Question for aPD and others who has access to ERAS data from PD side. How many applications have you got so far?
Is this year more competitive than previous?
- Thread starter Algor
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1) depends on what you mean by "competitive"
2) depends on what field(s) you are talking about
3) what is competitive at one program, may not be at another
4) the season isn't over, so any proclamations about competitiveness at this point would be premature
2) depends on what field(s) you are talking about
3) what is competitive at one program, may not be at another
4) the season isn't over, so any proclamations about competitiveness at this point would be premature
Ok, thank you for your input. Lets take Internal Medicine and number of applications from September 1 to October 13. So, we can compare current and previous years this way.
I was once told by a faculty member who was very involved with her residency program that people always think it gets more and more competitive every year, but in fact it doesn't (not significantly, at least).
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The scores are going up though. As are the # of applicants is also, but with spots essentially flat.
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agreed. Numbers keep going up, and as time goes on things that may have been unique in past years become the norm as each subsequent year sees what has been looked at positively in the pat. Plus numbers of US seniors is increasing over the past few years. Sounds like that faculty member is just trying to feel better about themselves, since they might not have made the grade today.
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agreed. Numbers keep going up, and as time goes on things that may have been unique in past years become the norm as each subsequent year sees what has been looked at positively in the pat. Plus numbers of US seniors is increasing over the past few years. Sounds like that faculty member is just trying to feel better about themselves, since they might not have made the grade today.
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Of course it is more competitive due to the spiraling med school enrollments and static residency spots. The current students in the match (Class of 2010) generally entered med school in 2006. Well here is an announcement from 2006:
First-time enrollees in the 2006 entering class totaled almost 17,400, a 2.2 percent increase over last year and an all-time high in the post-Flexner era.
Note: That is the allopathic enrollment for 2006. ( http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/reporter/nov06/enrollment.htm )
Of course osteopathic enrollment has been exploding as well with 4055 enrolling in 2006 ( http://www.aacom.org/resources/bookstore/Documents/college_growth_report_2008.pdf )
There were 22427 first year spots in the match last year ( http://www.nrmp.org/pressrelease2009.pdf ). So assuming continued stasis in new slots due to the Medicare GM funding cap, let's say we now have about 19000-19500 US grads competing for about 22500 slots this year (assuming about 2100 - 2500 or so of the osteopathic grads go into the allopathic match along with the allopathic grads). I think 2100-2500 osteopathic grads attempting to match in the NRMP is probably realistic since there are only about 2300 funded osteopathic residency slots for 4000 osteopathic grads and over 2000 osteopathic grads applied through the NRMP in 2009 ( http://www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2009v3.pdf ).
It will only be more competitive in 2011 as the numbers ramp up further. I think we will see massive unmatched Carib student numbers this year and a very real possibility of significant numbers of unemployed AMGs because the number of spots available in the scramble will likely be low.
P.S. The strategy of marginal candidates only applying to Orthopedic residencies will be increasingly risky due to the fact that using the scramble as a backup plan in the event of not matching will be problematic. I can bet we will see more unmatched US allopathic grads this year than spots available in the scramble. Last year there were only 1087 spots in the scramble for 1072 unmatched US allopathic grads ( see: http://rxusmle.com/forums/Residency...early_Applicants_National_Resident_/10/503785 ).
First-time enrollees in the 2006 entering class totaled almost 17,400, a 2.2 percent increase over last year and an all-time high in the post-Flexner era.
Note: That is the allopathic enrollment for 2006. ( http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/reporter/nov06/enrollment.htm )
Of course osteopathic enrollment has been exploding as well with 4055 enrolling in 2006 ( http://www.aacom.org/resources/bookstore/Documents/college_growth_report_2008.pdf )
There were 22427 first year spots in the match last year ( http://www.nrmp.org/pressrelease2009.pdf ). So assuming continued stasis in new slots due to the Medicare GM funding cap, let's say we now have about 19000-19500 US grads competing for about 22500 slots this year (assuming about 2100 - 2500 or so of the osteopathic grads go into the allopathic match along with the allopathic grads). I think 2100-2500 osteopathic grads attempting to match in the NRMP is probably realistic since there are only about 2300 funded osteopathic residency slots for 4000 osteopathic grads and over 2000 osteopathic grads applied through the NRMP in 2009 ( http://www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2009v3.pdf ).
It will only be more competitive in 2011 as the numbers ramp up further. I think we will see massive unmatched Carib student numbers this year and a very real possibility of significant numbers of unemployed AMGs because the number of spots available in the scramble will likely be low.
P.S. The strategy of marginal candidates only applying to Orthopedic residencies will be increasingly risky due to the fact that using the scramble as a backup plan in the event of not matching will be problematic. I can bet we will see more unmatched US allopathic grads this year than spots available in the scramble. Last year there were only 1087 spots in the scramble for 1072 unmatched US allopathic grads ( see: http://rxusmle.com/forums/Residency...early_Applicants_National_Resident_/10/503785 ).
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