Matching -- or Not -- in Psych?

[RustNeverSleeps]

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On a WU site I saw that in 2004 only 94% of US seniors matched in psych (45 US seniors did not match). That is an increase in the number (and percentage) of people who did not match as compared to prior years.

Any idea what is going on? People in the know, do you feel that psych is becoming more competitive? Can you hazard a guess as to what problems or conditions could have caused so many people not to match?

Thanks!

 

[Miklos]

On a WU site I saw that in 2004 only 94% of US seniors matched in psych (45 US seniors did not match). That is an increase in the number (and percentage) of people who did not match as compared to prior years.

Any idea what is going on? People in the know, do you feel that psych is becoming more competitive? Can you hazard a guess as to what problems or conditions could have caused so many people not to match?

Thanks!

Only 94%...

According to the NRMP data, overall 92.9% of all US Seniors matched with (all specialties) PGY1 spots in 2004.

See also http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=106279

 

[willow212]

I would assume that the people who didn't match either didn't rank enough programs (I've heard of some being confident enough to rank only 1-2 programs, which I could imagine might backfire in some instances) or had some restriction on location due to couples matching or other personal reasons.

Perhaps psych is getting more competitive at certain programs, but I would say as a national trend, I don't think there was a huge increase in the overall numbers going into psychiatry.

My advice to those applying would be to cast a wide net and rank every place you feel you would get good training at. Best of luck!

 

[vmc303]

On a WU site I saw that in 2004 only 94% of US seniors matched in psych (45 US seniors did not match). That is an increase in the number (and percentage) of people who did not match as compared to prior years.

Any idea what is going on? People in the know, do you feel that psych is becoming more competitive? Can you hazard a guess as to what problems or conditions could have caused so many people not to match?

Thanks!

Probably just part of the general trend toward people going into lifestyle-friendly specialties. 94% still seems really high to me though, especially when you consider that the people going into psych probably aren't uniformly distributed across the grading spectrum. Basically, unless you're in the bottom 1% or 2% of your class, you should be fine.