarned by residents and faculty. You know an interviewer is trying to get under your skin when, after you respond to a question, he/she says “I’m going to give you another chance to answer that question”…3 times. In the end I just laughed it off. The interview day was a little painful with a 2-3 hour session of sitting in a room while the second group interviewed. Come on guys. I did like the bus tour of Pittsburgh, which really did change my mind about the city.
Lots of volume, ranked #10 cancer hospital. Ultimately the program's resume was impressive, and I thought to myself that this would be a solid place to train, but I didn't leave stoked. This is probably due to the fact that I didn’t click with a few of the faculty members and could envision rough rotations working with them. I think this is one of those situations where this would be a great program for some, just not for me.
Car equivalent: Chevy volt—Great car and I’m sure some people love it, just not for me.

UC Davis
I actually really liked this program. I really liked Dr. Chen, the program director--very down to earth and honest. He is one of the coolest out there—the type you could hang out with. Yeah it’s a smaller program, but in terms of gut feeling, I came away with very positive vibes. The chairman was personable and easy to talk to and the young faculty all seemed awesome, open, and honest. Not sure how good job placement would be, but you’d be happy as a resident. Sacramento would be nice place to live.
Car equivalent: Subarau BRZ/Toyota GT 86—cool, inexpensive, fun little sports car. Not going to win many races, but a joy to drive.

Iowa: I thought this was a solid program. It’s funny, the thing that keeps coming to my head is that last year was the first year that all residents had an abstract at Astro. I guess I thought they were further along as a program. Nice facilities. Seem to have lots of research opportunities. I think I remember a fact sheet saying that they are probably getting protons, but that seemed unlikely before we finish residency. I liked the program director and chairman. I think its hard to recruit to Iowa. In the end, you would get good training.
Car equivalent: Hyundai—Lots of cool features, improving, not yet the name recognition of a Toyota or Honda.

Washington:
Very impressive interview day. Wow, they sell themselves well. Awesome clinical training, PD is dedicated to resident training, liked all the faculty, Seattle is just awesome. The panel interviews were strange at times (evil genie, magic vacation, lost in a desert, etc.) but I really liked how one of the interviews scheduled was for you talk one on one with a faculty member. This faculty member was responsible for selling the program to you and answering any concerns in a confidential, personal setting—no other program did this, and I thought it was an excellent idea.
They have protons and every other technology. New chairman coming (since no one else has said who it is yet, I guess I'll hold off as well)—not sure what that means for the program. Beautiful facilities, very cool residents, down to earth people, fun program. Clinical research is there, but you have to go get it. Perhaps higher than average work hours per week.
The only thing is, after I got over my infatuation with the program on interview day and let things settle (and spoke with trusted mentors) I was better able to recognize some weaknesses—research, leadership turnover, and job placement. Seattle is still Seattle and this program is probably 4th or so on the west coast (UCSF, Stanford, UCSD?).
Car equivalent: Acura TL—classy, tasteful, technologically advanced, yet not necessarily a performance car to compete with others (more clinically focused).

Ohio state
What a surprise this interview was. Very impressive. Basically this program is a bit of a gamble with the possibility of a big payout. I really liked the dinner the night before at the program director’s house. He was super funny and this was a very nice touch that set a friendly tone for the rest of the trip. Interview day was so long, with interviews beginning after lunch—that needs to change for next year. The chairman (vice-chair of RTOG brain tumor committee?) is from Harvard and struck me as one of the most genuine people I met on the trail. The PD Pelloski trained at MD Anderson and is awesome and funny. I got the impression that both would be awesome resident advocates. They have hired many impressive staff from top programs and are headed in the right direction. They openly acknowledge that they are turning a program around and have goals for greatness. Dr White (chair of RTOG breast committee) was recently recruited. The new facility will be awesome; loved the hardhat tour. The research going on and planned seems to be great.
Kind of unproven but they seem to have everything that you would need to be successful, most importantly a nice stable of impressive staff members already on board and tons of resources from the parent institution (OSU). I ended up ranking this program about 3 spots higher than I anticipated prior to interviewing. This program is still a bit of a gamble, but at this point I think the possible reward outweighs the risk. I predict this will be a top 15-20ish program by the time we finish residency.
Car equivalent: Nissan GTR in pre-production—A well known brand Nissan (Ohio state) with lots of resources develops a supercar to rival other top automakers, and, like the GTR, I think OSU will develop an impressive product.

