What is easier to get into: med school or residency?

[radioactive15]

Is it easier to get into ANY U.S. MD school or ANY US residency?

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[777137]

Well the med school acceptance rate is about 40% and the match rate is something like 95%. You can look both of these up really fast.

 

[dreee]

Is it easier to get into ANY U.S. MD school or ANY US residency?

Residency

 

[Lawpy]

Is it easier to get into ANY U.S. MD school or ANY US residency?

Medical school: number of applicants > number of seats

Residency: number of seats > number of US MD graduates

From a very, very broad and loose perspective, residency is easier. But as always, it depends on the specialty and relative competitiveness involved

Just as with 3.9/36+ applicants having to reapply due to various reasons, some strong US MD graduates may have to settle for less competitive specialty, SOAP, or go unmatched. Again for various reasons.

 

[seeinghowitgoes]

Residency is easier overall. Getting into the residency of choice in the location of choice might not be all that different from medical school (as stated above), but simply from a general matching standpoint it is definitely easier.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

There's an absurdly high number of US MD students who get accepted to one of their top 3 residency choices. So that could give some context.


If anyone has the exact number feel free to let me know

 

[gyngyn]

There's an absurdly high number of US MD students who get accepted to one of their top 3 residency choices. So that could give some context.


If anyone has the exact number feel free to let me know

Most US Seniors (53%) matched into their 1st choice program. 79.2% matched into one of their top 3. http://www.nrmp.org/press-release-r...largest-on-record-as-match-continues-to-grow/
This is why it's good to be a US Senior.

 

[TaupePremed]

You said "any" MD school and "any" residency, so the answer is:

Getting into residency is more than 10 times easier. Approaching 60% of people who finish the AMCAS and the MCAT get zero offers of acceptance to any MD program.

Less than 6% of US MD recipients do not get any residency, and a chunk of the US MD recipients who don't get a residency did not really want one.

So failure is ten times more likely during the med school application process (probably more when you include people who didn't honestly want a residency).

 

[DingoPingo]

I'd say residency is harder because you have to get into med school first.

 

[Swish16]

I'd say residency is harder because you have to get into med school first.

No way. Maybe a specific residency like HSS Ortho, Miami Ophthalmology or UCSF neurosurgery is harder than getting into a medical school but as the stats posted above suggest, most US MD grads get their residency of choice while most premeds don't get a single acceptance.


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[DingoPingo]

No way. Maybe a specific residency like HSS Ortho, Miami Ophthalmology or UCSF neurosurgery is harder than getting into a medical school but as the stats posted above suggest, most US MD grads get their residency of choice while most premeds don't get a single acceptance.


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I think you misunderstood my post. I meant that first you need to get into med school, which is pretty hard, and then you need to get through med school before going to residency, thereby making residency harder.

Never mind. I was just trying to be clever.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Well the med school acceptance rate is about 40% and the match rate is something like 95%. You can look both of these up really fast.

Sorry, way off topic, but I love your emblem. I wrestled for 14 years. I miss it dearly. Anyways, back on topic -- the statistics are overwhelmingly clear that residency is "easier" as compared to actually matriculating into medical schools. Medical schools usually filter out students they don't think are cut out for medical school. They choose students who they believe can pass the medical curriculum AND match into a residency.

 

[Law2Doc]

Most US Seniors (53%) matched into their 1st choice program. 79.2% matched into one of their top 3...

Except that's a very misleading statement. You can only rank places you actually got interviews at. Meaning if you applied to thirty places, didn't get any nibbles at the first 27 choices, got interviews at your three least favorite and got into the third of those you ranked, the NRMP would say "look this guy got one of his top three choices!" (when it was really his 30th, and last, choice).

 

[Law2Doc]

Residency is easier overall. Getting into the residency of choice in the location of choice might not be all that different from medical school (as stated above), but simply from a general matching standpoint it is definitely easier.

