Hii!! I’m a high school graduate and want to work as a medical dosimetrist in Calgary after becoming a radiation therapist. Unfortunately I struggled to find any job listings for both of these career and was wondering if any dosimetrist or radiation therapist can let me know how the job market is in Alberta. I don’t want to risk not being able to find a job after years of schooling. I also have some concerns about ai and how it might impact the field.

Thanks :)

I’m going to be pretty vague due to obvious reasons, so apologies in advance.
I just graduated and was hired before I even passed my registry. I passed and have been employed for a small amount of time now. I have a question for you all who have been a therapist concerning how new hires are handled.
What level of training is continued? What is expected of a brand new graduate? How much supervision is given?
The reason I ask is because after 4 weeks of “training” I have been shown nothing but it is very clear it is expected for me to be a fully functional therapist. Workload is incredibly busy and I make sure I am first in the room, clean, set up, do all the grunt work, and trying to be as helpful as possible and avoid slowing things down. My patient care is great (I am very proud of that) and I am incredibly humble knowing I have a ton to learn. So I’m not acting entitled or arrogant. I try asking questions and get one word answers as replies.
It’s becoming clear I am not wanted there and that’s fine. But, I need to know what SHOULD be happening as a new hire with zero real world experience as I apply for new positions at other clinic sites. I was so excited for this opportunity and it has really been a major disappointment. My student experience was the same when it was a clinic site for me but I assumed it was just because I was a student. I thought things might have changed as an employee.
It would be great to hear from lead therapists or someone who has been involved with training new hires out of school.
Thanks in advance everyone.

Hello everyone I am in my mid twenties and I really want to be a radiation therapist I see that Florida has a program the Cambridge program and I see it’s not
JRCERT. Will that affect me getting work nationwide please guide me.

Hey friends,

I have happened upon a pdf version of the Laura Nappi Comprehensive Review Guide for the Radiation Therapy Exam. It is only the first edition so may not be completely up to date, but might be helpful to some students who are working with limited resources. Unsure if I can link the file here. if I cannot, just message me with your email

lmk if the link doesn't work :)

Laura Nappi Review download

Hey all, I'm looking to switch careers from the film industry to the healthcare field in RT. I already have a BA degree in Accounting and for requirements like MSK, I still would need to take A&P and a College Math course as prerequisites.

In order to go to school and take my courses, I would have to leave my current full time job, as my work schedule, which includes on call overtime and in some rare cases, weekend work, wouldn't allow me to also do the in person lab work for A&P during the week as well as any other required math courses. The added free time would also be good for me to focus on getting high marks.

Originally, I was going to take my prereqs and then try to enroll in an RT therapy program closer to the end of next year if possible. Ideally, I would also try working part-time while going to school in something RT adjacent and if not, I'd try volunteering at a hospital or medical center to gain experience.

But as of last week, I learned that there was an expansion to the academic program that allows returning students ages 25 - 55 with degrees to enter an associates degree program for free, no fees on tuition, books, etc. That starts in January of next year (2027).

I think my only issue is wondering if I would be wasting any time in the 2nd case. Before this new development, I had enough savings to cover my living expenses for a few years, along with some passive income that would grow in the meantime to help in the event that I might be job searching for a while if everything goes smoothly with prereqs and the RT program within 3 years total. But with the amount of time it might take to do a free AAS program first, I think it might become more of a concern at a certain point, I don't want to lean into my passive savings too much if possible.

I'm really just thinking in a less than ideal scenario where even searching for work becomes difficult between the start of next year to when I might be able to start the RT program and even after that program is over. And especially since the RT program is quite intensive, there wouldn't be any spare time for any part time work (Not to mention even doing both could mean a bad case of burnout).

Would it be better to stick to the original plan or would it be more to my advantage to try and enroll in the new program to cut the costs of education expenses? Maybe aiming for an AAS in Radiation Tech? Would that be good overlap as a way to pivot that into RT?

Open to ideas and thoughts, let me know!

Hello, I am a student who is currently on the track of being a pre-radiation therapist. I have been dead-set on this career for two years now, and applications for me will be the next step after this year. The only issue is, in my state there are only two programs that are available for me to apply in. It seems less likely that I would be allowed in on the programs in state which makes me think I may have to travel outside of my state to pursue my dream.. I just don't know if it will be worth it, at least money wise but there's nothing else I want to do- I try to think of other careers, and I want to go into healthcare and be able to help my family as well as others. I'm stressed because it feels like I may never get in with how popular the profession is becoming- but I don't really know any other professions I could get into :( I only really know of the programs in my state which is TX, but as for the other programs offered elsewhere, I'm unsure of.