Minnesota
Not a whole lot to say about this program. It is a small program (2 residents/yr) and the department is not very committed to research. Minnesota is as cold as they say. The residents were nice and cool. Seems like the clinical training is good. Makes sense for people who have ties to the area. Sorry, can’t remember too much about this one….
Car equivalent: Chevy Aveo—solid economical car that will get you to your destination.

Maryland
Don’t mean to offend anyone, but I was disappointed by my experience on interview day. In talking with friends on the trail, its clear I wasn’t the only one to leave underwhelmed. Or perhaps my expectations were just too high given the rave reviews of the program in the past. Yes, they are getting protons, yes their grads have landed at good places, yes I would get good training, but my gut told me I wouldn’t be happy there. I didn’t feel like I connected with the chairman. The program director works at a satellite, which seems to be hard on the residents. Lots of traveling between sites if I remember correctly. Overall, I just came away bummed out; I wanted to like it so much more than I did. The program and the city are just not a good fit for me. I ended up ranking this program about 3 spots lower than I expected to prior to interviews.
Car equivalent: hmmm….Lexus of some kind—nice brand, well respected, maybe not as exciting to drive as one might expect.

Mcw
Solid program. Milwaukee is a good place to live with good cost of a living. Although Dr. White left, still seems like a very stable program. Good job placement. I guess the thing I remember most is thinking that the department was just peaceful, with happy faculty and residents.
Car equivalent: Honda Civic or Toyota Camry—not necessarily flashy, but established history of reliability.

Nebraska
Program began in 2010, just getting fourth resident. Good chairman and good faculty. People are happy there, just unproven and very small. I liked the residents. Basically I got as good a vibe as possible given the small size, Omaha, no track record, few machines, etc. I appreciated that they provided all transportation and a hotel for the night before the interview—classy. I was hesitant to make the trip, but in the end glad I went. Whoever matches here will be happy.
Car equivalent: Toyota Yaris—small but solid car.

Cleveland Clinic: Not sure why this program doesn’t get more love. This is such a great program. The training is top-notch. My impression is that this is a very structured, challenging, but non-malignant program. Applicants who rotated here had excellent things to say about the program. Yeah, the morning conference was somewhat intense, but didn’t seem malignant. Lots of patient volume, nice brand name institution, #6 cancer center, nice mix of awesome young faculty and older well-known names, nice facilities, great job placement, dedicated in-house statistician, windows in department—what’s not to love? The weakness of the program is basic science research, although an MD/PhD was recently recruited. However, for most applicants, basic science is not a high priority. Instead, great clinical training and clinical research opportunities are more important, and the Cleveland Clinic delivers both.
The only thing that seemed odd about the interview day is that the program kind of failed to sell itself. Maybe they assumed everyone already knew it was a great program.There was no grand presentation a la Yale or Washington that left you buzzing. Despite all the great aspects of the program, I wonder if more than a few applicants may have left the interview day not realizing how much this program has to offer.
Car equivalent: BMW M5—respected brand name BMW (Cleveland Clinic) and a beautiful car, but those who bother to look under the hood realize that this car has the performance to hang with cars of better pedigrees.

Well that’s it. What a fun experience to visit so many great places and meet so many awesome people. It was fun to see how different programs did or did not sell themselves. I think the programs who don’t try to sell themselves or actively recruit the applicants they like are making a mistake. Everyone wants to know they are wanted, and I think it does influence rank lists. Good luck to all my fellow applicants in the match this year! Less than three weeks away! Still can’t believe how fortunate I am to have found this amazing field of medicine.

(feel free to PM me if you want to ask more questions about these programs and I'll see what I can do)
 
Harvard Radiation Oncology Program

Location: Boston is my favorite East Coast city, and given the strength of almost every training program, is one of the best cities in the country for residency training in any discipline. Many of you are already familiar with it, so I’ll not belabor the point that this is a desirable city. Great culture, sports, history, transportation, etc. Oh, and easy access to Maine! The program itself is divided principally between two main sites, MGH, which is right by downtown Boston, and the Longwood area (BWH/DFCI, BIDMC, Children’s), which is a closer to more residential areas, e.g. Brookline. Both sites are very easily accessible by the T.

Facilities/Technology: What more could you ask for? This program has absolutely every modality, piece of software, etc. that you could ask for. I agree wholeheartedly with MidwestGirl that this is a HUGE asset for the program. Generally speaking, you will come out of this place with perhaps the broadest skill set. Unfortunately, I’m unable to speak to the facilities a whole lot, as we didn’t actually get a tour of any of the rad onc clinic space (the one bummer to this interview day). That being said, I know MGH has a brand new facility, and Boston Medical Center (where residents spend a brief 3 months, I believe) also has a brand new department space.

