Preferences on specialties

[Psycho Doctor]

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Can someone list the order it's easiest to get residencies in? Start with the one anyone can match to. If there's certasin specialties only given to certain schools or to MDs or DOs, please make a comment.

Thanks.

 

[Mperor]

http://residency.wustl.edu/

use the drop down bar.

/thread

 

[boulux]

Emergency Med is 3 years???? Lol I thought it was 5 years in the states too because it is 5 years in Canada.

 

[ChuckRock]

http://residency.wustl.edu/

use the drop down bar.

/thread

Pretty cool site

 

[ForbiddenComma]

Cliff's notes:

It is easiest to land a basic PCP residency (FP, IM, Peds). These always have unfilled slots in every match.

Next are things like EM and GenSurg which fill up, but only just barely, making them "medium" competitive. Finally you got your ultracompetitive "lifestyle" residencies in derm, plastics and rads. These are eagerly sought after for their high $$$ / (hrs. worked) ratio. This ratio directly correlates with the attractiveness of the specialty to most people, sad to say.


EDIT: probably shouldn't have listed GS as medium... been listening to too many complaints from a surg I guess 😳

Emergency Med is 3 years???? Lol I thought it was 5 years in the states too because it is 5 years in Canada.

4 years is the norm in the U.S., although I think some 3 year programs still exist.

 

[erasable]

http://residency.wustl.edu/

use the drop down bar.

/thread

wow. cool. thanks for the link.

 

[SuferMD]

So does anyone have a list of how much residents make in different resident programs? Just curious

 

[Arctic Char]

Emergency Med is 3 years???? Lol I thought it was 5 years in the states too because it is 5 years in Canada.

in canada, isn't LUL?

sorry, i couldn't help myself.

So does anyone have a list of how much residents make in different resident programs? Just curious

visit this site:

http://www.ama-assn.org/vapp/freida/srch/

visit the tabs at the top-left corner as well. careful though, i know i have spent many hours perusing this site. . .

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
While there may be some General Surgrey preliminary slots left after the match, this year there was only one categorical slot (categorical means that if you match in the program, you continue through finish). This put categorical GS into the very competitive listing. Even anesthesia and derm had more slots open than categorical general surgery.

njbmd 🙂

In terms of pay, location is the primary factor with salaries higher in the NE and generally lower in the South. Cost of living has a lot to do this as some places in the NE will actually have resident housing because of expense of local housing in the area.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

http://residency.wustl.edu/

use the drop down bar.

/thread

Pretty cool site

yes, it is, thanks

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Cliff's notes:

It is easiest to land a basic PCP residency (FP, IM, Peds). These always have unfilled slots in every match.

Next are things like EM and GenSurg which fill up, but only just barely, making them "medium" competitive. Finally you got your ultracompetitive "lifestyle" residencies in derm, plastics and rads. These are eagerly sought after for their high $$$ / (hrs. worked) ratio. This ratio directly correlates with the attractiveness of the specialty to most people, sad to say.


EDIT: probably shouldn't have listed GS as medium... been listening to too many complaints from a surg I guess 😳

thanks, that is very helpful.
Why don't people like peds, FM, IM...just curious since I haven't done rotations yet. Please give me all the dirt on it so i can be prepared. Don't worry I'll formulate my own opinion.

 

[njbmd]

thanks, that is very helpful.
Why don't people like peds, FM, IM...just curious since I haven't done rotations yet. Please give me all the dirt on it so i can be prepared. Don't worry I'll formulate my own opinion.

Hi there,
It is not so much of a like or dislike but in today's practice world, pay in the primary care specialties is lower compared to surgery and the surgical specialties not to mention practice encroachment by midlevel practicioners. There are also far more slots in FM and IM than applicants. The good FM and IM programs fill very quickly but there are others (poor location,poor training, malignant attendings and conditions) that remain open.

njbmd 🙂

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Hi there,
It is not so much of a like or dislike but in today's practice world, pay in the primary care specialties is lower compared to surgery and the surgical specialties not to mention practice encroachment by midlevel practicioners. There are also far more slots in FM and IM than applicants. The good FM and IM programs fill very quickly but there are others (poor location,poor training, malignant attendings and conditions) that remain open.

njbmd 🙂

thanks, a lot...what about peds? how are the hours of peds? pay?

 

[boulux]

in canada, isn't LUL?

Haha maybe but I don't really know because I don't speak english... I'm french-canadian, but I hate the word "french-canadian", I prefer Quebecois personally.

 

[JohnnyOU]

Emergency Med is 3 years???? Lol I thought it was 5 years in the states too because it is 5 years in Canada.

Canadians take longer to figure out things.

 

[Dunce]

http://residency.wustl.edu/

use the drop down bar.

/thread

As others noted, that is a good site.

It's very helpful, but just don't put too much stock in some of what is on there. The salaries listed are rough ballpark estimates (as they are in virtually every MD salary rankings that you will come across). Hours worked per specialty are highly variable as well, so take what you see with a grain of salt. One other issue that I have noticed is that the one page summaries of certain fields don't always provide information on all of the options available to you after doing a residency each field (ie -- not all fellowship options are listed).

The match statistics and percentages are pretty informative. Check out this site for the official numbers. Interesting stuff.
http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/data_tables.html

 

[DrMom]

4 years is the norm in the U.S., although I think some 3 year programs still exist.

Actually, the majority are 3 year programs. There are some 1-4 programs and a few 2-4 programs out there. All DO EM residencies are 4 years, though.

 

[boulux]

Canadians take longer to figure out things.

What do you mean?

 

[boulux]

BTW, my previous post is a joke, obviously!

