More students applying means that there will be better quality matriculants. Right now some schools are accepting poor candidates to fill classes. Increasing the number of applicants is a good thing for the profession. It allows for better quality graduates, which improves the field as a whole. ...
This is not true. I wish it were. It sounds fine in theory but just does not materialize.
99% of students not accepted at DMU, UTRio, AZPod, etc will simply be accepted at low level schools like NY or Kent podiatry
with scholarship.
The low quality applicants will still be there, and many of them will graduate. The only reason KSU and LECOM and SMU pod and etc are not bigger classes right now is because they didn't have enough apps. The only reason app numbers for pod schools are higher than incoming/matriculant pod students is because many "pod" apps choose to go to MD/DO or SMP or Pharma or whatever instead.
That is how podiatry school is - and always has been. The
accept rate is basically and effectively 100%.
As it stands, more pod apps simply equals more grads. More grads simply means even less jobs/pay and residency shortage and/or more bogus residencies stay open.
Now, if we somehow had 600 apps for 300 podiatry spots, then yes... I would agree: up the app numbers and keep increasing student/grad talent. However, it's
not that way at all. We have far too many pod student spots, and we will suffer the fate of phamacy schools (schools close/reduce as job market and ROI get increasingly worse and people accordingly stop applying).
...That being said, the profession is as good as it has ever been right now. High quality residencies (I know many directors personally) with really impressive fellowships, and pods are integrating with hospital staffs, ortho groups, and multi-specialty groups. It didn’t used to be like this and it continues to improve year over year.
It all depends who you talk to.
The 'word of mouth' argument is not a good one. It has been tried again and again in podiatry. It makes no sense, as
stated above
multiple times.. that any MD/DO specialty, AA, nurses, CRNA, etc all have tons of good jobs posted and podiatry has very very little? There are a few - but there are not a plethora - of hidden or secret handshake good pay and good quality podiatry jobs. Many grads are taking the exact jobs advertised. Pod pgy3s from all qualities of pod residencies complain year after year about the jobs they try to find... and the jobs they eventually settle on. The trend now is to do fellowship to buy time, but that seldom ends up very much better. Is some of it laziness...."show up early and stay late," as you say? A bit, maybe... but the clear fact is that
we are saturated.
Yes,
top podiatry grads/residents, can sometimes almost backdoor their way into doing work of an ortho F&A (although at half the pay). It will be different for people, such as yourself, who got top training and network which comes with it. Our training has technically improved in that way. Some podiatry training programs are more integrated with ortho than years past. I agree. The top training is better than ever, and that's a very good thing... but we're talking about maybe 20-25% of DPM residencies. It is myopic to think that it's that way for
all podiatrists. It would be like if I was saying "just tap into the 100+ alumni network at your program" or "just start your own office and you'll make more money" when those things are simply not available to most average DPMs.
Many of our average and lower residencies are still junkers... many residencies have been diluted to accommodate new schools or for attendings to spin cases off to make fellowship spots. This is evidenced by the low board pass, low incomes, very few jobs, increasing saturation. To the public, we are all "three year foot and ankle surgeons." An extra year or more cases just doesn't overcome simple supply and demand.
In
income terms, for most DPM grads, podiatry is as
bad as it has ever been.
When I finished, it was rougly $200k student debt and taking 80-120k jobs. That is rougly 2:1 ROI for tuition: income.
Now, it's roughly $400k debt for jobs $125-150k. That ROI of 3:1 or worse (many even add 8th fellowship year with interest piling on).
In private practice, where most DPMs work, the reimbursements are basically stagnant despite inflation, labor, and supplies going steadily up.
The rare bright spot for pod pay is probably more spots and better (parity) pay at VA jobs. The VA pay scale is one MDs still avoid like leprosy... yet DPMs now fight very hard to get hired for that wage. Again, the fact that we covet VA/IHS jobs that MD/DO hardly give a passing glance to tells you about all you need to know about the income and job option gaps.
🙂
