MS3, male, 222 step 1. Just wondering what you guys have applied to OB with and how many interviews you got over the past year... and if you heard anything this week about not matching.
2015 OB Match
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OB is becoming more and more competitive. Don't get a big head - being male isn't as big of a bonus as you'd think.
NRMP releases statistics every year about matching. Take a peak at last years stats. I beleive 100 or so folks dind't match into OB.
Of course, the question often isn't if you match, but where. Competitive locations and programs are competitive.
I was a male, 235 Step 1, 245 Step 2. Moderately high grades at a top 5 med school. Master's degree. Interviewed at 16 places (too many, 10-12 should be fine) and ranked all of them. Matched at #5.
Apply broadly (>20) with a good range of competitiveness and you'll do fine. Rank everywhere unless you'd rather go unmatched. I would have rather eaten my own thumbs off then gone unmatched so I ranked all of them.
NRMP releases statistics every year about matching. Take a peak at last years stats. I beleive 100 or so folks dind't match into OB.
Of course, the question often isn't if you match, but where. Competitive locations and programs are competitive.
I was a male, 235 Step 1, 245 Step 2. Moderately high grades at a top 5 med school. Master's degree. Interviewed at 16 places (too many, 10-12 should be fine) and ranked all of them. Matched at #5.
Apply broadly (>20) with a good range of competitiveness and you'll do fine. Rank everywhere unless you'd rather go unmatched. I would have rather eaten my own thumbs off then gone unmatched so I ranked all of them.
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I disagree. OB is very competitive.
to the OP, I agree with HumbleMD. Being male/female doesn't make too much of a difference. Depending on which area you are interviewing at, speaking another language, "Spanish" helps.
I would apply to a good number of programs... definitely more than 20. Heck apply to 50 programs. Interview at those you have time to go to.
I would rank ALL program. Its better to match into something than to go unmatched.
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While I fully defer to the posters above and have something like zero professional background in (or aspiration to) OB, I was told by a prominent West Coast community program director last year that being a male was a huge advantage.
Perhaps it varies from institution to institution.
Perhaps it varies from institution to institution.
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OB is about or more competitive than EM.
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Did those wenches castrate you?
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Right, so then not too competitive.
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It's only competitive because residents filter out applicants, not that the specialty itself is desirable in any way. Objectively, OB/GYN is less competitive than IM (226 vs 230 Step 1, 240 vs 243 Step 2). And IM has so many garbage community programs in which anyone with a medical degree and a pulse is competitive, bringing down the overall average.
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EM isn't that competitive because there are so many spots with OB you have nearly the same amount of US seniors applying for spots. It is less competitive than surgery but more than EM, surgery, IM and FM
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As with most of these specialties, it really only feels "competitive" if you're a crappy applicant.
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Even for a ton of average peeps, EM/OB would still make them sweat bullets. Unless they get something like a 230 or higher on the Step, they might chill a bit
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It depends on location. OB and EM are more regional so you can get interviews and will most likely get a place but I know several who have fallen lower on their rank than expected.
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By every measure, IM is more competitive than OB. More AOA members, higher board scores, more applicants vs spots, more research, more publications. General surgery and IM are about equal in competitiveness, with gen surg having slightly higher board scores (232 vs 231; 243 vs 242) than IM. IM, in turn, has more top 40 and AOA members going into it. And this is with IM having so many garbage programs that just require a valid medical degree and a pulse to match into. Not sure about gen surg, but I'm sure it probably has programs like this.
To match decently in IM, you have to be fairly competitive. No one wants to train at garbage county in BFE where they use you as a scutmonkey to move the meat. One of the major allures of IM is subspecialty training, which is made drastically easier by matching into a decent program.
The only thing that makes OB competitive is residents being catty about who gets into their program.
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I believe the average steps for my home institution were 237/247 for the incoming group. It was a competitive year for OBGYN. There were no unfilled positions after Match completed, and on Monday there were only 7 spots left.
I know a lot of people, myself included, went lower on rank list than expected. Not everyone from my class matched. I heard all interview season about the quality of applicants this year, etc. OB has gotten more competitive, for sure, and for whatever reason this was a tough year.
I know a lot of people, myself included, went lower on rank list than expected. Not everyone from my class matched. I heard all interview season about the quality of applicants this year, etc. OB has gotten more competitive, for sure, and for whatever reason this was a tough year.
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I was very surprised at seeing people who were passionate about who either matched very low on their list or didn't match at all and ended up somewhere else.
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In general, things have become more competitive with increasing numbers of people in the match with a static number of positions.
However there have been shifts: open radiology positions available in SOAP which would have been unheard of a few years ago; PM&R is now something students have actually heard of compared to a few years ago when it was "wut"?
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Radiology and Anesthesia were lighter compared to other years, it seems.
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Sometimes when I get a call from Ob, I still go "wut?" You mean, that abdominoplasty you shouldn't have been doing is now breaking down and will form a hideous scar after some local wound care?
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Med students know about the problems in radiology and anesthesiology. Not sure why ob was so insane this year, must have been a lot of interest in this cohort
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I'm trying to imagine what would be more of a funny interaction, OB and plastics or OB and ortho
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Umm gais, we broke the uterus bone.
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I have no idea why so many c-sections end up looking so terrible. Is it because the uterus is opened during the case?
Seriously, these are usually young healthy women getting what should be tension free closures, and somehow they end up doing worse than 85yo smoking vasculopaths healing up from aortobifems.
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Well Obstetricians aren't exactly surgeons.
At least on my rotations there was a noticeable difference in skill when it came to closing incisions. Plus they were always in a hurry and didn't really care about the cosmetic outcome. I'm sure women having multiple c-sections at the same site also doesn't help.
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what do you mean they don't care about the cosmetic outcome... I understand they're not plastic surgeons but that's a pretty *****ic way to think.
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On my OB rotation everyone closed their C sections with staples except ONE female OB who took the extra 15 min to close skin with a decent stitch. She just said, "if it were me, this is what I'd want." IDK what is more common elsewhere?
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I've never seen a C-section closed with staples at my institution. I know it's done, but it's definitely the minority of cases.