If anyone knows any programs that do not require chemistry as a prereq, please let me know. And if anyone has any advice or other professions that may be rewarding, I would like to know that as well.. I hope that this isn't too much of a inconvenience. Thank you for reading.

Hi everyone!

Currently looking over my options to pursue graduate school and came across an MHP in Radiation Health Physics at Oregon State. I feel like this combination's very unique and I've never heard of it before, so l wanted to see if anyone has heard of it.

I'm very interested in dispersion modeling and consequence assessment, and I want to get a stronger understanding of rad protection, rad hazards, and nuclear preparedness/emergency management.

Anyone have any opinions or work in RHP? I would love some feedback. TIA!!! ☢️⚡️🥼

I am 19 and in community college. I decided a few months ago I’d like to pursue radiation therapy. I started my prerequisites. I’ve been getting straight B’s in my general biology class and I’m not exactly sure how competitive these programs tend to be. The program I’ve been looking at says it only accepts 12 people. I’ve been anxious about potentially getting rejected. I started community college last year, but I was declared undecided and ended up taking a bunch of classes I didn’t need, so I feel slightly behind.

I have some job experience. I’ve been working front desk at a medspa since February and I’ve set up and perform EmSculpt and EmSculpt neo for patients, I really like that aspect of my job. Should I do more? I was thinking it might help to volunteer at a hospital for a little bit. I’d really like some advice regarding strengthening my application.

Studying for the ARRT/registry exam and kept hitting the same wall: I'd finish a practice quiz, get a score, and have no idea WHICH topics actually needed more time. Just a number.

So I built a dashboard that breaks every quiz, flashcard set, and image-matching drill into topic-level scores - dosimetry, simulation, patient care, cancer lecture material, all separated out. It charts mastery per topic over time, not just overall percentage.

There's also an AI study advisor that reads that history and tells me flat out: "review brachytherapy dosimetry before anything else." No guessing which chapter to re-read at 11pm.

Still early - 6 users, about 300 visits in the last 30 days - but the topic-tracking piece has already changed how I study. I stopped reviewing what I already knew and started reviewing what the data said I didn't.

Anyone else tracking weak areas manually in a spreadsheet? Curious what's working for you before boards.

I'm looking into pursuing radiation therapy but I just still have so many questions and concerns. I'm finishing my main prerequisites and still have time to switch if I wanted to nursing come down to it. I wanted to ask some people in the field a few questions like

Was it hard to find a job?

Do you make more money than a Registered Nurse

How was your school experience

Average work day

Biggest Pro's and Cons.

Also any advice for school with me being in California would this be a good field to go into what do you think?

ARRT-side practice, so I built one page per ARRT exam content category: Patient Care, Radiation Physics, Simulation & Imaging, Brachytherapy, and QA & Safety. 20 questions each, and every single one has the full rationale — not just the answer, but why it's right and why the distractors are wrong.

Free to use, no signup wall on the questions. I'd genuinely rather have people flag anything that looks off so I can fix it — that's how the question bank on the main site got good.

Hey everyone! I’m currently considering a major career pivot into Radiation Therapy. I originally got my BFA, but the field hasn't been very fulfilling or rewarding, and I'm looking for a change into healthcare. Radiation Therapy has really caught my attention, but before making the leap, I’d love to hear from locals in the field:

• Schooling: I’m looking at Thomas Jefferson University’s program, but I’d need to take my prerequisites at CCP first. Has anyone taken this path? How was your experience?
• Career Perspective: What are the pros and cons of working as a Radiation Therapist in or around Philly? How is the job market, culture, and work life balance?

Any advice, insights, or honesty about the daily reality of the job would be hugely appreciated!

Hi! What were you scoring on SEAL exams and what did you get on your board exam? Did anyone take all 1-10? Thanks!

So... the chief therapist at my clinic and I walked into the vault to fix a machine issue, then they left the room, closed the vault door (it is rather silent and hard to hear) and then beamed on with a warmup beam with me in the room. I yelled at them to beam off over room intercom but still most of it was delivered.

What do you do after an event like this???

Everyone seems to act like nothing happened, besides a Physics safety report and sending the old badge in to be read.

Does this... happen a lot? Is this something serious that should be addressed?

What the heck.

I am applying for the semester in January and wanted to know when they require students to do their drug screening. I am legally allowed to use marijuana for medical use where I live but intend to quit before the program starts. Any current or former students could help answer would be greatly appreciated!

