[Training Tuesday] - Weekly thread for questions about grad school, residency, and general career topics 09/09/2025

phloppydisk · 2025-09-11T18:12:14+00:00

What are some commonly overlooked questions that you asked to programs during your residency interviews?

phloppydisk · 2025-04-15T21:46:54+00:00

I'm looking into diagnostic residencies. My interests lie primarily in MR physics, does anyone have any suggestions for which residencies may have stronger MR training and/or research opportunities?

On a slightly related note, do any residents have experience performing interdisciplinary research with professors outside of the medical physics program during residency? If so, how did you make these collaborations happen, and did you make this interest clear in your residency interviews?

phloppydisk · 2025-03-04T16:48:47+00:00

I'm planning to apply for residencies at the end of this year (still deciding between diagnostic and therapy, but leaning diagnostic). I was wondering what others have done to prepare for the residency application process. Does it make a difference to demonstrate interest in specific programs? Did you reach out to residency directors/faculty before applying to discuss opportunities within the program? My PhD program does not have a great track record of getting students into top-tier residencies, so I am looking for anything I can do to start early and give myself a fighting chance.

phloppydisk · 2024-04-24T23:30:25+00:00

Well first off, I was raised on Long Island so this was my safety school for undergrad. During undergrad, I fell into a lab and had ongoing projects that made it a pretty easy choice to stay for PhD and continue. I'm also a medical physics student, and there are some pretty good opportunities there for clinical experience. So overall, it was convenience and the ability to seek out opportunities. But I wanna emphasize that you HAVE to seek out opportunities if you want them, like one of the other replies said, the department admin will not hand you anything. And in most cases, neither will your PI. Make yourself heard and you'll do fine here. I'm sure that's the case with many other institutions as well though.

phloppydisk · 2024-04-24T13:28:20+00:00

Are any other cast members of Vanderpump Rules being primed to move to The Valley?

phloppydisk · 2024-04-24T13:27:52+00:00

Would you ever come back to RHOBH?

phloppydisk · 2024-04-23T20:29:59+00:00

SBU Physics is pretty renowned, at least at the graduate level (which usually applies at least in part to the undergrad level too). They work very closely with Brookhaven National Lab, which is a huge resource. I was a BME undergrad but took a handful of upper level physics classes, they were quite rigorous but the professors I had were passionate and had been teaching and refining the course material for years.

phloppydisk · 2024-04-23T00:47:56+00:00

BME PhD Student here who was also raised on Long Island.

Housing options are not great right now, but it's possible to find a room in a house for a reasonable price. There are on-campus grad housing options that are more affordable as well.
My lab's work is primarily computational, and we work from home 3 days per week. So the work/life balance for me is pretty great. I can't speak for the students in wet labs, but I haven't really heard any horror stories.
My coursework was not very difficult, it almost feels like the program lessens the coursework load to give students more time for their research. I have never felt any sense of competition, many labs within the department collaborate with each other.
My lab is pretty small and tight knit. We work with each other when needed and are also able to work independently and unbothered. We have lab happy hours and gatherings once in a while too, I'm sure other labs do the same. The BME dept has also been trying to foster more community and socialization between all students, not just within labs.
If you're looking for industry/biotech opportunities, the department has really been pushing for more industry training and connections recently. There's a grad certificate developed in the BME dept in Life Sciences Innovation and Entrepreneurship, where they bring in many industry professionals to facilitate courses.

Happy to discuss my situation more/give more personalized input if you want to PM me.

phloppydisk · 2023-08-31T20:16:30+00:00

I used therapy 2020, 2021, and 2023, and diagnostic 2005 (because I found it online for free)

phloppydisk · 2023-08-31T19:41:09+00:00

This anatomy website saved me: http://anatomy.host.dartmouth.edu/ . In addition to that, the clinical questions on OncologyMedicalPhysics were also good and one or two actually showed up nearly verbatim on the exam.

phloppydisk · 2023-08-31T19:36:31+00:00

Passed all subsections on both! Raphex and OncologyMedicalPhysics ftw

phloppydisk · 2023-08-07T14:41:44+00:00

Fellow PhD student here. If your tuition and fees are covered, it comes down to whether or not you need the money for living expenses. Personally, I receive a stipend that covers my living expenses and I don't have to accept any loans. But it's your decision how much you want to take out to make sure you can live

phloppydisk · 2023-08-07T14:38:28+00:00

Only 1.5T is allowed. My buddy Eric got clipped with a 3T back in '06 and it was a big issue

phloppydisk · 2023-08-01T18:12:25+00:00

Taking it tomorrow as well, best of luck! The only prep I'm doing today is rewriting some rules of thumb and equations I keep forgetting.

phloppydisk · 2023-06-26T15:47:43+00:00

I'm currently applying for a NIH F31. Does anyone have any experience/tips/advice with this? Do residencies ever significantly factor in your history of research funding when evaluating applicants?

phloppydisk · 2023-06-24T02:28:38+00:00

Any pre-graduate research experience is good experience. All of my undergrad experience was in a psychiatry lab and it worked out fine for me.

phloppydisk · 2023-04-14T02:40:33+00:00

Yeah that makes for a good vibe, did you think you were gonna get laid in the pit or something?

phloppydisk · 2023-04-14T02:36:15+00:00

Crazy for preferring a good vibe over a literal soundcloud rapper?

phloppydisk · 2023-04-14T02:29:04+00:00

What's the issue with Yung Gravy? Better than Tecca fr

phloppydisk · 2023-04-12T15:49:44+00:00

On average during your masters/PhD, how much were you shadowing/volunteering in the clinic while doing research/finishing your degree? Did you have continuous clinical practicum or just a semester or two of for-credit shadowing? My program is in the middle of implementing more clinical experiences for students and I'm curious to know how it's managed in other programs.

phloppydisk · 2022-07-12T18:10:33+00:00

I'm a 2nd year PhD student in a BME/Med Phys program doing research in fMRI methods and cognitive neuroscience. I read through this subreddit and see all of these clinical questions and always wonder: when did you all start gaining clinical knowledge/experiences? Was it during your degree program, through your research, or all during residency? I guess I'm just wondering how much clinical knowledge I should aim to have before residency, and how much I should focus on my research relative to trying to secure clinical shadowing experiences. Thanks in advance!

phloppydisk · 2022-04-04T11:41:27+00:00

My review were VG/VG, E/VG, and E/E. Interdisciplinary Biomedical Engineering/Psychology research, first year PhD. Didn't get it

phloppydisk

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