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<title>[Training Tuesday] - Weekly thread for questions about grad school, residency, and general career topics 12/07/2021</title>
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<h1>[Training Tuesday] - Weekly thread for questions about grad school, residency, and general career topics 12/07/2021</h1>
<p>This is the place to ask questions about graduate school, training programs, or general basic career topics. If you are just learning about the field and want to know if it is something you should explore, this thread is probably the correct place for those first few questions on your mind.</p>
<h2>Examples:</h2>
<ul>
<li>"I majored in Surf Science and Technology in undergrad, is Medical Physics right for me?"</li>
<li>"I can't decide between Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics..."</li>
<li>"Do Medical Physicists get free CT scans for life?"</li>
<li>"Masters vs. PhD"</li>
<li>"How do I prepare for Residency interviews?"</li>
</ul>
<h2>Comments:</h2>
<h3>Comment 1:</h3>
<p>I'm currently a Biomedical Technician who is specializing in Imaging equipment, and used to be an Operations Engineer for several research/manufacturing labs. I'm interested in going back to school (PhD) to get into the Medical physics profession.</p>
<p>That said the field seems to include Diagnostic Radiologic Physicists, Medical Health Physicists, Medical Nuclear Physicists, and Therapeutic Radiological Physicists. What are the major and minor differences?</p>
<p>Do you ever work alongside each other or are they all synonymous roles? Do they have different degree/certifications? Do they address similar issues? And lastly, but not least, do they see similar salaries?</p>
<h4>Response 1:</h4>
<p>They are most definitely not the same role. The AAPM, the main American medical physics professional organization, <a href="https://www.aapm.org/students/prospective.asp">defines four subfields</a> of medical physics:</p>
<ul>
<li>Therapy: Most common. Work with linear external beam delivery machines (e.g., linear accelerators) and internal radioactive sources (e.g., I-131). Radiation therapy is usually for cancer, but there are some more "exotic" uses; for example, my clinic frequently irradiates hip replacements to prevent bone regrowth.</li>
<li>Diagnostic: While therapy physicists treat cancer, diagnostic physicists diagnose it.</li>
<li>Imaging: x-ray machines, CTs, MRIs</li>
<li>Nuclear medicine: Imaging using radionuclides. Example: PET scans.</li>
</ul>
<p>Most people don't really consider health physics as medical physics, but for what it's worth, health physicists work with radiation safety. They work at, for example, nuclear power plants, where employees must be properly protected from radioactive occupational hazards.</p>
<p>Medical physicists can work in:</p>
<ul>
<li>Clinics: Hospital, outpatient center, or private practice</li>
<li>Industry: R&D, software development, sales, or customer support for a hardware or software vendor</li>
<li>Academia: Usually at a teaching hospital</li>
<li>Government: This is usually only health physics. Government health physicists create and help enforce radiation safety regulations</li>
</ul>
<p>All four subfields require <a href="https://www.theabr.org/medical-physics/initial-certification">ABR certification</a> for clinical work. ABR requires at least a CAMPEP-accredited master's in medical physics plus a CAMPEP-approved residency. There is no legal requirement for non-clinical medical physics positions, but most require a master's. Some medical physicists do get PhDs, but this is not advisable unless the end goal is academia. Med phys is a hands-on profession, and clinical experience means loads.</p>
<p>Of course, a med phys master's has prerequisites, usually equivalent to an undergrad physics minor. I Googled the educational requirements for an operations engineer, and whether or not you meet the med phys prereqs probably depends on the type of engineering degree you have.</p>
<p>Because medical physics is so niche, it's difficult to find publicly available salary info, and I'd rather not provide figures from different websites because their statistical methodologies are probably different and the results may not be comparable. Your best bet for salary info is the <a href="https://www.aapm.org/pubs/surveys.asp">AAPM Salary Survey</a>, which I unfortunately don't have access to because I am not an AAPM member (the annual dues for a physics assistant are nearly $500!).</p>
<p>Other useful links:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://w3.aapm.org/medical_physicist/index.php">AAPM overview of medical physics careers</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.campep.org/campeplstgrad.asp">List of CAMPEP-accredited programs</a></li>
<li><a href="https://lsu.edu/physics/graduate-programs/medical-physics/ms-degree/med-physics.php">Example MS med phys curriculum</a> (this is where my supervisor went)</li>
</ul>
<h4>Response 2:</h4>
<p>Thanks for this. u/Kaley_White</p>
<p>I believe I should be fine undergrad-wise since I have a BS in Bioengineering (w/ concentrations in imaging, and Biomedical Devices and Instrumentations) I also have a Master in Translational Medicine.</p>
<p>If I decide to shoot for just the Masters would you happen to know if they see a drastically different salary than doing Ph.D.? Though I do eventually want to go into academia, but I would prefer doing a different terminal degree.</p>
<p>The plan is to do so when I'm ready to retire from industry and teaching to my passions instead of just my strengths.</p>
<p>Currently working on personal statement for residency apps. I have a few questions regarding residency application.</p>
<h5>Question 1:</h5>
<p>How "personal" can personal statement for residency be? I am used to writing structured and stiff feeling statements which reads almost like a 'list of my achievements'. But now that I have actually interesting aspects to my personality and experiences, I wonder if I can write about those a bit more casually instead of basically rewriting the CV in a paragraph form.</p>
<h5>Question 2:</h5>
<p>Conversely, how much technical information (personal achievements, awards, etc.) should I include in my personal statement?</p>
<h5>Question 3:</h5>
<p>I know some residency openings at the MPRAP website are already past deadline, but some are a bit later. Will more openings pop up from now on or are deadlines mostly around December? I have been able to find very little time to work on applications because of work. And I fear that I might be running out of time.</p>
<p>Thank you in advance.</p>
<h4>Response 3:</h4>
<p>It seems like everyone has different opinions on what they prefer to see in a personal statement so it's certainly not a one size fits all. When I was applying for residencies, the chief physicist at my school gave us some tips that they liked to see in personal statements when they reviewed for their graduate program or residency applicants. They like things more personal beyond what is on the CV. They also stressed the personal statement is a great opportunity to stand out and be memorable among a pool of similarly backgrounded people. It is also a good place to explain anything out of the ordinary on your CV (gap years or a change in major etc.)</p>
<p>The very limited times I reviewed applications in my career it was usually finding a CV that had what I was looking for then reading the personal statements later. It may be different for others who do this more regularly though.</p>
<p>I don't have any recent experience with MPRAP but I don't think more programs become available down the road.</p>
<h3>Comment 2:</h3>
<p>Currently a physics undergrad. What would you guys suggest to build a great resume for grad school?</p>
<h4>Response 1:</h4>
<p>Summer research projects, ideally in medical physics projects. Shadow a medical physicist to sound like you've heard of the field at your grad school interviews.</p>
<h4>Response 2:</h4>
<p>Be willing to pay tuition. You'll probably be accepted somewhere if you apply broadly.</p>
<p>Original URL: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalPhysics/comments/raxlyu/training_tuesday_weekly_thread_for_questions/">https://www.reddit.com/r/MedicalPhysics/comments/raxlyu/training_tuesday_weekly_thread_for_questions/</a></p>
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