As stated above, it's good to remember this is a placement rate, not a match rate, and includes people who are placed into transitional years or prelim years without a PGY-2 spot. Those people will likely be in the match again the following year, as they only have an internship and not a true residency leading to board certification. Tough to know the actual percentage but my guess is somewhere around 10%, based on my school usually being in the 10-15% range (certainly could be lower overall). It's frustrating to see people get led into a false sense of security with the match when all they hear is '100% placement rate' which is very different from the true match rate.
Its probably around 10% or maybe a bit lower. Overall match rate is in the high 80s, and a number of people will SOAP/scramble into categorical programs, so it can't be much higher than that.
Sure, it's not board certification, but it's still a job. You can be licensed in most states with just one year of GME as a DO, so its not like a dead end, you just have to expect for your options to be limited.
Are there any stats out there on this? I'm very inclined to believe you-- just curious if we have any actual data. I don't know that many TRIs or former TRIs, but everyone I know who has done one went into GME somewhere as a PGY2 (mostly in their field of choice, although a few who had wanted something super competitive did end up doing their backup). Obviously it's not many people's plan A, and I think it's a bit sneaky of schools to pretend that their intern matches are on the same level as their specialty matches, but a lot of people have been very successful coming out of a TRI and it's a good thing that these programs exist.
Most people I know went into something categorical after (I do know a few that didn't, but they had other issues going on or wanted to quit medicine altogether), but in all honesty, it can't be close to 100% based on the numbers. If it is, it's because of scrambling AOA.
Something like only 1/3 or 1/4 of previous DO grads that applied ACGME found positions in the NRMP match/SOAP. The rest did better in the AOA match/scramble, which makes sense (the majority of people I know secured categorical positions in this way, even in some dual-accredited programs).
Its important to note that come 2020, those people will have less spots to fall back on. In general, I hope that DOs work harder on making their initial apps more strategic since matching (and not only placing) will become all the more important. I think this is avoidable for most if they apply broadly and to realistic specialties, or at least to a backup as well.
That all said, this is still great news. Both match and placement stats this year look pretty good, which is great because everyone was saying this year was brutal. It seems like it was really par for the course.
