Does Being Male help for Ob Gyn Residency? Where do I stand

[FutureObGynMD]

I'm a male medical student at a lower tier medical school in the southeast and i'm applying to ob/gyn for residency. I've heard that being male is a huge positive for ob/gyn residency. Is this true? If so why? I would like to know because, I want to know where I actually stand in this competitive pool of my awesome cohort of ob/gyn applicants.
Step 1: 222
Step 2 CK: 245
Step 2 CS: Pass
(All on first attempt)
Presented a poster at ACOG national conference last year. Have an MPH.
Honored: ob/gyn and peds rotations.

Where do I realistically have a chance of ending up (getting an interview)? I don't know if II'm competitive at elite programs or if only at community programs. I've heard about other people's applications and they're super impressive with crazy step scores.
Also why are residency programs so secretive about their Step 1 cut offs?
Do residency programs care about the prestige of your med school? is it a factor on if they interview/rank you? I look at where the residents come from at all the top programs and they almost all come from elite med schools.
I have a ton of questions, but I hit the submit button in two weeks and I've had these concerns for a while now and I don't want to waste time applying to programs that will immediately throw my ERAS application in the trash and I don't want to be overconfident and not end up matching because i applied too many top schools.
Thanks guys!
Keep Calm and Match!

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[sloop]

Whether or not this actually winds up being the case, I'm not sure, but I will point out that if places are seeing your gender as a huge positive, they're doing something illegal.

 

[Wordead]

Whether or not this actually winds up being the case, I'm not sure, but I will point out that if places are seeing your gender as a huge positive, they're doing something illegal.

Thats naive as **** bro

 

[alpinism]

Whether or not this actually winds up being the case, I'm not sure, but I will point out that if places are seeing your gender as a huge positive, they're doing something illegal.

FWIW I've heard (anecdotally) from multiple OB/Gyn residents that at some places males are more highly sought after due to being "under-represented" among the overall applicant pool.

 

[Crayola227]

I'd be first to say this isn't SUPPOSED to help you, but overall probably will

How much it will help you at any individual program or the more competitive ones? Impossible to say.

If there is an advisor, talk to them, look at NRMP data to see what the stats of the average matched ob/gyn intern's stats are, how many programs they applied/interviewed/ranked, I can't remember how much of that data was available before when I went througj this horse****.

Depending how you match up stats wise, increase number of applications sent and decrease competitiveness of places, ie apply to all the great programs you feel like and can afford, but I would have enough lower competitiveness places to get enough interviews to rank as many if not more places than the average matched person does depending on how average or not average you are (even if you're a stud above average, I would want to rank the average number matched seniors do)

Any "advantage" you have that isn't listed in the NRMP match data would not prompt me to forgo applying to enough places, or having enough safeties

 

[22031 Alum]

Whether it's fair or not, being male helps at many programs. There's internal desire and external pressure to be "diverse," so in an applicant pool that's overwhelmingly female, guys stand out.

There's a decent spectrum between "elite" and "community" programs, it's not either/or. Do you have anybody at your school who could help you build a list??

PM me if you'd like to speak in more detail.

 

[Law2Doc]

Whether or not this actually winds up being the case, I'm not sure, but I will point out that if places are seeing your gender as a huge positive, they're doing something illegal.

Not really. As pointed out above, accepting a diverse group of residents is generally regarded as a positive. In OB, where male residents are the minority, programs aren't really doing anything wrong showing them interest.

 

[sloop]

Not really. As pointed out above, accepting a diverse group of residents is generally regarded as a positive. In OB, where male residents are the minority, programs aren't really doing anything wrong showing them interest.

Doesn't this depend on the degree to which preference is afforded? I get that diversity may be seen as a positive and may be a deciding factor between similarly qualified candidates but the OP mentioned it being a "huge positive". This is what I was implying is probably illegal.

 

[Law2Doc]

Doesn't this depend on the degree to which preference is afforded? I get that diversity may be seen as a positive and may be a deciding factor between similarly qualified candidates but the OP mentioned it being a "huge positive". This is what I was implying is probably illegal.

