Wanting to go into medical physics

[ColinT]

Hey everyone, I'm new to the physics forum and I'm wondering what is the best path to go into medical physics? I've heard different things and don't really know where to start. To give you some back ground I'm currently stationed in North Carolina and just started college at community college in a pre engineering program. I was going to transfer to NC state for their Nuclear Engineering program then get my masters in medical physics. Atleast that's what an advisor from state recommended that I do. What I'm wondering is it better for me to go straight into a medical physics program or do I need to go through the nuclear engineering route? And what are some good schools to look into for medical physics? I was looking into UNC and East Carolina University. I'm honestly confused on where to start and any help/advice you guys could give would be much appreciated!

 

[Choppy]

Hi ColinT and welcome to the Physics Forums.

I wrote a an Insights Article on getting into medical physics a little while ago that you might find helpful.

In my experience a degree in physics has and continues to be the way to go for admission into most accredited medical physics graduate programs. You can likely still get there with something that's more specialized. I don't know too many medical physicists personally who have come into the field from an undergraduate degree in nuclear engineering. That's not to say that it doesn't happen. I think there's a lot of crossover between the fields, and it might actually be a good fit. (And because engineering is a professional degree, it tends to have more direct professional options if graduate school doesn't work out.) But most of the students in our program come from a physics background.