Research: Every resident gets 12 months in the PGY4 year. The opportunities are endless, likely the most extensive of any institution given the size of the whole Harvard system. This program truly doesn’t care what you decide to do for that year. From basic science (Holman definitely supported) to clinical research, you can have it all. Many residents were working on several projects on varied disease sites during their research year, and it seems that everyone was very productive. As MidwestGirl mentioned, Dr Harris strongly encourages all non-Holman residents to do the School of Public Health 7-week intensive program in clinical stats, etc. during the beginning of the PGY-4 year, and the department foots the $13,000 bill. Should you be interested, you can also pursue an MPH at Harvard, but you will be responsible for the rest of the tuition, less the $13,000 the department provides.

Didactics: The overarching theme is that didactics are strongest on the Longwood side, which has a formal morning conference a couple days a week. My understanding is that it is Socratic method-based, and was the origin for the Chicago and Cleveland Clinic morning conferences. Unfortunately the applicants (at least on my interview day) did not get to sit in on one of the conferences. The residents stated that the conferences were not malignant, but do require a lot of preparation. The MGH didactics are reportedly less formal, but the disease-site topics/objectives parallel the Longwood conference schedule. End result is that these residents are incredibly well-prepared for board exams.

Faculty: Just like MDA and MSK, big name after big name. Just as importantly, I was so impressed by the down-to-earth-ness of the faculty at each of the institutions. Split between all the sites I think there are somewhere around 60+ faculty members. On the Longwood side, Jay Harris and Mary Ann Stevenson were delightful. D’Amico was ripe with wisdom. Didn’t have the chance to meet Jay Loeffler at MGH, but everyone I met there I loved too, especially Zeitman. I did not meet any “intense” faculty/interviewers. Additionally, this was one of only a few places where I felt like each faculty member really knew my application. The vast majority trained at either HROP, or the former Joint Center and MGH programs.

Residents: 7-8 residents/year. Slight male predominance, but as Jay Harris mentioned, they strive for roughly 50-50 male/female. Most residents are from “brand-name” medical schools, for better or worse. In my experience, these were hands down the most impressive group of residents. I also thought they were among the most friendliest and personable crew out there. Special shout out to the chief residents, Sean and Monica. These two were absolutely wonderful. A number will stay on as Harvard faculty upon finishing. In general, they probably have their first pick of any jobs. In this year’s graduating class, the three PGY5s I chatted with were either staying on faculty (two of them) or going to MSK.

Clinical Load: In general, MGH is heavier than the Longwood side. However, certain services are the complete opposite, e.g. GYN, which is heavier at Longwood. Per the residents, MGH has a much more “work hard play hard” mantra, where everyone is cranking hard to get the work done. I didn’t get the sense that volume was unreasonable at any of the hospitals. BMC offers a more unique patient population as compared with BWH/DFCI, BIDMC or MGH, with a larger indigent population. The BMC rotation (I think ) was also a grab-bag, i.e. they treat multiple disease sites simultaneously. As a result, many commented that it was a great review prior to finishing residency. High peds volume at both Boston Children’s and MGH, which different types of peds cases represented at each (given MGH’s proton facility).

Interview Day: As many have commented before, this is a marathon of an interview experience. Two days of interviews, with roughly ten 30-minute interviews each day. A handful of the interviews have two faculty or residents. Spend one day at Longwood and one day at MGH. The first day starts off with a general overview of the program by one of the chief residents. Then you start the interviews! On the Longwood side, the morning is at BWH/DFCI and the afternoon is at BIDMC. Each applicant gets a PGY4 resident escort for interviews on the Longwood campus, given its size. For lunch at the Longwood campus, each applicant is taken to lunch by 2 or so residents (which was an awesome way to get a lot of first-hand information). Lunch at MGH was at a really good sushi/Asian fusion restaurant. In between the two days, there is an amazing dinner (my favorite dinner of the trail). Almost all of the residents showed up, so there was like a 2-3:1 ratio of residents to applicants which was awesome. As I’ve previously mentioned, everyone was incredibly kind. So, the real challenge here is keeping up your enthusiasm and energy. By the end of the second day, I was ready to go to sleep immediately after. In contrast to medstud200 I thought that the day was very well organized and that they did an excellent job at selling themselves.

