Most competitive Residencies

[IllinoisStudent]

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There is little doubt that orthopedics and surigical residencies are very competitive. So I have excluded them. Neurosurgery is the only surgical residency that I have included.

Please vote without personal biases.

 

[dingiswayo]

urology is a surgical subspecialty.

derm and rad onc are clearly the most competitive non-surgical specialties... (no emergencies for either one!). there's no need for a poll.

 

[IllinoisStudent]

Rad onc is not doing so well! But then N is very small right now. Only 11. Little less than 30 percent of the voters think that Rad Onc is the most competitive. Opthalmology is doing better than Rad Onc right now.

Gash..I sound like a political analyist predicting election results based on polls. But then I watched election results very closely 😀

 

[Blake]

Definitely dermatology in my province. 3 spots every year for about 600 med students. Neurosurgery is close second with 4 spots a year. There are even years where NS programs decide to take only 1 or 2 interns, since they don't judge others worthy of entering this program

 

[IllinoisStudent]

Definitely dermatology in my province. 3 spots every year for about 600 med students. Neurosurgery is close second with 4 spots a year. There are even years where NS programs decide to take only 1 or 2 interns, since they don't judge others worthy of entering this program

Man, I don't know about Canada. I have heard about family practioners becoming surgeons without residency training.

 

[ridirkulous]

Urology is also surgery. Why isn't ENT up there too? It is one of the most competitive fields.

 

[Blake]

Man, I don't know about Canada. I have heard about family practioners becoming surgeons without residency training.

Never heard of this. Could be true, who knows ? But what I just said is definitely true. But you also have to consider that 45 % of med students in my province become FPs, so it's not that bad for those interested in competitive specialties.

 

[IllinoisStudent]

Urology is also surgery. Why isn't ENT up there too? It is one of the most competitive fields.

My bad. I did not know urology was a surgery.
Pardon my ignorance, but what is 'ENT'?
I realized that I have forgot to add Cardiology too. But is it surgery subspecialty?
Oh well I can't change the poll now. You can write your ideas about fields that are competitive, but not on the poll.

 

[CaptainJack02]

My bad. I did not know urology was a surgery.
Pardon my ignorance, but what is 'ENT'?
I realized that I have forgot to add Cardiology too. But is it surgery subspecialty?
Oh well I can't change the poll now. You can write your ideas about fields that are competitive, but not on the poll.

ENT = Ear, Nose, Throat(aka otolaryngology)

Cardiology is an IM subspecialty, but yeah, it's insanely tough to get one of those fellowships.

Rad onc + derm should be taking the cake right now, but clearly, the voters aren't considering the real issues but voting their prejudices and ignoring the facts. What a sad state of affairs...tut tut...

 

[Buster Douglas]

"Averages are not reported for Urology. They have their own matching program and statistics for it can be found at this link. Last year 30% of U.S. seniors that applied for urology did not match; the unmatched percentage for radiology and orthopedics U.S. senior applicants was approximatley 7 and 15% respectively."

 

[kenmc3]

My bad. I did not know urology was a surgery.
Pardon my ignorance, but what is 'ENT'?
I realized that I have forgot to add Cardiology too. But is it surgery subspecialty?
Oh well I can't change the poll now. You can write your ideas about fields that are competitive, but not on the poll.

Yes urology is a surgical subspecialty however it does have a separate match program similar to neurosurgery. ENT stands for ?Ear, Nose, & Throat? although the medical term is otolaryngology. ENT specialist usually complete all or part of a general surgery residency and then do a fellowship in otolaryngology (it is fairly competitive) because it along with ophthalmology have the best lifestyles, for a surgeon. Cardiology is a branch of Internal Medicine and is a competitive subspecialty. The surgical cousin or cardiology is cardiothoracic surgery (a surgical subspecialty where most do a general surgery residency and then a fellowship).

 

[shellfish]

ophthalmology is also a surgical subspecialty.

 

[X.O.]

You forgot integrated plastics. That, rad onc, and derm are the toughest to get

 

[azzarah]

You forgot integrated plastics. That, rad onc, and derm are the toughest to get

What is integrated plastics?
As far as I know derm was the toughest to match into last year.

