OB vs ER vs IM

[IdontTakeCall]

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So i always thought i wanted to do EM since i began med school. much to my surprise, i really loved my OB/gyn rotation and i definitley feel like its something i would like to make a career out of it just feels natural to me. How difficult is it to get an OB/GYN residency as compared to say EM or IM, as they would be my other choice/backup respectively.

 

[RGMSU]

So i always thought i wanted to do EM since i began med school. much to my surprise, i really loved my OB/gyn rotation and i definitley feel like its something i would like to make a career out of it just feels natural to me. How difficult is it to get an OB/GYN residency as compared to say EM or IM, as they would be my other choice/backup respectively.

You'll have to change your screen-name if you go into OBGYN 🙂

 

[IdontTakeCall]

You'll have to change your screen-name if you go into OBGYN 🙂

haha yeah im actually down with taking call it doesnt bother me.

 

[2Sexy4MedSchool]

The University of Washington (Seattle) just told me to FOAD; this year they had 500 applicants for six spaces.

 

[IdontTakeCall]

ugh thats not good. i heard OB was easier to get into cuz no one else wants to do it. i was hoping id finally catch a break. 🙁

 

[RGMSU]

ugh thats not good. i heard OB was easier to get into cuz no one else wants to do it. i was hoping id finally catch a break. 🙁

OBGYN is not a particularly competitive field. Competition will vary, however, from school to school. Look up the average STEP scores of OBGYN applicants compared to orthopedic surgery, and you'll see validation of it being relatively non-competitive pretty quickly.

 

[residencycoord]

There were only six spots that went unfilled last year and there was a lot of scrambling going on. I have over 530 applications so far and that is over 50 more than last year. This is going to be more competitive than I have seen in the past few years and the application pool is outstanding.

 

[peppy]

I think every field is getting more competitive as med school class sizes increase. I think if you do your best to make contacts in the field and apply broadly I think you will still be okay. FM with a focus on women's health might be a good backup option if it doesn't work out in ob/gyn. Good luck. 🙂

 

[MeowMix]

you are talking about 3 completely different kinds of medicine - in brief:
- ob is essentially a surgical field with plenty of primary care - do you want to be a surgeon? b/c that will be your training style.
- EM is for those who are very flexible multi-taskers, OK with zero continuity
- IM is for those who want to be less surgical, more cerebral, thinking in detail about medical diagnosis

first, figure out what is best suited to your style and personality. They are all competitive. Do not make the mistake of thinking OB will be easier to get into.