General Surgery Residency Placement

[Plinko]

I have heard many times over that upwards of twenty five percent of general surgery residency spots have gone unfilled in recent years. Presumably this is because the average age of medical school matriculants is increasing and many of the medical school graduates over thirty find the long surgical residency programs rather unattractive. I myself wouldn't like the idea of starting my practice when I was thirty six or seven if I started medical school at twenty six. With that said, does anyone know, given that these seats go unfilled, if general surgical residencies are as competitive as they always have been? That is, do these programs still turn large amounts of applicants away even when they know they will have spaces open? Or, has the recent downward trend in applicant turnout afforded lesser students the prospect of going into general surgery?

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[Idiopathic]

Recently, apps to GS have been down. I imagine that applicants still get turned down if they re not quality, but I would imagine that all quality applicants who apply, get into a program.

 

[Goofyone]

You know, whenever I look for the answers to questions like this, I get baffled.

It seems like the answers are yes and no, depending on who you ask. Even books I read on residency info seem to have conflicting info.

The more I try to learn, the more confused I get.

 

[DrQuinn]

Books are usually 4-5 years behind the times... so do not use them as teh be-all-end all. Especially for medicine. Journals are hte way to go... with that being said, for residency information, the best information is word of mouth and journal articles that show the numbers.

General Surgery is muhc less competitive than it used to be. It is still more competitive than hte primary care specialties, however, do not be fooled. For top notch surgery programs you need to be a top notch applicant.

Q, DO