 

[Mirror Form]

ophthalmology is also a surgical subspecialty.

Thank you, I was wondering when someone would mention that. You also spelled it correctly too, unlike the poll 😛

 

[IllinoisStudent]

Thank you, I was wondering when someone would mention that. You also spelled it correctly too, unlike the poll 😛

Ooops! One more mistake 'sigh' 🙁
I feel stupid after making this poll. Nonetheless, it was very informational. Thanks to all you guys who gave your input.

 

[HiddenTruth]

What is integrated plastics?
As far as I know derm was the toughest to match into last year.

integrated plastics is 3+3 direct plastics match--(3 years gen surg and 3 years of plastics), rather than the traditional route where you do 5 years gen surg and then apply for a 2-3 year palstics fellowship--it's shorter and guaranteed, you only get board certified in plastics, not gen surg. However, you can stll do the trad route, and not get board certified for gen surg after the 5 years and apply for plastics. This is unique because most surgical subspecialties you have to be baord certified in general surgery before you can get into a fellowship spot (there are few exceptions, with thoracic on the question these days by ABTS). Hope this helps.

 

[HiddenTruth]

ENT stands for ?Ear, Nose, & Throat? although the medical term is otolaryngology. ENT specialist usually complete all or part of a general surgery residency and then do a fellowship in otolaryngology (it is fairly competitive) because it along with ophthalmology have the best lifestyles, for a surgeon.

ENT specialists only complete ONE year of general surgery(The first year). They do not complete ALL and not really even PART of general surg resiedncy (as it is only their first year that is spent on the gen surg service).

 

[carrigallen]

You forgot integrated plastics. That, rad onc, and derm are the toughest to get

I agree 100%. These three are the highest overall, in terms of sheer numbers, scores, # spots, and # unmatched.


Then, I would say ortho would probably be fourth.

The rest is more of a crapshoot, but Neurosurgery, ENT are maybe 5 and 6. Radiology might be #7, it really depends how you look at it.


The rest of them are in a competitive but more subjective category (Urology, Opthalmology, GenSurg, etc). It becomes tricky to judge because the competitiveness of fellowship-dependent specialties are program-specific.

 

[8744]

The most competative residencies? That's easy: The ones that have turned me down for an interview.

The least competative? Naturally, the seven programs where I am interviewing.

 

[IllinoisStudent]

The most competative residencies? That's easy: The ones that have turned me down for an interview.

The least competative? Naturally, the seven programs where I am interviewing.

I did not know that you could apply to multiple residencies. I thought they forced you to decide before applying..like they force you to decide MSTP or regular MD before applying to a school.

 

[8744]

I did not know that you could apply to multiple residencies. I thought they forced you to decide before applying..like they force you to decide MSTP or regular MD before applying to a school.

You can apply to as many programs in as many specialties as you desire. I am trying to match into Emergency Medicine. I applied to 25 EM programs in the South (as well as Nebraska) and have been invited to seven interviews.

I interviewed in Baton Rouge last week which is my first choice of programs where I would sign a contract on the spot if this were the old days before the match and they offered it. Unfortunantly now I have to rank them and wait until match day to see if they ranked me high enough so I fall into one of their 12 spots. Fingers crossed.

I am also interviewing in Shreveport, Temple, El Paso, Little Rock, and West Virginia. Like John Edwards, I have been skunked in North Carolina. Not a single Emergency Medicine program in that state wants to interview me and I have even been rejected at ECU.

Still waiting to hear from South Carolina, Lexington, Louisville, Richmond, Charlottesville, and Nebraska (my second choice who I will rank number two if I get an interview.)

I am not doing a multi-specialty match.

 

[JMC_MarineCorps]

You can apply to as many programs in as many specialties as you desire. I am trying to match into Emergency Medicine. I applied to 25 EM programs in the South (as well as Nebraska) and have been invited to seven interviews.

I interviewed in Baton Rouge last week which is my first choice of programs where I would sign a contract on the spot if this were the old days before the match and they offered it. Unfortunantly now I have to rank them and wait until match day to see if they ranked me high enough so I fall into one of their 12 spots. Fingers crossed.