Overall Impression: In my opinion, HROP is the best program in the country. I felt that it was several steps ahead of its closest competition in MDA and MSK. Perhaps has the absolute widest breadth of experience with regards to clinical exposure, research opportunities, and quality didactics. The city, residents, faculty, and reputation are all amazing. The residents really do write their own ticket. It’s no surprise that they are a perennial favorite, and are at the top of many people’s lists.
 
Mayo: I really liked the feel of the mayo clinic. Business suits instead of white coats? Brilliant. It just felt classy. The morning report was vigorous, but fun and the residents clearly benefitted from the experience. I would be afraid to go head to head against them in a tumor board. They had all the toys and protons are underway. I really liked the gym adjacent, and the way the place was all connected. Interview was pretty formal, but I felt respected (which was not true everywhere). I think this was the best program I visited in terms of how awesome of a doctor you would become by training there, but location does hurt it by driving away some who can’t handle the cold. Name recognition is a nice consolation prize though, especially if you are dreaming of a private practice career; no problems in job placement for these folks. I was kind of bummed to hear there is going to be a new residency at Mayo Scottsdale opening next cycle, because I would have loved to be in AZ.

Utah: Facilities are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. You can read all the reviews about the place you want; when you go there your mind will still be blown. Kind of reminded me of the Himalayan temple Bruce Wayne trains at in the beginning of Batman Begins. I am super outdoorsy, and the thought of getting to live in Salt Lake for 4 years left me drooling. I think SLC is the best city in the country (with tight competition from San Diego) for those non big city types. 9 months to 1 year of research(I recall). Much has been made of resident productivity here, which I really think stems from the residents having balance in their lives and being happy. You spend some time rotating through the Intermountain system, which has the distinction of being cited as fantastic by both Obama and Romney in reference to getting healthcare right. Lots of programs on this thread are called “upper middle tier,” I think I would bump this one up to “lower upper tier.” Job placement is superb for the residents coming from here.

Penn: Not much for me to add for Penn, which is discussed on this thread ad infinitum. It is as great as they say in every regard. Negatives were location (for me personally) and the attached intern year (though again, that might not be true for you). Hahn was really amazing.

UTSW: I went to this one with a bad attitude based on what I had heard on these boards but left shocked at how great the program actually is, I really think the previous posts have it wrong, or there has been a massive shift. Choy intimidating? He was my cuddliest interviewer of the trail. All of the faculty seemed really fun to work with. The focus on technology here is almost extreme, with all the standard stuff plus standard frills like cyber knife and gamma knife, plus goodies like Vero and Gamma Pod. Interested in protons? Not Choy, He is gunning for carbon ions. I Liked the residents here a lot, they seemed down to earth. Other programs should follow their lead. I loved Dallas. Texas, in general, is the future of America, hopefully it will expand as quickly as California is dying. Also, somewhat unrelated, having a program pay for your hotel really sets them apart for some reason. Pay attention recruiters/prog. directors…

Texas A+M: Newest program in the country at the time of my interview (now surpassed by C.S.) I really liked the city of Temple, but I can see how for some it would be just too small. Some people might be scared off by the newness of the program but I really think it could be a HUGE plus depending on your personality type. The faculty was young and energetic with interesting ideas (only program I saw doing skin brachy for inflammatory breast re-treats.) They seem to get great patient volume here with very diverse pathology as the area they serve is so large. Not the right place if you are looking for a pedigree maybe, but if you want to see really interesting diseases and work with really fun, kind attendings (and own a horse) this seemed like a great program

Georgetown: A CyberKnife on every floor! Just kidding, but you can tell they were having a hard time convincing patients to drive into DC for 6 weeks to be treated, lots of 5 shot protocols running here. Facilities were probably the worst I saw, but the tech was fine, and I thought the faculty was really gregarious. A full year of research. Pricey place to live.

Minnesota: My first thought was “Hey its like Georgetown, but in Minnesota!” Nicer facilities though. Lots of peds volume due to the association with UMN, though that may change with Mayo’s protons coming online. Really chill, friendly residents. I think it would be a blast to hang out with this group. My $0.02: A fine place to train

Cal Pacific: I liked this program a lot. I know all the lurkers on this thread are dreaming of UCSF, but I really think I would rather be here (I don’t have an eye on a chairmanship in the future) The residents rotate through multiple site, which I think might be a problem as you are in SanFran, but the residents didn’t seem to mind. Small program 1 resident a year, which I though lead to a very cozy nurturing atmosphere. I really got the feeling the attendings care about the residents. You do a full 6 months of prostate seeds. Essentially a mini prostate brachy fellowship. Residents seem to all end up in Norcal, which is one of the hardest markets to crack I hear, so that says something. Best resident pay of the trail (10,000 a year more than any other program I saw)

