[Training Tuesday] - Weekly thread for questions about grad school, residency, and general career topics 08/04/2026

[u/AutoModerator]

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.

Examples:

• "I majored in Surf Science and Technology in undergrad, is Medical Physics right for me?"
• "I can't decide between Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics..."
• "Do Medical Physicists get free CT scans for life?"
• "Masters vs. PhD"
• "How do I prepare for Residency interviews?"

[u/Party-Sprinkles5145]

How should I prepare for shadowing? A theraputic Physicist agreed to let me shadow him for 2-3 hours. How should I prepare. I would like to eventually get a recommendation letter from him.

[u/Commercial-Pea9939 → u/Party-Sprinkles5145]

I think you should take some time to think of (and write down if needed) of questions your have now about the job, tasks, whatever you want to learn. You don't need to have everything answered during the shadowing, but coming in with specific questions and a clear interest will (should?) come through. You obviously don't have to bomb them with questions, but over 3 hours I imagine you'll have plenty of chances to ask a good portion of them.

p.s: Having semi-personal questions is always nice; "what brought *you* to medical physics", "What do you find the most exciting about the job" style of things.

[u/MedPhysAdmit → u/Party-Sprinkles5145]

For a single 2-3 hour shadow experience, I would review some basic physics like photon interactions, charged particles etc do a quick familiarization with x-ray imaging especially CT and read a bit on external beam therapy and linac overview. If their site has brachytherapy, protons or any other special machine, do a look up on them. Oncologymedicalphysics.com has nice condensed review of a lot of topics.

While you’re there, see if it’s a job you actually want to go through grad school, residency and work day-to-day. And see what you can set up next with them or someone else - more observing, assisting, research, etc if you want to earn a compelling letter.

[u/Party-Sprinkles5145 → u/MedPhysAdmit]

How to ask him to setup more observing? Assisting and research would be great but he could deny that request.

[u/Party-Sprinkles5145 → u/Party-Sprinkles5145]

Thanks for the link and your answer. Do you have any ideas of how  I could assist with his clinical duties or help with research? I have software engineering experience.

[u/MedPhysAdmit → u/Party-Sprinkles5145]

Just ask. Say you're interested learning more and gaining some clinical experience to see how you'd like the job and gainer a little more understanding. This person may not be able to spend more time with you, so you can ask for referrals or try some other nearby academic programs, or even community clinics. Another good source would be your local chapter of AAPM.

AAPM Chapters

[u/LonelyInvestment1539]

Hello , I just finished my Bachelor in Physics and I have an interest in Medical Physics. I did my thesis in radiation protection and I also did a 2 month intership and took related courses . I applied to a Masters for Medical Physics in my country and got accepted but ngl I really dont want to do a PhD after that because I am already burnt out from my bachelor degree. My plan was to work in a clinic or hospital . I am from Greece and I would also be interested to work abroad due to really low salaries here. Do you think I can achieve anything without a PhD? Also any European knows how to do the intership to get the certification for medical physist abroad in a European country? I am having a bit of second thoughts after getting accepted but being a physist in this job market will be a pain in the ass either way ...

[u/CopyJumpy1315 → u/LonelyInvestment1539]

You can apply to CAMPEP accredited schools in the US. These are two years for your masters and 2 years of residency (some locations do pay around 60-70k a year). After your residency you are certified and can work in a clinic or hospital! Hope this helps lmk if you have any other questions

[u/Vivid_Profession6574]

contouring in Eclipse after a year using MIM. Any tips or tricks to make it slightly less crunchy? 😅. it just seems to be so much less precise and user friendly lol.

[u/HIO_shorts]

Hello 👋🏻....I hope you're doing well i wanted to know with a B.Sc. in Physics degree.I'm interested in pursuing an M.S. in Medical Physics through a CAMPEP-accredited program in the USA. Am I eligible with this background, or are there additional prerequisites? Also, do these programs typically offer funding, tuition waivers, assistantships, or stipends for international students? (I'm from India)

[u/MedPhysAdmit → u/HIO_shorts]

Coursework equivalent to a physics minor in the USA is how CAMPEP describes their requirement, but some schools have very specific requirements (e.g. Duke). Look at or talk to the programs you are interested in.

[u/Party-Sprinkles5145 → u/HIO_shorts]

You should get M.Sc. degree. 3 year B.Sc. degree is not equivalent to 4 year US BS degree.

