I asked this last year

[KHE]

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and no one responded.

What happens to people who do NOT match? I know that they can do a research year or whatever but what if they don't match AGAIN?

Do these people simply pursue other specialties/residencies? Do they end up on some sort of med student scrap pile? Do they leave medicine all together?

What's the common course in that scenario?

 

[wantToMatch2011]

prob jump into a prelim med spot

 

[I Surgeon]

and no one responded.

What happens to people who do NOT match? I know that they can do a research year or whatever but what if they don't match AGAIN?

Do these people simply pursue other specialties/residencies? Do they end up on some sort of med student scrap pile? Do they leave medicine all together?

What's the common course in that scenario?

become an optom.

 

[KHE]

become an optom.

Yea, I figured it wouldn't take long for someone to throw that one out there. 🙄

But seriously...for those that do not end up matching, what do the ultimately end up doing with their careers?

 

[cme2c]

Most end up doing another residency. Ophtho is one of the toughest, there are lots of other great specialties that are easier to obtain a slot.

 

[Slide]

Yea, I figured it wouldn't take long for someone to throw that one out there. 🙄

But seriously...for those that do not end up matching, what do the ultimately end up doing with their careers?

I've read the match rates of US seniors from the past years and the most recent stat I believe had 10% of US seniors not matching. Most either do another residency or go into a research year to buff their application. The serious applicants tend to do the latter, but I'm not sure of the breakdown. I know a few residents that taken the latter approach but that's about it.

 

[cottonwool]

It seems that many people are misinterpreting the match statistics. If you look carefully you will see that 73% of overall applicants matched in ophthalmology, and 91% OF that 73% were US seniors. Add up the rows US Seniors, US Grads and IMGs (91+3+6 = 100).

http://www.sfmatch.org/residency/ophthalmology/about_match/match_report.pdf

 

[cottonwool]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=9182502&postcount=4

see this post for well-written discussion on that topic

 

[JMK2005]

and no one responded.

What happens to people who do NOT match? I know that they can do a research year or whatever but what if they don't match AGAIN?

Do these people simply pursue other specialties/residencies? Do they end up on some sort of med student scrap pile? Do they leave medicine all together?

What's the common course in that scenario?

Most will choose a different specialty such as family medicine, neurology, etc.

 

[speyeder]

It seems that many people are misinterpreting the match statistics. If you look carefully you will see that 73% of overall applicants matched in ophthalmology, and 91% OF that 73% were US seniors. Add up the rows US Seniors, US Grads and IMGs (91+3+6 = 100).

http://www.sfmatch.org/residency/ophthalmology/about_match/match_report.pdf

Agree. The SF Match does a poor job of presenting their stats. 91% of U.S. seniors don't match into ophtho.

 

[Slide]

Ah I do see your point about the match statistics. Not going to even try to figure out how many actual US seniors matched because it's a little confusing to read the true nature of those statistics.