Kaiser: I loved this program, but I can understand some people disagreeing. The schedule has residents bounce around between attendings morning or afternoon so you can be doing breast in the morning and CNS after lunch. IMO: awesome. This is how your life will be as a for reals RadOnc (unless you are aiming for hardcore academia) The staff was super personable and friendly. Group interview with multiple staff, which I liked a lot. Technology was a little sparse, as Kaiser specifically does not get behind any new or unproven tech. The other side of the Kaiser coin is patients galore. Crazy number of patients come to get treated at Kaiser. One resident had been working for just 6 months and had more experience using the fiberoptic scope for H+N patients than the 3rd year resident I worked with on ENT in med school. Hollywood is a slum, but no one lived there. The grads seem to get prime PP jobs in SoCal, not a bad outcome by any measure. I think this program deserves a lot more love than it gets around here because of the academia mania that shapes these forums.

USC-LAC: I don’t know what the state of this program was a few years ago, but from what I saw, I was impressed. 2 sites to cover (3 including the gamma knife), but the county hospital was super new, and you get a lot of independence there. My physics panel interview was a little weird, but my interview with the physicians was really laid back and fun (despite them asking me to prepare a 5 min talk.)The campus was nice, the technology was pretty standard. The new director really has aspirations for this program. I think this is a great place for applicants looking to be in LA.

City of Hope: Less well known outside of So Cal perhaps, but big name recognition in the southwest, might be helpful if looking for a job in that area later, I don’t know. They described COH as a “cancer university” and I thought that sums up the atmosphere succinctly. Some may think lack of an undergraduate/medical school a weakness, but I really think this is a place that is cutting out the fluff and focusing on cancer like a laser, which appealed to me. The morning report was similar in intensity to Mayo, but the presenter was pimped, not vice versa. Mad it feel a little more scary maybe. One of the only places pursuing radio-tagged antibodies. Small and cozy, 1 resident a year. Very pretty facilities. Duarte was my kind of town. Nice, quiet, clean. Too soon to know about job placement, but I suspect the residents here will do just fine.
Good luck everybody!
 
Texas A&M/ Scott and White

This is perhaps the most interesting program that I interviewed at. I am still trying to wrap my head around it. Imagine a small texas town of roughly 50k people in the middle of hill country--the kind of place you would stop to grab a quick bite to eat on the road to your next interview. Well, they have a residency program with volume sufficient to have been approved for 2 spots per year. The medical center is a nice community center, and the rad onc department, of course, is in the basement. Facilities are average, but not bad. The chairman is incredibly young and did a brachy fellowship, and I was really impressed with the brachy going on here as another poster mentioned. Most of the faculty were really young, very nice to talk with, and seemed very motivated. Physics chief was also very young and exciting to talk with. Interestingly, they do chart rounds every morning. No one has graduated and taken boards, so it is hard to judge how good their didactics are. The cost of living is incredibly low here and you could probably buy a small farm if you desired. There seemed to be a large number of residents at the medical center, so you wouldn't be completely isolated. Apparently, some of the faculty live in Austin and the residents go there on weekends for entertainment. With the size of the program, I'm not sure how much research you could do, but the clinical training would probably be very good.
Overall: The best thing about this program is the young, motivated, high quality faculty who are doing some very interesting things. In my opinion, though, this was also my biggest worry. These guys all seemed to be building solid careers, and I would worry about their leaving for bigger academic centers.
 
Utah
In terms of a facilities, imagine a four star hotel built into the side of a mountain and you have the Huntsman Cancer Institute. I liked this program. Good faculty. However, I wouldn't describe the chairman as gregarious. Smaller program with 2 residents per year. About 6 years ago or so they had the highest number of publications per resident in the country, but I doubt they are near the top now. Don't get me wrong, this is a great place to train, but with so many programs making great strides someone has to move down the list. The residents were nice. Didactics appear to be solid and I was actually surprised to hear that they have a borderline intense chart rounds session with pimping (which I think is a good thing). Utah is one of the programs that probably attracts more qualified applicants than the program would otherwise, based on location and dearth of other programs in the mountain states. I would be happy to train here.
Car equivalent: Infiniti G35—beautiful exterior, solid performance.