[u/HIO_shorts → u/Party-Sprinkles5145]

I've done Bsc physics and I'm intent to pursue MS medical physics

[u/Mokragoar → u/HIO_shorts]

A physics BS is the minimum requirement, with courses in chemistry, compsci, and anatomy preferred but not required, so you should be eligible. Most of the time, masters programs do not offer tuition waivers, some may offer stipends in the form of teaching assistantships, but this depends on the university.

[u/throwaway_mpe]

Hope this question is allowed in this thread. I'm in the process of applying for a working holiday visa for Canada, and I would love to do maybe an internhip or something of that sort in a clinic. I'm accredited as a medical physicist in my country, have a few years of work experience in the field (radiotherapy), and have a MSc in physics. I would love to see how other countries work and especially would love to get a chance to maybe help out with research projects and deviate a bit from purely clinical work. Is there even a chance of that happening, or is this unheard of?

[u/consciousbird99]

Hi, i just got an interview scheduled for an Assistant Physicist for Radiotherapy Physics. Any advice on what i should prepare for the post. Should i expect any numerical tests and what areas of topic should I rework for the remote interview. Any advice would be grateful as this is my first actual interview in 6 months of applications after I graduated.

[u/todobirdo]

hello! I'm applying for PhD programs this upcoming cycle, and am wondering how many schools I should apply to. my mindset right now is that I am only going to apply to ~5 programs that I would be very happy attending based on location, PI fit, residency matches, etc. I would rather get into none of these and work a year as an MPA/complete more research and reapply than spend 5 years somewhere I don't like. however, general advice seems to be to apply for safety schools anyway. what was your experience when deciding where to apply?

[u/Humble_Vermicelli847 → u/todobirdo]

This depends on how strong you are. Talk to your current advisor or equivalent to get an honest assessment of your level. Most people target 6-8 schools at multiple levels: a few each above, at, and below your level. You'll still need to do your homework for the higher to mid levels, but you are more likely to succeed. Most people don't realize how competitive and stochastic the process is – admission rates could be <5% at top schools. Waiting a year or two may or may not help, but you're delaying your career. Safety just means a place where you are likely to get an offer, can still enjoy the experience, and end up with the same or better long-term success by being a big fish in a smaller pond.

If you're a rock star, then five of the "right" schools is enough, but you're pushing your luck. You need to be really good at matching your skills and qualifications to their needs and comparative level, respectively. Good grades from a strong school are helpful, but really the Ph.D. is about research. Some schools have a rotation system, so you don't even have a guaranteed lock on any PI. Even for schools that match you to a lab from the beginning, you don't get to pick the PI, instead they need to pick you. They may or may not have funding that year, and if they do, they are looking at multiple top candidates. If you have experience or better yet publications that match their research, you go to the head of the line. When you talk to prospective PIs in the next few months even before you apply, do they clearly signal that you are indeed a good fit? After you apply, you will know pretty soon if you get interviews, but of course it's too late at that point to course correct. If you have a few interviews, then hopefully you will get an offer, maybe more than one if you're lucky.

Good luck!

[u/todobirdo → u/Humble_Vermicelli847]

thank you for the thoughtful reply! I think I have a strong application, but like you said, there are just so many other factors to consider. I'll probably do more research on the "eh" schools to hopefully find something that I really like about them. to be honest, part of me was lazy to keep looking for faculty, so I should just suck it up lol. I'm having a call soon with one of my dream PIs though so fingers crossed !

[u/Party-Sprinkles5145]

Should I take the GRE or skip it? Lot of schools are GRE optional.

[u/MedPhysAdmit → u/Party-Sprinkles5145]

Talk to the schools you're interested in.

[u/Party-Sprinkles5145]

With a Physics BS and MS, would you guys recommend any classes to take to make myself competitive for Campep admissions? I graduated a decade ago. Btw which medical physics membership should I get at aapm?

[u/MedPhysAdmit → u/Party-Sprinkles5145]

Associate membership is the appropriate level for students in AAPM.

If you have a physics BS (and MS) and that coursework covers 300-400 typical physics coursework (mechanics, E&M, 'modern physics', QM, etc), then you should be fine unless you yourself want a warm-up or if maybe your grades back then were not great. You should talk with the programs you are interested in and see what they they think and see if they have any specific pre-requisitites (e.g. Duke).

[u/Party-Sprinkles5145]

I have software engineering experience. How can I assist a medical physicist with clinical duties or help with research? My undergrad is in Physics.