1. One of you fine folks posted the 4 year graduation rates on here, and it really concerned me. The very best was DMU at just 87%, Western was the lowest at 66%. Is this because the students were just unprepared or were these students on the lower end of the required GPA/MCAT requirements to begin with?
2. Just like medical school, are the first 2 years classroom based and the final two years clinical rotations?
3. There was some talk about a residency shortage on these forums a few years back. Is that still going to be a problem in 2021, when I will be applying for residencies?
4. What are the residency match rates by school?
5. What kinds of residencies can students apply to?
Thanks so much!
Graduation Rate
For reference, the MD 4 year graduation rate is only 1-2% higher on average.
https://www.aamc.org/download/37922...onratesandattritionfactorsforusmedschools.pdf
First Two Years
First two years are primarily classroom based, with some schools having early clinical exposure within those first two years, and a small amount of classes spilling over into the beginning of third year. The last two years are primarily clinical.
Residency Shortage
The overall residency placement rate for the class of 2016 was 97.8%, higher than the MD and DO overall residency placement rates for new graduates that cycle.
http://www.casprcrip.org/html/casprcrip/pdf/PlacementUpdate.pdf
Residency Match Rates by School
I don't know. Not looking it up. But with an overall 98% match rate, does it really matter what the specific match rate is for each school? Probably not. Also, whatever stats you may find on that are probably multiple years old which is surprisingly out of date since the residency situation has improved drastically over a relatively short period of time.
Residency Types
Uhm...podiatry residencies. Most are a
podiatric medicine and surgery residency (PMSR) including
reconstructive rearfoot and ankle surgery. Some are PMSR only, without the added RRA, meaning you could only get certified in foot surgery if you completed that residency. Though being certified in foot surgery means you can still surgically treat the entire foot (including rearfoot) and treat the ankle as well. Here's a list of residencies, you can click on a few and read more about them, see what they pay, the kinds of rotations they involve, etc.
http://www.casprcrip.org/html/casprcrip/directory.asp
P.S., the quality of residencies varies drastically. I heard a residency/fellowship director say that he had to turn down some fellowship applicants because his 2nd year residents had done many more cases than some people applying for fellowship positions—people who had already finished their residencies. Essentially, he wouldn't take them on because his residents would have more experience than the person doing the fellowship...so how could that person be in a position above the residents. I suppose that's more a case of quantity rather than quality, but I think it makes the point that there is great variance in training even though all the programs are the same on paper.