I am also interviewing in Shreveport, Temple, El Paso, Little Rock, and West Virginia. Like John Edwards, I have been skunked in North Carolina. Not a single Emergency Medicine program in that state wants to interview me and I have even been rejected at ECU.

Still waiting to hear from South Carolina, Lexington, Louisville, Richmond, Charlottesville, and Nebraska (my second choice who I will rank number two if I get an interview.)

I am not doing a multi-specialty match.

Sup Moto?

Just thought I would spread a little love to a fellow infantryman

Hope you get a good match. Let me know how it goes...I am just getting started, but anticipate that I'll be trying to match EM in about 3 years.

 

[IllinoisStudent]

You can apply to as many programs in as many specialties as you desire. I am trying to match into Emergency Medicine. I applied to 25 EM programs in the South (as well as Nebraska) and have been invited to seven interviews.

I interviewed in Baton Rouge last week which is my first choice of programs where I would sign a contract on the spot if this were the old days before the match and they offered it. Unfortunantly now I have to rank them and wait until match day to see if they ranked me high enough so I fall into one of their 12 spots. Fingers crossed.

I am also interviewing in Shreveport, Temple, El Paso, Little Rock, and West Virginia. Like John Edwards, I have been skunked in North Carolina. Not a single Emergency Medicine program in that state wants to interview me and I have even been rejected at ECU.

Still waiting to hear from South Carolina, Lexington, Louisville, Richmond, Charlottesville, and Nebraska (my second choice who I will rank number two if I get an interview.)

I am not doing a multi-specialty match.

Does the multi-speciality match work the same way? Who decides which speciality you end up going? Let's say you applied to IM and EM, and you are matched w/ ur second IM choice and first EM choice. Can you go into either residency? I hope so.

 

[carrigallen]

Can you go into either residency? I hope so.

It does not work like this. You would rank the different specialties on the same matchlist - and they are sorted into the NRMP algorithm together. It will return only one result.

Rarely do people rank more than one specialty, although it is not so uncommon to see certain combinations, like rads/anes, plastic/gensurg.

 

[docbill]

Never heard of this. Could be true, who knows ? But what I just said is definitely true. But you also have to consider that 45 % of med students in my province become FPs, so it's not that bad for those interested in competitive specialties.

NO family physicians can't become surgeons without residency in Canada... same system as US.

 

[8744]

Does the multi-speciality match work the same way? Who decides which speciality you end up going? Let's say you applied to IM and EM, and you are matched w/ ur second IM choice and first EM choice. Can you go into either residency? I hope so.

You rank every program at which you interviewed and would consider attending from one to whatever. You can only have one number one, one number two and so on. The programs themselves rank their interviewed applicants who they would not mind having in their program from one to whatever. They can only have one number one, one number two, and etc.

On a certain day in March (?), the NRMP runs a computer program that matches you, the applicant, with the program you ranked highest which also ranked you high enough to fill one of their available spots. Even if you are realtively low on a program's rank list you can still match there if their top-ranked applicants match at other programs.

However, when you sign up for the NRMP, you sign a contract obligating you to either go to the program where you match or to sit out a year until the next match if you change your mind. (You cannot be forced to go where you don't want but you cannot make "side deals" outside the match.")

Consequently, you should not rank programs which, for whatever reason, you have no interest in attending. Don't even rank 'em last because if your first through eight choices didn't rank you high enough, you might be stuck.

As for multi-specialty matches, many programs will ask you during your interview if you are applying to other specialties. This is to assess your committement to their specialty. Now, the programs don't know to what other programs you have applied so you can lie (I suppose) but this is not advisable.

First, because lying is wrong. Period. Your word is your bond, in life and especially as a physician.

Second, because the world of academic medicine is fairly small and Dr. Shmuckatelli in the Dept. of Surgery at Bum**** University might mention to Dr. Rottencrotch in Emrgency Medicine at Podunk School of Medicine that he interviewed you and you will be caught in a lie. It happens.