Babypotato Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 Hi everyone, I am a third year undergrad going into my first year of medical school. I am not too sure which specialties I want to go in yet but I am very interested in oncology (it was the reason that I wanted to go into medicine in the first place). I was wondering if anyone has any insights into med onc/rad onc including: - hours - salary - how difficult it is to match into - what activities should I participate in to boost my chances Another question I had was when would be an appropriate time to reach out to people for observerships/research opportunities. Also I am really not sure what medical students look for in terms of research opportunities. I know undergrads do wet lab, sys reviews, and clinical studies (e.g recruiting participants, data entry etc) but not sure if as medical students we unlock new research opportunities lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 2 hours ago, Babypotato said: Hi everyone, I am a third year undergrad going into my first year of medical school. I am not too sure which specialties I want to go in yet but I am very interested in oncology (it was the reason that I wanted to go into medicine in the first place). I was wondering if anyone has any insights into med onc/rad onc including: - hours - salary - how difficult it is to match into - what activities should I participate in to boost my chances Another question I had was when would be an appropriate time to reach out to people for observerships/research opportunities. Also I am really not sure what medical students look for in terms of research opportunities. I know undergrads do wet lab, sys reviews, and clinical studies (e.g recruiting participants, data entry etc) but not sure if as medical students we unlock new research opportunities lol. Med onc is a subspecialty of IM. You need to match to IM first and then do 3 years of IM priority starting a med onc fellowship. Never too early to start shadowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemPetE Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 Both are very academic specialties. There will some geographic restrictions to where you can practice with both, but moreso with RO. Agree with above - shadow and ask current resident/fellows to see which is right for you. Both are great specialties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 6 minutes ago, ChemPetE said: Both are very academic specialties. There will some geographic restrictions to where you can practice with both, but moreso with RO. Agree with above - shadow and ask current resident/fellows to see which is right for you. Both are great specialties. Rad onc is one of the short listed bad employment specialties by the royal college I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleader Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 6 minutes ago, NLengr said: Rad onc is one of the short listed bad employment specialties by the royal college I think. Any idea about how we can access such list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 http://www.royalcollege.ca/rcsite/health-policy/employment-study-e daleader 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemPetE Posted July 24, 2019 Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 For what it’s worth on rad onc employment: http://caro-acro.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2016-CARO-AGM-HR-Report.pdf https://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(19)30651-0/fulltext https://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(19)30699-6/fulltext Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blah1234 Posted July 24, 2019 Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 Wonder how the government will fund the increased demand. It looks like many people find a staff position eventually but I wonder how many people are happy with their location/setup. Also it seems like while the majority are successful there is still a small number that have to locum and be stuck in career uncertainty. I'm not sure if I would be personally comfortable given a 10+ year training timeline to end up in limbo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemPetE Posted July 24, 2019 Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 There’s some job mobility after finding a job, often times within first three years. Your first is not often your last. I’d say most graduates are happy. Have not heard of any recent people being stuck in Locum hell - only one grad 15 years ago. blah1234 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blah1234 Posted July 24, 2019 Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 2 hours ago, ChemPetE said: There’s some job mobility after finding a job, often times within first three years. Your first is not often your last. I’d say most graduates are happy. Have not heard of any recent people being stuck in Locum hell - only one grad 15 years ago. An amazing turnaround from what I've heard during my training years. ChemPetE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemPetE Posted July 24, 2019 Report Share Posted July 24, 2019 3 hours ago, blah1234 said: An amazing turnaround from what I've heard during my training years. Yeah, it’s definitely gotten better. Wouldn’t say great at this point, but better. Signs are pointing up though. Carms state are still wildly unpredictable but it’s been somewhat more competitive as of late, but still nothing crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamham Posted July 27, 2019 Report Share Posted July 27, 2019 On 7/24/2019 at 1:10 PM, ChemPetE said: There’s some job mobility after finding a job, often times within first three years. Your first is not often your last. I’d say most graduates are happy. Have not heard of any recent people being stuck in Locum hell - only one grad 15 years ago. Very surprising, especially since I was specifically told by my preceptor 2 yrs ago during an elective that competition for full-time rad onc jobs remained intense. There was one full-time position in the GVA, and they received 10 strong applications for it (all with at least 2 fellowships). I also know of a friend in rad onc. He started residency the same time I started med sch in 2013. Fast-forward 6 yrs later, I am now a staff but he is still pursuing his second fellowship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemPetE Posted July 30, 2019 Report Share Posted July 30, 2019 On 7/27/2019 at 5:03 PM, hamham said: Very surprising, especially since I was specifically told by my preceptor 2 yrs ago during an elective that competition for full-time rad onc jobs remained intense. There was one full-time position in the GVA, and they received 10 strong applications for it (all with at least 2 fellowships). I also know of a friend in rad onc. He started residency the same time I started med sch in 2013. Fast-forward 6 yrs later, I am now a staff but he is still pursuing his second fellowship. I didn’t mean for these two statements to be exclusive. Once you have your job it’s ok, but you still have to hustle to get one. You’ll be better off served doing fellowships rather than continued locums and being passed up by people who have fellowships. Jobs are still competitive but they’re getting more frequently posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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