UC Davis
I actually really liked this program. I really liked Dr. Chen, the program director--very down to earth and honest. He is one of the coolest out there—the type you could hang out with. Yeah it's a smaller program, but in terms of gut feeling, I came away with very positive vibes. The chairman was personable and easy to talk to and the young faculty all seemed awesome, open, and honest. Not sure how good job placement would be, but you'd be happy as a resident. Sacramento would be nice place to live.
Car equivalent: Subarau BRZ/Toyota GT 86—cool, inexpensive, fun little sports car. Not going to win many races, but a joy to drive.

Iowa: I thought this was a solid program. It's funny, the thing that keeps coming to my head is that last year was the first year that all residents had an abstract at Astro. I guess I thought they were further along as a program. Nice facilities. Seem to have lots of research opportunities. I think I remember a fact sheet saying that they are probably getting protons, but that seemed unlikely before we finish residency. I liked the program director and chairman. I think its hard to recruit to Iowa. In the end, you would get good training.
Car equivalent: Hyundai—Lots of cool features, improving, not yet the name recognition of a Toyota or Honda.

Ohio state
What a surprise this interview was. Very impressive. Basically this program is a bit of a gamble with the possibility of a big payout. I really liked the dinner the night before at the program director's house. He was super funny and this was a very nice touch that set a friendly tone for the rest of the trip. Interview day was so long, with interviews beginning after lunch—that needs to change for next year. The chairman (vice-chair of RTOG brain tumor committee?) is from Harvard and struck me as one of the most genuine people I met on the trail. The PD Pelloski trained at MD Anderson and is awesome and funny. I got the impression that both would be awesome resident advocates. They have hired many impressive staff from top programs and are headed in the right direction. They openly acknowledge that they are turning a program around and have goals for greatness. Dr White (chair of RTOG breast committee) was recently recruited. The new facility will be awesome; loved the hardhat tour. The research going on and planned seems to be great.
Kind of unproven but they seem to have everything that you would need to be successful, most importantly a nice stable of impressive staff members already on board and tons of resources from the parent institution (OSU). I ended up ranking this program about 3 spots higher than I anticipated prior to interviewing. This program is still a bit of a gamble, but at this point I think the possible reward outweighs the risk. I predict this will be a top 15-20ish program by the time we finish residency.
Car equivalent: Nissan GTR in pre-production—A well known brand Nissan (Ohio state) with lots of resources develops a supercar to rival other top automakers, and, like the GTR, I think OSU will develop an impressive product.

Maryland
Don't mean to offend anyone, but I was disappointed by my experience on interview day. In talking with friends on the trail, its clear I wasn't the only one to leave underwhelmed. Or perhaps my expectations were just too high given the rave reviews of the program in the past. Yes, they are getting protons, yes their grads have landed at good places, yes I would get good training, but my gut told me I wouldn't be happy there. I didn't feel like I connected with the chairman. The program director works at a satellite, which seems to be hard on the residents. Lots of traveling between sites if I remember correctly. Overall, I just came away bummed out; I wanted to like it so much more than I did. The program and the city are just not a good fit for me. I ended up ranking this program about 3 spots lower than I expected to prior to interviews.
Car equivalent: hmmm….Lexus of some kind—nice brand, well respected, maybe not as exciting to drive as one might expect.

Mcw
Solid program. Milwaukee is a good place to live with good cost of a living. Although Dr. White left, still seems like a very stable program. Good job placement. I guess the thing I remember most is thinking that the department was just peaceful, with happy faculty and residents.
Car equivalent: Honda Civic or Toyota Camry—not necessarily flashy, but established history of reliability.

Enough has been said about Utah, so I won't add more, other than to say I agree about the facility, it is breathtaking.

Already posted my UC Davis impression, but this one is spot on as well.

Agree with this about Iowa.

Ohio State- was very impressive. I won't add more to this review, other than to say that it is definitely on the rise. I'm skeptical if it will ever be SDN top tier due to location, but in the real world I could see it being one of the best programs in the country.

I'm not sure if I should be glad or scared that we all to have interviewed at the same places :) Either way, I completely agree with these assessments. I agree with Maryland, I missed the dinner the night before and as you know interviews are a whirlwind half day. It was VERY hard to gauge what it was really like there, and i couldn't stand Baltimore either. So I personally agree with you, but I couldn't find anything objective to say badly, it was more just the area that did it in for me I think.

MCW - ALready posted mine, but wanted to second this one and say I agree!

I'll attempt to go in some type of alphabetic order over next couple weeks.