 

[Jack Daniel]

In terms of pay, location is the primary factor with salaries higher in the NE and generally lower in the South. Cost of living has a lot to do this as some places in the NE will actually have resident housing because of expense of local housing in the area.

My perceptions are just the opposite. Because of managed care and high cost of living, I thought the NE offered lower salaries compared to the South with lower costs of living and less managed care. Is this crazy thinking?

Ooops, I see now that you're talking about residency and salaries...
carry on..

 

[skypilot]

My perceptions are just the opposite. Because of managed care and high cost of living, I thought the NE offered lower salaries compared to the South with lower costs of living and less managed care. Is this crazy thinking?

I think that during residency the salaries are somewhat standardized with the high cost of living areas having a slightly higher resident salary.

Post residency it is completely different. Cities such as Boston and San Francisco may have very low salaries because they are desirable locations to live and places that are less in demand will have much higher salaries.

 

[vtucci]

Emergency Med is 3 years???? Lol I thought it was 5 years in the states too because it is 5 years in Canada.

Most programs in the US are 3 years. You should check out the saem.org residency catalog (it is listed by program type 1-3, 1-4 or 2-4). OF course, there are also people who do joint IM/EM and there will soon be a FP/EM residency as well.

You should read Iserson's Guide to Getting a Residency.

They say that the least competitive specialties are family practice, internal medicine, psych, Ob/Gyn,

Medium competition- EM, General surgery

High Competition- derm, anesthesiology, radiology, surgical subspecialties (e.g., plastics), ENT

Keep in mind that this depends highly on the institution. A psych residency at Bellevue is going to be very competitive. Or an IM at Hopkins or Mass General etc....

 

[ForbiddenComma]

Yes, EM residencies are 3 years, my bad. I was thinking more along the lines of TOTAL years invested, i.e. the intern year + 3 years of residency. Either way, EM usually takes one year longer than IM.

 

[DrMom]

Yes, EM residencies are 3 years, my bad. I was thinking more along the lines of TOTAL years invested, i.e. the intern year + 3 years of residency. Either way, EM usually takes one year longer than IM.

Only the 2-4 EM programs have a separate intern year.
Again, most EM residencies are 3 years total including the "intern" year, just like IM.

Check out the list on SAEM.

4 year programs: there are 19
3 year programs that require a separate internship (known and 2-4 programs): there are 15
3 year programs: there are 102

again, all of the DO EM programs are 4 years.

 

[78222]

Can anyone tell me off the top of their head the length of a Rads and Gas residency?

 

[fava]

Can anyone tell me off the top of their head the length of a Rads and Gas residency?

these are both 4 (1 year medicine prelim or transitional + 3 specialized years)

 

[Drizzt]

these are both 4 (1 year medicine prelim or transitional + 3 specialized years)

This is not correct. "Rads" - which refers to diagnostic radiology is 5 years of study. "Gas", or Anesthesiology, is a total of 4 years of study.

 

[8744]

Emergency Med is 3 years???? Lol I thought it was 5 years in the states too because it is 5 years in Canada.

Of course it's five years in Canada...it's the exchange rate.

 

[kingbrew]

Of course it's five years in Canada...it's the exchange rate.

ha, ya right, considering the Canadian dollar is nearly on par with the American. Silly American.....

it's shorter in America because everyone wants to get the hell out that country!

 

[homeboy]

What does everyone think about path? Looking at the salary/hours worked ratio, it seems right up there with derm, rads, etc...
Less glorious job? Or because you pretty much can't go into private practice...well, maybe you could, but lots of men with shiney badges and guns would be looking for you...

 

[DrMom]

Many pathologists most certainly go into private practice. Only some pathologists do a forensic path fellowship to become medical examiners.

I used to work for a private group of pathologists. They did very well income wise and had nice schedules. I originally thought I'd like to go into pathology, but then I learned that I don't like looking through a microscope for any length of time.

 

[homeboy]

Many pathologists most certainly go into private practice. Only some pathologists do a forensic path fellowship to become medical examiners.

I used to work for a private group of pathologists. They did very well income wise and had nice schedules. I originally thought I'd like to go into pathology, but then I learned that I don't like looking through a microscope for any length of time.

(sarcasm)

 

[DrMom]

(sarcasm)

😳 sorry I missed it. Must be the new-intern exhaustion setting in.

Occasionally people are truly that misinformed. 😉

 

[8744]

ha, ya right, considering the Canadian dollar is nearly on par with the American. Silly American.....

it's shorter in America because everyone wants to get the hell out that country!

Oh yeah. Americans are streaming across the border to get some of the Canadian health care. Not to mention all of the doctors around the world trying desperately to work in Canada.

 

[footcramp]

competitiveness is entirely based on 3 factors:
money, lifestyle, and prestige.

btw anesthesia is not "very competitive." FMGs and DOs match into anesthesia in crazy numbers even at "good" programs.

radiology is 5 years.

 

[signomi]

Cities such as Boston and San Francisco may have very low salaries because they are desirable locations to live and places that are less in demand will have much higher salaries.

I wish! I live in a very undesirable area temporarily and let me tell you, the salaries here are well below the national average. It is "all that the market will tolerate." I could boost my salary from $100,000/year to $160,000/yr by moving to the very desirable locations of NC or SC. The desirable locations that are growing in population offer a lot of money to recruit doctors. Sure, they may not offer as much in Boston or NYC or San Fran, but they aren't dealing as much with a shortage of docs and an expanding population.

From the WUSTL site, for IM: Mean Salary $164,100
Median Salary $144,000
In my first job here I made $125,000/yr and now I only make $100,000/yr (all before taxes which are the highest in the nation). So take these numbers with a gigantic grain of salt.