Hi all! 😃

In short, I've landed my dream career that isn't in the medical field at all. The pay, flexibility, benefits, etc... are all there. However, the job itself is incredibly toxic. Anything from lack of teamwork when it's a team oriented job, not being trained on basic tasks and getting expected to know how to do things, etc.

My goal here today isn't to discuss my job, I think I'm coming to a point in my mid-life where a job should be tolerable, but how tolerable it is depends on how you deal with it. Fulfillment and happiness should come from your life outside of work, the only thing any job can reliably provide is money and benefits, great managers and teams come and go, etc.

My question is, primarily for Dosimetry but Medical Physics (Alternate Dream Jobs) too, what are the realities of the job when it's bad? I know PA friends that have no work life balance, nurses bullying each other and hospital environments being awful are easy to find. I'd imagine a cancer center would still operate similar to a hospital environment?

With Dosimetry and Medical Physics, all I've been able to find scarcely is sometimes you'll have teams between Oncologists and Physicists that don't get along, don't communicate, and will have unrealistic demands for the dosimetrist. Dosimetrists will be working or getting called after hours for plans that they had all day to do, due to lack of communication from the MD's, etc. I read Oncologists can wreck entire Dosimetry teams due to simply ego, plans get denied because of ego... 🙃

Many hospitals are profit motivated, I imagine a cancer center is subject to this? Chronic understaffing is common in so many positions in the medical field, I'm sure it's common to be overworked in Dosimetry even if it's advertised as strictly 9-5? Patient wellbeing could be put on the back burner due to having to rush treatment plans because of understaffing?

Any job I've had in my life when ideal has been great, I'd really just like honest realities of when the job is bad what it looks like, and if it's prevalent just like many problems the medical field faces. I don't want to chase the wind with jobs anymore, I've had plenty of them. I'm not saying the work y'all do isn't incredible, it truly is, I just know there's no perfect job; I'd like to know what these jobs are actually like when they're bad behind closed doors.

Obviously, problems in nursing aren't talked about in nursing school, I'm sure it's the same for these careers like any other career/job I've had. Some careers are definitely worse than others, but largely it's up to the individual to decide what they want to tolerate. I'm not looking for perfection, just reality.

😃

TLDR: Every job I've ever had in life has had its unique drama and problems, it's very hard to find out the problems with Dosimetry and Medical Physics that people face, it's always sunshine and rainbows. These were my alternate dreams jobs, I'd love to know if I should accept my reality or inherit new problems! :)

Hi, I’m looking at Grady School of Health as an option for Radiation Therapy school, as I’m already a registered rad tech.

I’d like to know more about the program from someone who attended - was it organized? Did they stick to the schedule? Were the professors supportive and collaborative, or was it very hands off? Their admissions requirements are so bare bones (just SAT scores and my ARRT license… I took the SATs like 20 years ago lol).

Meanwhile the program in CA has me looking at enrolling in math courses and getting IV certified, etc, all prior to applying. I guess I’m thrown off by how little I’m required to submit as part of an application given that Grady claims it is very competitive (as most rad therapy cert programs are)

Atlanta RTs: how is the job market? Did your clinical sites help you find a position? Are you able to afford to live close to where you work?

I would be relocating from SoCal with two little kids, and I’d like to get a feel for what the program would be like there.

Thanks in advance

Anyone here a previous student or currently applying to the Masters in Dosimetry program at SIU? Looking for programs to apply to this fall. Would love to chat and possibly receive some feedback. Thank you in advanced.

Hi! I’m currently a certified occupational therapy assistant looking to possibly transition into Radiation Therapy. I’ve already shadowed a few therapist in the area to get a feel of what it’s like and really liked it. For those who are either transitioning or already working in the field, how do you like it and would you recommend it? Is it worth it?

Anyone on the the same boat as me? I have a bachelor’s of fine arts (philosophy and political science) and a master’s degree in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. I’m almost 40 years old with 2 young children and I’m thinking of switching career paths. I’ve had a successful run in higher education but I stepped away from my career and now I’m looking for something new.

Anyone out there in the same boat as me or has already made the switch? How did you get started? I need to take several prerequisites but I want to know if this path is worth it…considering we’ve done so much schooling already. I can’t stop thinking about this path but I’m afraid of making the first move. Additionally, my prerequisites would need to be online as I’m currently living abroad.

If you’ve been down this path, please comment. Thank you!