Starting with a program that pleasantly surprised me on the trail! Hadn't heard the best things about this program on the blogs over the past year, so it was nice to go visit myself and see that all the negatives about the stability of the program are just plain not true. Can't fix Detroit though :)

Beaumont

Location: This is obviously one of the biggest downsides of the program. While the hospital is actually in Royal Oak, which seemed nice enough, its association with Detroit is a huge bummer. Most of the residents didn't even travel into Detroit proper they said. A big perk is the lower coast of living and the ability to purchase a nice size house for a very reasonable price in a pretty nice suburb. Nightlife is probably lacking for us single folks.
Facilities/Tech: The Beaumont hospital and medical campus was very impressive. The hospital is relatively new and in great shape. The technology was definitely up to date, and it seemed like the department had a great relationship with Elekta. They also recently installed MRI simulation and are opening a new satellite campus. Plans for protons but stalled by some government issue..??...it sounded like no protons during our classes residency.
Research: 12 months protected. They were eager to boast (and rightfully so!) that they had something like 40 abstracts accepted to ASTRO this year, which put them at/near top of the list as an institution. So, surprisingly to me, the research opportunities at Beaumont seemed on par with almost every other program I visited. Dr. Wilson, their big radbio guy, was an interesting character and seemed to be involved with some neat projects. They had a scaled down animal image-guided linac with animal size PET/SPECT/CT and MRI scanner which seemed pretty awesome.
Faculty: Another issue (that was possibly addressed too many times by faculty during interviews) was the loss of the chair and other faculty members a couple? years back. Personally, what happened in the past doesn't bother me presently since they seemed to have recovered very well and are currently interviewing some really big names for the new chair. Additionally, the faculty there now seemed great, particularly the PD.
Residents: Take 3 every year. Super laid-back group of residents that seemed very happy. I think most the residents were from the mid-west and Michigan with a couple random schools thrown in there.
Work: Everyone seemed very happy with the work load. Residents were definitely not overworked and life seemed nice as a resident at Beaumont. I believe you get all of your cases here.
Wild card: The built in Transitional Year was pretty awesome. It's a "cancer-structured" TY year and you are one-on-one with an attending, for example ENT, where during your rotation you would only be required to see head/neck cancer cases. Same for GYN rotation, urology, etc. Seems to me like a more valuable year in terms of educational purposes, with the perks of a TY year of course. Other programs should consider this structure in my opinion!
Overall Impression: This program surprised me in a good way! If you are willing to live in Royal Oak I think program is really, really great. Has everything you would need for a productive and enjoyable 5 years without the stresses that come with some of the other big name programs. I think once the faculty stabilizes this program will return to huge name status because all of the pieces are there.

Rather than flooding this thread with another review of Beaumont, I will just say that I agree with this review entirely, and it is very similar to the one I wrote. TL;DR Its still an awesome program.

And the rest of my reviews:

University at Buffalo (Roswell Park) - This program is rarely talked about on these threads, and I'm not sure why. I was very impressed with what they had to offer. A very nice dedicated cancer center, that rivals many others. THe chair was the most candid I interviewed with, and they clearly prioritize research. You can easily get 12 months here, which is very nice. Training seems great as well. Hard to tell what Buffalo is like, but it seems like a place that you could make work for 4 years if you don't need a big city. I like the proximity to Canada since I have some family there.
Overall - I think this definitely still belongs in the mid-tier, and with some improved recruiting could probably rise to the top of the mid tier, but at this point thats not happening.

Northwestern - I personally think this is tied with Utah for most beautiful hospital. Obviously one is city, and one is nature, but they are both incredible. I was much more impressed with this program than I thought I would be. Everything clicks. Residents who love being there, faculty who enjoy teaching, and a great facility. Research opportunities are on the rise, and the Radiation Biologist there is famous (Dr. Woloschak). They have a unique program where you can stay on for a 6th year and do 50/50 clinical work and research to bolster your CV for academics. Loved my day there.

Vanderbilt - This program is still amazing. The most recent info I could find on SDN about it expressed concern about the chair change, and I honestly don't think this is actually a bad thing. The new chair is, in my opinion, more realistic about what the department should be about. He is trying to maintain their reputation for bench research while becoming a well rounded department by including clinical and physics research as well. I know some of their other faculty left, but the ones who remain were all great. Nashville is one of the best towns in the south, but it is still the south. So probably not enough to overcome people's bias toward not living there, but for those who are open to it, its a wonderful opportunity.

