Every DO school has "Solid Match Lists."

[Mad Jack]

---

Members don't see this ad.

What are the commonly accepted "super competitive" specialties, and what are the "moderately competitive" specialties?

I figure all the surgical residencies and perhaps radiology are very competitive, but I'm unaware beyond that.

Super competitive are specialties like uro, optho, derm, neurosurg, allo ortho, and rad onc. Maybe one or two more I'm missing.

 

[Muffinho]

Super competitive are specialties like uro, optho, derm, neurosurg, allo ortho, and rad onc. Maybe one or two more I'm missing.

And their competitiveness is based primarily on earning potential and job security? Derm sounds incredibly mundane.

 

[Mad Jack]

And their competitiveness is based primarily on earning potential and job security? Derm sounds incredibly mundane.

For the most part. There's not a single highly competitive specialty that interests me, so for what I want, the match lists of DO schools are pretty strong. For Gunnard Gunnerson or someone chasing prestige, they might look "weak".

 

[Muffinho]

For the most part. There's not a single highly competitive specialty that interests me, so for what I want, the match lists of DO schools are pretty strong. For Gunnard Gunnerson or someone chasing prestige, they might look "weak".

Indeed. I am not yet studying medicine, so my views are obviously not well educated, but from my limited knowledge and research, my interests don't bring me towards any of the competitive specialties. I think Pathology or Medical Genetics are super interesting, but I imagine they're not nearly as popular as Derm.

 

[EMDO2018]

WCU had 33 out of 100 people match into mostly small community AOA family medicine residencies. Pass rate on Comlex step 1 for first class was ~70%.

 

[petyr_baelish]

WCU is also in a region where there are a lot of rural programs. That could explain why 1/3 are going into less prestigious residencies.

 

[Temperature101]

/

You, in general, have to reapply. People who fail to match, particularly those who fail to match into competitive fields, may apply for a different speciality the second time around. A decent number of people in my class failed to match EM, and I wouldn't be surprised if many of them end up in IM or family. On the other hand, some people try to boast their application and reapply to the same speciality. I have a bud who wants orthopedics bad, so he spent the last year doing research. And then some people fail to match because they make a dumb rank list, like interviewing at 10 places but only ranking 2 programs. These people just need to to apply to a bunch of programs and be less picky. People doing Traditional rotating internships get paid the same as other residents/interns, which is around 50k depending on your location.

The stuff about the match is so confusing to me... I got confused every time I see an explanation about TRI/TY/Preliminary etc... Let say that I got 210-215 in step 1... Will I be able to match into FM/Psych/IM (categorical) at a community hospital?

It would be nice if someone can explain all these jargons:
TRI
TY
Preliminary
Categorical (kind of know what that is)

 

[wjs010]

/
The stuff about the match is so confusing to me... I got confused every time I see an explanation about TRI/TY/Preliminary etc... Let say that I got 210-215 in step 1... Will I be able to match into FM/Psych/IM (categorical) at a community hospital?

It would be nice if someone can explain all these jargons:
TRI
TY
Preliminary
Categorical (kind of know what that is)

Pretty sure prelim/ intern is MD and TRI is DO

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

What are the commonly accepted "super competitive" specialties, and what are the "moderately competitive" specialties?

I figure all the surgical residencies and perhaps radiology are very competitive, but I'm unaware beyond that.

Basically all surgical specialties and subspecialties are incredibly tough for DO in the ACGME match. Middle includes neurology, anesthesia, emergency and radiology. Easy would be any primary care, psychiatry, pathology and PM&R.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

/
The stuff about the match is so confusing to me... I got confused every time I see an explanation about TRI/TY/Preliminary etc... Let say that I got 210-215 in step 1... Will I be able to match into FM/Psych/IM (categorical) at a community hospital?

It would be nice if someone can explain all these jargons:
TRI
TY
Preliminary
Categorical (kind of know what that is)

Traditional rotating internship is when you work in multiple services. Transitional year is the same for MD. Preliminary means you're only guaranteed your first year of internal medicine or surgery. Categorical means you are guaranteed all years of your desired specialty.

 

[Temperature101]

Traditional rotating internship is when you work in multiple services. Transitional year is the same for MD. Preliminary means you're only guaranteed your first year of internal medicine or surgery. Categorical means you are guaranteed all years of your desired specialty.

After the one year of preliminary, do you have to reapply thru the match? Is it the same for TRI/TY?

 

[cliquesh]

After the one year of preliminary, do you have to reapply thru the match? Is it the same for TRI/TY?

It depends on why you're doing an internship.

Some 4th year med students do not know what they want to do with their lives or some will apply for residency and not match anywhere, so they scramble into an internship of some sort. These people must reapply apply for residency during their intern year.

Other people apply for a post graduate year 2 residency (such as some PM&R, radiology, anesthesia, and derm) that requires an internship of some sort (preliminary surgery, preliminary medicine, transitional year, or traditional rotating internship will fulfill this requirement). These people apply for their residency and internship as a 4th year med student and they match both, their internship and residency, at the same time. These people do not need to reapply.

The final group are people applying for aoa derm. These people must do a traditional rotating internship and then apply for aoa derm as an intern.

TRI, transitional year, preliminary medicine and surgery all serve the same function, but the amount of work you have to do varies greatly between them. Transitional year is the most desirable because you get a lot of electives, which makes your intern year a joke, but they are pretty competitive. Preliminary surgery is the worst. TRIs and prelim medicine can be a joke, reasonable, or terrible depending on where you go.

 

[Muffinho]

Basically all surgical specialties and subspecialties are incredibly tough for DO in the ACGME match. Middle includes neurology, anesthesia, emergency and radiology. Easy would be any primary care, psychiatry, pathology and PM&R.

But Pathology seems so cool :S

 

[Path hall]

But Pathology seems so cool :S

Pathology is awesome. You get to see the most interesting cases in the hospital, the hours are good, and the pay is pretty good (if you can get a job, hah).

 

[Muffinho]

Pathology is awesome. You get to see the most interesting cases in the hospital, the hours are good, and the pay is pretty good (if you can get a job, hah).

As its a relatively small specialty, I imagine there is a lot of fluctuation between no jobs and a lot of jobs.

 

[Path hall]

As its a relatively small specialty, I imagine there is a lot of fluctuation between no jobs and a lot of jobs.

The problem is there are too many graduates and no one retires. You can work until your late 70s in pathology. The affordable care act is also gutting lab medicine reimbursements, which isn't helping matters.

There are jobs in pathology; you just need to be flexible on location.