Medical physic and its requirements

[MRI]

Hi everyone,

I have a question that is very important for me and I really need your recommendation.

I am a technologist or in another meaning radiographer who has BSc in this field. I applied to more than medical physics master programs and I was accepted in two of them.

My question is I do not have the basic requirement for physics such as modern physic, calculus based physics quantum physics etc. I will start the master in the Fall of this year and I have taken this semester Calculus 1 and I will take next semester Calculus 2 and engineering physic.

on the other hand, I have very strong basic physics for all the machines in radiology such as CT, X-Ray, and MRI.


So, the question is: will it be difficult for me to success or live in such programs without those basics?

Please guide me form your experience ?

Regards.

 

[MRI]

OK , I really need your suggestions and in this time I will be more specific.

Do I have to learn the upper level physics courses in order to success in the master program in medical physic?

 

[Choppy]

I'm very surprised that you would be accepted into a medical physics program without a physics or engineering degree. To do well in the imaging aspects of the coursework you will need to at least have covered Fourier transforms. It's a major concern. If you've only just taken a first year calculus class, I suspect that you will not be familiar with these and that you will will struggle in the coursework involved at a master's degree level. Quantum mechanical-type problems don't come up too often on a clinical level, but E&M to the level of senior undergrad comes up on a regular basis - at least for me.

The other problem is that you'll be expected to do reasearch as a component of the degree and for this you will need a solid background in physics.

 

[MRI]

So, what are your recommendations?

If I complete Calculus 2 in the summer, Engineering physic, and take Calculus Based physics as online course, can I survive in such programs?Do not forget that I have basic imaging physics.

 

[G01]

Do you know your first year coursework for the program?

It'll be easier to determine what the prerequisites are if we have a list of your future courses.

 

[MRI]

- Physics of Diagnostic Imaging 1 and 2
- MRI
-Radiation Dosimetry
-Nuclear physics

 

[G01]

(I am not a medical physicist, so I can't comment on the courses specific to clinical medical physics, like Dosimetry.)

QM mechanical problems may not come up often clinically, as Choppy said, but I'd think some background in QM will almost certainly be important for a nuclear physics course.

You should consider taking some math beyond Calc II. Are you able to take an undergrad Mathematical Methods for Physics course?

With only introductory level physics courses and Calc II, Nuclear physics, in particular will be very tough. I don't really have the experience to comment about the other courses.

 

[Choppy]

So, what are your recommendations?

If I complete Calculus 2 in the summer, Engineering physic, and take Calculus Based physics as online course, can I survive in such programs?

Do not forget that I have basic imaging physics.

I'm not sure there's a good way to say this, but honestly you should try to get as complete of a physics background as you can. And by that I mean completing a physics degree. I've seen people fail out of the programs that I've been associated with - both as a student and as an instructor and they were people who had completed undergraduate physics and had high enough marks to get into a competative program. Based on comments I've seen around here and heard from a few others, I'm not sure all medical physics programs are as rigorous as mine was, but I hestitate to think that the bar is all that much lower.

I'm not sure what you mean by having "basic imaging physics." To a medical physicist this means that you've covered topics like:
- Radon transforms
- convolution and deconvolution
- filtered backprojection
- central slice theorum
- digital sampling theory (nyquist criterion, aliasing, Gibbs phenomena)
- noise reduction
- at some point you've probably written a program to reconstruct an image based on the raw output of an imaging device
all of which require more than just first year calculus.

If you've been accepted to a program - that's great. What I would do is contact the director and be honest and upfront about your academic background and see what he or she recommends.