Interviewing for residency positions while completing a graduate degree: Considerations for graduate students, mentors, and program directors

[...]these data suggest a bracket spanning 50%–74% of applicants, depending on the denominator selected. For comparison, according to the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP), 323 students graduated from accredited programs in 2020 (a figure which excludes nine graduates from DMP programs), 19 of which at least 50% applied to residency programs. Impacts of concern include anxiety and depression, which are prevalent in graduate students across a spectrum of disciplines in the United States. 2 Other potential impacts include shortages of qualified medical physicists, which could in turn impact the quality, safety, and availability of patient care. 3–7 Although there is literature on navigating the medical physics education and training pathways, 8–10 there is little guidance for graduate students in balancing their limited time to be spent on the competing tasks of interviewing for a residency position and simultaneously completing their degree. The Medical Physics Residency Application Program (MP-RAP), which is a separate service provided by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, requires an applicant to pay for a copy of their application to be sent to residency programs. 14 The service is sold in increments of 10 application submissions.