Is IM/Peds more competitive than IM ?

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billy7

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Is IM/Peds more competitive than IM ?

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Everyone I have talked to has told me that IM/Peds is more competitive than IM, i.e. in terms of getting a residency position and the residency itself. I think you have to show a passion for both peds and IM, which can be difficult. Also, some IM/Peds residencies you go back to being an IM intern after two years of Peds so I think that generally IM/Peds residents are supposed to be harder working than categorical IM residents and are expected to know more too, even though they have to master both fields.
 
i wouldnt say that medpeds is more competitive than IM. The mean step one scores are nearly identical (taken from 2007 statistics)

I would say their are fewer spots (less than 400 versus about 5000 IM spots) and only about 80 programs. Perhaps, if you wanted to do a residency in NY or Cali, MedPeds would be more competitive because there are ~20 spots in Cali per year and only Mt Sinai in New York City versus more the number of IM programs in each state respectively

It really depends how you mean 'competitive' i suppose

Most programs i interviewed at were 3 month switches betwen IM and peds, i am aware of very few that have 2 consecutive years of the one and then the other.

Harder working is subjective as well.

Use the Nrmp stats for some additional input
http://www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2007.pdf

But, like any field, you should have reasons for wanting to match there and be able to talk about it in interviews, personal statements etc.
 
i wouldnt say that medpeds is more competitive than IM. The mean step one scores are nearly identical (taken from 2007 statistics)

Use the Nrmp stats for some additional input
http://www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2007.pdf

Well, the devil is usually in the details when it comes to residency applications and also medicine in general. So let's take a closer look at the hard data:

Med/Peds:

US seniors Median Step 1 Matched (274 people): 221 Not Matched (25 people) 207

Med Peds Percentage US seniors unmatched: 8.36%

Internal Medicine:

US seniors Median Step 1 Matched: 222 (2,784 people) Not Matched 194 (64 people)

IM Percentage US seniors unmatched: 2.24%

While IM/Peds has about a 6 percentage point higher unmatched rate, look at the folks who weren't matched amoung US seniors they had a median Step 1 of 207, as opposed to unmatched US seniors in IM who had a median step 1 of 194 . . . Basically I would conclude that the IM/Peds folks who didn't match IM/Peds were of high enough quality to get into some IM program somewhere, so therefore I would think IM/Peds is harder based on the numbers as someonw with a median step 1 of 207 should get an IM program somewhere . . .

anyway I've always heard IM/Peds is harder to get into residency wise than IM . . .

Just shows you have to analyze the data yourself as there are lies, dam lies, and statistics . . .
 
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