Class Rank/Residency Competitiveness

[218303]

First of all, what do you all think is the more competitive residency to get, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, or radiology? These are all residencies that I am interested in. I am actually interested in more (I'm a first year), and I change my mind all the time about what i want to do. Guess I'll really just have to wait till third year to find out, although if I want to do something competitive it would be nice to do research in that area this summer.

Second of all, some people have told me class rank is a stat that programs look at. Can we find out our class rank at the end of our first year? I don't know the school policies on that. Or do we have to wait until the end to find out?

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[ChiDO]

I thought schools tell you your class rank after each semester since basically it has to do with your grades. My school still uses letter grades, so I'm sure it won't be too tough putting the GPA's in order and putting that on our transcripts.

But, I never asked, so I could be mistaken.

 

[njbmd]

First of all, what do you all think is the more competitive residency to get, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, or radiology? These are all residencies that I am interested in. I am actually interested in more (I'm a first year), and I change my mind all the time about what i want to do. Guess I'll really just have to wait till third year to find out, although if I want to do something competitive it would be nice to do research in that area this summer.

Second of all, some people have told me class rank is a stat that programs look at. Can we find out our class rank at the end of our first year? I don't know the school policies on that. Or do we have to wait until the end to find out?

Ask your Dean of Education about class rank. Some schools don't rank students; some do a "relative" rank and some rank at the end of each year so your rank can go up and down. To that end, many residency programs do not place as much emphasis on class rankings and use other things like USMLE Step I, Deans Letter and your letters of recommendation in addition to looking at your transcrip to see that you have passed everything.

You really don't know what you might like to do until third year. I was absolutely dedicated to pediatrics until I participated in my first surgery at the middle of my third year. After that, I knew that I was not likely to do anything else other than surgery. One of my classmates was set on neurosurgery and never wavered. Most people in my class changed their minds after every rotation during third year.

Do the best you can in every class from here on out, really score high on Step I (this is your money in the bank) and do your best during third year with every rotation so that you get good evals. If you can nail all of the above, you have options. If you screw up something, your options start to dissipate.

 

[sirus_virus]

First of all, what do you all think is the more competitive residency to get, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, or radiology? These are all residencies that I am interested in. I am actually interested in more (I'm a first year), and I change my mind all the time about what i want to do. Guess I'll really just have to wait till third year to find out, although if I want to do something competitive it would be nice to do research in that area this summer.

Second of all, some people have told me class rank is a stat that programs look at. Can we find out our class rank at the end of our first year? I don't know the school policies on that. Or do we have to wait until the end to find out?

All of those specialties are going to look at your class rank, grades, research. Hell, if they have their way they might even look up who you slept with during medical school. You better believe they will use anything they can get their hands on to seperate the multitude of highly competitive applicants flocking towards them.

 

[stooges287]

Ask your Dean of Education about class rank. Some schools don't rank students; some do a "relative" rank and some rank at the end of each year so your rank can go up and down. To that end, many residency programs do not place as much emphasis on class rankings and use other things like USMLE Step I, Deans Letter and your letters of recommendation in addition to looking at your transcrip to see that you have passed everything.

I thought your class rankings were reflected in the Dean's Letter itself.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

I thought your class rankings were reflected in the Dean's Letter itself.

Typically when people mention the Dean's Letter (MSPE) here they're referring to the 3rd year clerkship evals. But yes, if a school reports rank it would be included in the Dean's Letter.

 

[MrBurns10]

First of all, what do you all think is the more competitive residency to get, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, or radiology? These are all residencies that I am interested in. I am actually interested in more (I'm a first year), and I change my mind all the time about what i want to do. Guess I'll really just have to wait till third year to find out, although if I want to do something competitive it would be nice to do research in that area this summer.

Second of all, some people have told me class rank is a stat that programs look at. Can we find out our class rank at the end of our first year? I don't know the school policies on that. Or do we have to wait until the end to find out?

In terms of competitiveness, I'd rank those ophtho, closely followed by rads, then anesthesiology is a bit lower. And I agree with the other posters who suggest talking to your dean to find out what your school specifically does. I don't think class rank is really important unless you want to go a top notch program in your chosen specialty, in which case AOA status would (probably) help.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

For ophtho due to the early match interview decisions are generally made before dean's letters and class rankings are out so those would be of less importance compared to other specialties. Step II is also irrelevant as the match date is before most people have their scores back. Focus on demonstrating your interest, published research, high step I, and strong performance third year in order to match well.

 

[docscience]

Typically when people mention the Dean's Letter (MSPE) here they're referring to the 3rd year clerkship evals. But yes, if a school reports rank it would be included in the Dean's Letter.

Just so you guys know...some schools don't report rank on the MSPE if you are not in the top 5-10% or if you request that it be shown. I have a crappy class rank and would not want it on there...lol

 

[lord_jeebus]

Even if there is no class rank, almost every med school will give a magic adjective in the final paragraph of your MSPE that roughly indicates where you stand relative to your peers.

ie.
"_____ is an outstanding/excellent/very good/good/adequate medical student"

 

[turkeyjerky]

Even if there is no class rank, almost every med school will give a magic adjective in the final paragraph of your MSPE that roughly indicates where you stand relative to your peers.

ie.
"_____ is an outstanding/excellent/very good/good/adequate medical student"

And many schools will even include a key at the end of the letter: outstanding corresponds to top 5%, excellent to top 10%, very good to top 25%, etc...

It's kinda funny when you think about it, at interviews every school tells you how great it is that they have pass/fail, then it turns out that they're ranking you from 1 to 170 all throughout school.