This. The catch is that nobody from a US school is happy just getting "a" residency spot, you want to actually pick your specialty, your geography, and avoid malignant settings. And you are competing against s much more competitive group than college premeds, you are competing with that subset who actually got into med school and excelled. So you may be comfortable getting "a" spot but it's harder to get "the" spot.

As a result every year some of the top people who come up short for competitive things like Derm and ortho have to either choose to soap into an open spot in another specialty, or do a research year and try again. To me that's a form of competition not appreciated at the med school level so saying which is "easier" kind of misses the dynamics involved at the next level. It's always hard to land the dream and the bigger you dream the harder it gets.

 

[GrapesofRath]

As a result every year some of the top people who come up short for competitive things like Derm and ortho have to either choose to soap into an open spot in another specialty, or do a research year and try again.

Out of curiosity
a) Im assuming these types of people in this situation who skip SOAP are included in stats for "% of medical student applicants who didnt match" correct?
b) Is there anything out there that allows for a rough approximation of roughly what proportion of the unmatched people were of the category you described above? By that I mean the proportion who were "solid overall applicants just were way too ambitious and opted to reapply over soaping in another field" as opposed to the more thought of "applicant who couldnt match because of serious red flags like board failures regardless of specialty/program"?

 

[moisne]

Well it depends. Statistically it's much easier for residency. If you had a 30 on mcat and a 192 on step, it's harder to match derm than any Med school...

Or say you got a 35 on you mcat on your 4th try - vs failing step twice and barely passing -...


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[Psai]

Well the med school acceptance rate is about 40% and the match rate is something like 95%. You can look both of these up really fast.

Yeah but the people applying to residency are the 40% who already got into med school minus dropouts.

 

[Law2Doc]

Out of curiosity
a) Im assuming these types of people in this situation who skip SOAP are included in stats for "% of medical student applicants who didnt match" correct?
b) Is there anything out there that allows for a rough approximation of roughly what proportion of the unmatched people were of the category you described above? By that I mean the proportion who were "solid overall applicants just were way too ambitious and opted to reapply over soaping in another field" as opposed to the more thought of "applicant who couldnt match because of serious red flags like board failures regardless of specialty/program"?

(A) sometimes. It's also sometimes possible to intentionally not graduate med school after the fourth year so you can still continue apply as a senior after your research year.
(B) I don't know how you'd calculate these numbers from the publically available numbers. Those of us who have been through the match all know someone who did this, so the number isn't zero, but it's not everyone who didn't get a competitive spot either.

 

[gyngyn]

Except that's a very misleading statement. You can only rank places you actually got interviews at. Meaning if you applied to thirty places, didn't get any nibbles at the first 27 choices, got interviews at your three least favorite and got into the third of those you ranked, the NRMP would say "look this guy got one of his top three choices!" (when it was really his 30th, and last, choice).

Yes, it would be more clear to say that they match into the preferred program at which they were interviewed.

 

[777137]

Sorry, way off topic, but I love your emblem. I wrestled for 14 years. I miss it dearly. Anyways, back on topic -- the statistics are overwhelmingly clear that residency is "easier" as compared to actually matriculating into medical schools. Medical schools usually filter out students they don't think are cut out for medical school. They choose students who they believe can pass the medical curriculum AND match into a residency.

You should get involved in assistant coaching! Most schools are glad to have extra help and whatever you learned is probably at least somewhat unique to them. The time commitment is really low and flexible, since practices at most schools are only 2 hours.

 

[Lucca]

I think the takeaway is that the bottleneck to entering American medicine is currently at the undergraduate level and not at the postgraduate level.

 

[gyngyn]

I think the takeaway is that the bottleneck to entering American medicine is currently at the undergraduate level and not at the postgraduate level.

For US grads!

 

[Law2Doc]

I think the takeaway is that the bottleneck to entering American medicine is currently at the undergraduate level and not at the postgraduate level.

Kind of. The bottleneck to get into medicine at all is at the undergrad level. But the are several much tighter bottlenecks if you desire something competitive. Just being a doctor of any kind anyplace may not be good enough once you've alteady gotten further down the road.