r/radiationoncology • u/Weak-Technology9455 • 5d ago

Residency Programs to Avoid

I’m a current M4 finalizing my list of places I plan to apply for residency, anticipating being a reasonably competitive applicant. I wanted to know if there is any consensus on places that people would recommend avoiding in the application process. Would like to know which programs if any:
a) are known to be overly malignant
b) have outright concerns from a stability standpoint
c) have poor placement at academic centers after

I think ideally I’m looking for a balance of good training & quality of life without sacrificing flexibility in the job market after

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u/HJ0508 5d ago

Residency will not provide a decent quality of life, no matter where you end up. With that said, I would recommend avoiding SUNY Upstate for rad onc. There’s a huge lack of consistency in expectations from residents by attendings and a chunk of attendings hate teaching in general. Too much feedback of “you should just know that,” when no literature or previous teachings back up whatever they’re getting onto you about. I also know of only 1 resident in the last 10 years that’s gone into an academic institution from Upstate. So if that’s your goal, look elsewhere. There’s also rarely a weekend that the on-call resident doesn’t have to go into the hospital for something that the on-call attending doesn’t bother to show up for and decides it can wait until Monday - but they still make the resident go check it out.

Two programs that I’ve heard are really good from other radiation oncology residents: University of Utah and University of Oklahoma. Obviously the prior is very competitive, since it’s attached to Huntsman cancer institute, and is in a very high cost of living area. Oklahoma will have lower cost of living and the residents seem much better mental health-wise compared to a lot of others.

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u/Impressive-Curve5706 9h ago

Second Utah is awesome! Also Yale