It's not illegal for places to show interest in diversity and interviewing a number of the few male applicants. The "similarly qualified applicant" concept is meaningless because programs always rank people at least partially based on interviews and recommendations, things that are very subjectively weighted. Even amongst same gender applicants, programs don't just take the one with the highest step 1 scores. So no, it's not illegal to say, let's have a nice diverse residency class, include some male applicants on the interview schedule, and then decide you liked some well enough to rank highly. And if a program wants a diverse class, there's always a bias/incentive to like the applicant that gets you the diverse mix you want.

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

Being a guy might help you match but it could hurt you in the job market. I met a guy from the Chicago area two weeks ago at a daily fee golf course. After a couple of holes I asked him what he did for a living and he told me he was an OB/GYN. I said, "You are part of a dying breed." He agreed. He stated that most women today prefer a female OB/GYN and that his group would no longer hire male OB/GYNs because they didn't do anything to build or even maintain the practice.

 

[Law2Doc]

Being a guy might help you match but it could hurt you in the job market. I met a guy from the Chicago area two weeks ago at a daily fee golf course. After a couple of holes I asked him what he did for a living and he told me he was an OB/GYN. I said, "You are part of a dying breed." He agreed. He stated that most women today prefer a female OB/GYN and that his group would no longer hire male OB/GYNs because they didn't do anything to build or even maintain the practice.

If you subspecialize in things like fertility, I think the patient preference issues aren't as significant. And I suspect there are always lots of openings in more rural parts of the country, where FM docs end up having to do a lot more OB then they probably care to.

 

[DokterMom]

Whether it's fair or not, being male helps at many programs. There's internal desire and external pressure to be "diverse," so in an applicant pool that's overwhelmingly female, guys stand out.

There's a decent spectrum between "elite" and "community" programs, it's not either/or. Do you have anybody at your school who could help you build a list??

PM me if you'd like to speak in more detail.

I hope the Uro edit: Ortho programs are equally diverse

 

[Psai]

I hope the Uro programs are equally diverse

Why do you post like this? There's no secret agenda against women. Uro has plenty of women

 

[22031 Alum]

I hope the Uro programs are equally diverse

Urology attracts far more female candidates than OB attracts male candidates, and has fewer spots too so they comprise a higher percentage.

Should've gone for ortho in your example. I have heard of ortho programs being excited to interview females-- very much hearsay, however.

 

[DokterMom]

Urology attracts far more female candidates than OB attracts male candidates, and has fewer spots too so they comprise a higher percentage.

Should've gone for ortho in your example. I have heard of ortho programs being excited to interview females-- very much hearsay, however.

I stand corrected.

 

[Law2Doc]

... I have heard of ortho programs being excited to interview females-- very much hearsay, however.

Depends on how many lbs they can bench press.

 

[repititionition]

Whether it's fair or not, being male helps at many programs. There's internal desire and external pressure to be "diverse," so in an applicant pool that's overwhelmingly female, guys stand out.

There's a decent spectrum between "elite" and "community" programs, it's not either/or. Do you have anybody at your school who could help you build a list??

PM me if you'd like to speak in more detail.

As this poster mentions, I was told by a competitive west-coast PD that males have a nontrivial advantage in comparative terms. n=1, I know, but if I'm going to get n=1, I'd prefer it to be from a west-coast PD.

 

[cylondoctor]

some attendings on my sub i trail said it helps, most residents say it doesnt. 1 pd did say he tries to balance out his residents 50:50, doesnt necessarily mean there is any advantage afforded to either gender.

 

[Law2Doc]

... 1 pd did say he tries to balance out his residents 50:50, doesnt necessarily mean there is any advantage afforded to either gender.

In a field where most of the applicants are one gender, trying to balance things out 50-50 is a HUGE advantage afforded to the minority gender.

 

[Shipping News]

To the OP's question: yes, in the same way that being a woman is a plus for radiology programs (as it's a male-dominated field).

 

[Psai]

To the OP's question: yes, in the same way that being a woman is a plus for radiology programs (as it's a male-dominated field).

I'm not sure how gender matters in radiology

 

[Shipping News]

I'm not sure how gender matters in radiology

It matters to program directors. "Diversity".

 

[Trousseau]

I've talked to one of my residents about this, who was a man initially interested in OB/GYN. He said that the way the winds are blowing, there's pretty much no place for men in OB/GYN outside of subspecialties like Gyn Onc and REI. It's just too hard for men to maintain a practice.

 

[DancingDoggie]

del.