Analyzing the Match Results

[prominence]

In the past, Anesthesiology, PM&R, and Pathology were considered relatively uncompetitive and so-called "IMG friendly" specialties. Well, times have obviously changed.

It seems that PM&R did better than last year with a 95% match rate.

While Anesthesiology had a number of unfilled spots, all residency programs received hundreds of applications, and the match rate was still ~ 93%.

Pathology was more competitive this year as well at ~92%.

Besides Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Family practice, what are some other "IMG friendly" specialties for the candidate with mediocre scores (boards below 80%, 3rd year gpa = 3.0, good but not stellar letters of recommenation)?

Are there any other relatively "uncompetitive" specialties to consider for the IMG who simply wants to match in some residency program?

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[beriberi]

Not to be snippy, but first step would be to realize there is no such thing as boards below 80%. NO PERCENTAGE or PERCENTILE score is given on the USMLE exam. You can extrapolate a percentile score based on the mean and standard deviation (something I have never seen done correctly on this board). The two digit score is just two digits, not so randomly selected that correlate with the three digit score.

Remember: if a anesth (or pmr, etc) program usually fills with IMGs and this year filled with IMGs, they are just as IMG friendly as they have ever been. Fill rate is not an absolute measure of competitiveness for any given specialty.

To your original question, I have met some psych residents at my very good school who are IMGs (US cit with carrib degrees).

 

[prominence]

Originally posted by prominence
Besides Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Family practice, what are some other "IMG friendly" specialties for the candidate with mediocre scores (boards below 80%, 3rd year gpa = 3.0, good but not stellar letters of recommenation)?

sorry, i meant a Step 1 two digit score below 80