This was an amazing year, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to interview at all of these wonderful places. Remember, that these impressions are unique to individuals, so please don't base any major life decisions on these or the rank list thread. I always heard how we would make friends on the interview trail, and was surprised to find it was actually true. I saw some of my fellow applicants more often than I did my family the last few months :) Honestly though, good luck to everyone! After meeting so many people, I can't wait to hear where we all end up in a few weeks. (Sorry, LESS than a few weeks)
 
Last edited:
Mississippi

Location: Located in Jackson, about 200 miles from Memphis and New Orleans. Reasonably sized metro area, sounds like most people live outside of Jackson. I don't think Jackson is that bad, there seem to be some good local restaurants. COL is very cheap and would be a great place for someone with a family. The hospital is located north of the city itself. Traffic didn't seem very bad.

Facilities/Technology: Cancer center is located in a reclaimed inner city mall—and yep it still looks just like a dated mall when you enter. The rad onc department though was really nice. The department itself is pretty new and I think just started when Dr. Vijay, the chair, came from UC Davis a few years back. The residents and faculty are based out of this location, and there is a hospital based location at the medical center 1 mile down the road. 2 Elecktas at the cancer center, 1 inside the main hospital. At the hospital it was shocking to walk from cinder-block/gray décor of the hospital basement into the wood floored nice Rad Onc facility. Apparently the university has invested a great deal in the department. They have HDR, which I think was in the hospital. Also, the VA next door is getting 1 or 2 new Varian linacs. This was news to me as I thought the VA was getting out of the Rad Onc business everywhere else I interviewed. I asked about brachy, and they do Gyn, but the guy doing prostate implants said he needs 3D-US to do it and they haven't purchased one yet.

Research: Not a whole lot going on right now. Probably mostly clinical research opportunities. Not sure how easy it would be to do lab work. They have 2 MD/PhD residents, but they weren't doing any lab work that I could tell. They said you can have a couple months during your chief year IF you have completed all your required cases.

Faculty: Dr. Vijay is chairman, came from UC Davis, and was PD at UChicago for a long time. He was incredibly nice, not very talkative, though. Residents seem to love him. There are 5 faculty total, but we only met two other attendings. One just started out of residency at Loyola and she was extremely nice. The VA attending is Dr. Giri who was over all Rad Onc at the Houston VA (maybe that's where the new machines are coming from). One of the good things about this small program is that the chair is incredibly involved with the residents, in the clinic, and teaching. I think this is something you miss out on at some programs where the chair is a big-shot who is always gone somewhere. I feel like getting the opportunity to actual learn from your chair is great for you education.

Residents: 4 residents, but only 1 has been taken through the match. No one has graduated from this program yet. They were all very nice and easy to get along with. Pretty diverse group with multiple nationalities, 2 males, 2 females. No tension between the residents, and they seemed to be happy with their training. I didn't hear them complain about anything. They have 1 PGY4, 2 PGY3s and 1 PGY2, which means our class would be chief for two years as there is no PGY1 ahead of us.

Work: Sounded pretty laid back. What worried me was the comment about getting to do research months IF you get required cases done. Makes me wonder if they have enough volume. However, they previously haven't rotated at VA, so that may bump the volume up some. All peds done in-house. No outside rotations. Residents cover 1 attending at a time.

Overall Impression: This is a new program which comes with some caution. No one has graduated or even taken the physics/radbio boards yet. Also, clinical volume may or may not be an issue. On the other hand, Dr. Vijay seems to have a good track record and is invested in the program and the resident's education. They see lots of advanced disease and good variety of cases. I really think you could get good training here and finish up a good radiation oncologist.
 
I just wanted to add a few things to this review

Indiana University

Facilities/Tech: If I recall correctly, this is probably one of the few places outside the top 10 that has every single modality. They had gamma and cyberknife, protons, etc. They are bringing on someone to do prostate brachy. I think this is a huge opportunity and great preparation for both academics and private practice to say you trained on just about everything.

Research: "Supported, and for a self started there would be plenty of opportunities. It is definitely a program that focuses more on the clinical side of things (not bad at all), but just means that you need to seek out the research, but it is there to find." I agree with this. I had a great interview with one of the radiobiologists. He was an awesome guy and very excited about radbio research. I think there are great lab opportunities here, they just haven't been taken advantage of in the past.

Didactics: they have an interesting setup where you take formal graduate level courses along with graduate students in physics and radbio. it is protected time, and you take both during the first year with no repeat.

Overall Impression: Great program. Its a relatively big program with good volume and great technology. Faculty were all really nice. Probably a ton of research opportunities if you seek them out.
 
Surpised at the timing fo radbio/physics. I like the idea of only having to sit through the course once..but would prefer second or third year over first year..
 
Top