Ranking Med Schools in the Match

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AspirinPlease

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I was just wondering if there is any publication out there comparing schools in terms of "Match" success. Most applicants getting into radiology, derm, optha etc. Highest percentage of "1st choices"?

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I was just wondering if there is any publication out there comparing schools in terms of "Match" success. Most applicants getting into radiology, derm, optha etc. Highest percentage of "1st choices"?

As far as I know, there isn't. Which is good, because this isn't an effective or accurate indicator of how good or bad a med school is.
 
I was just wondering if there is any publication out there comparing schools in terms of "Match" success. Most applicants getting into radiology, derm, optha etc. Highest percentage of "1st choices"?

You should take some time and search the forums to learn more about this dead horse you just started beating.

Match lists are one of the worst things to use to try and evaluate med schools. Most (probably all) pre-meds are completely lacking the knowledge to compare and contrast match lists.

Evaluating based on the # of students matching into random competitive specialties is a poor metric - since there is a lot of self-selection, and you don't know if there are another 10 students in the class who could have matched in derm but decided they like gen surg or medicine better. And for example, if in four years you end up going into anesthesiology, why will it matter how many students from your school went into dermatology?

Evaluating based on the flashy recognizable names (Johns Hopkins, Yale, Duke, etc) is a poor metric - since not every top program is top notch in every area of residency training. Additionally, the top programs for many subspecialties are places pre-meds likely have never heard of.

Evaluating based on # of 1st choice matches is a poor metric - you don't know what went into making that place the student's first place or how competitive that particular first choice was. And in fact according to some admissions office, the "% of students matching at one of their top 3 choices" is a statistic that they have been discouraged from using by the AAMC since it is misleading and not very helpful.

Here's all you need to know about match lists: if you go to a great school, they will have a great match list, because they attract great students. If you are a great students, you will in all likelihood have a great match, and the particular school you attend won't really change that.
 
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I dunno about a ranking, but when you interview at a school they may give you a list of matches from their previous class....that's at least what happened at some of my interviews.

I didn't find them very useful.
 
I was just wondering if there is any publication out there comparing schools in terms of "Match" success. Most applicants getting into radiology, derm, optha etc. Highest percentage of "1st choices"?

This kind of analysis is meaningless and severely flawed. You have to realize that when you come out of med school, the goal no longer is to get the most prestigious path you can (as it might have been when applying to college or med school). You are going to launch onto a path you will probably be in for the next 40 years of your life. So you have to really like it. Meaning for many (perhaps most), something like derm, optho, rads, might not even be in the differential. The lifestyle is nice in those fields, but if you aren't interested in the eye, nasty skin, or sitting in a dark room, you aren't going that route. At many schools the top students don't always go into ROAD specialties. You will absolutely know somebody who was at the top of their class who chose IM or surgery. Probably many. People at that stage pick what they like, not what they can get. You have to also realize also that other life factors (marriage, kids) play a role in peoples lives far more at the average age of a resident than the average age of a med student, so decisions may be dictated as much by those factors as prestige.

In general a schools match is driven by applicants INDIVIDUAL accomplishments and wants. Not anything added by the school. So a school with a lot of folks going into derm simply means that in that particular year a lot of people wanted to go to derm, not anything the school did "right" or successfully. You could actually argue that a school where the balance of matches was evenly spread across specialties might be the best one, because since you don't know what you will want to go into, a school where folks don't gravitate to a certain path might be better.

When you are applying to med school, it's best to keep an open mind. You won't likely know until your third year rotations what field you want to go into. And if you decide you like X, it's pretty meaningless that you went to a school which got a lot of people into Y in a given year.
 
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