R
Reborn24
Rank them in this order Very competitive, somewhat competitive, Average, Uncompetitive
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Which specialties are you considering? There are over 2 dozen recognized specialties on the AAMC site. Narrow the field.
(Somewhat like a high schooler asking which college majors are toughest and easiest: rank them in this order... 🙂)
(Somewhat like a high schooler asking which college majors are toughest and easiest: rank them in this order... 🙂)
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the combination of high income and nice hours in a specialty will give you a pretty good idea about what is competative
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Not completely true. Neurosurg is rather competitive, for example.Taus said:
It is true often, though. Other competitive specialties include: ophtho, derm., combined plastics, rad. onc., etc. WashU has a good website about residencies that includes info about competitiveness: http://residency.wustl.edu/
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It is difficult to find statistics on which to judge residency programs. The early match programs (Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, and formerly ENT) provide(d) very good numbers including average Step 1 scores. All other residency matches do not publish the statistics of those who match.
Scooterguy posted a very useful tier system based on various info and apparently, based on the numbers he posted, weighted heavily in favor of number of spots and the number of spots per program.
As a single available statistic by which to judge a speciality's competitiveness I personally favor the applicants to matched ratio. This gives you an idea of how many medical students are competing for each resident position.
Even this however has noticable limitations...most prominent is the fact that extremely difficult residencies to match enjoy self selection. For instance, not very many students who are bottom quarter of their class and scored 190 on Step 1 are going to apply for Dermatology. Almost every applicant is competitive. You can see its limitations even in the numbers. Despite the fact that only 1 general surgery spot did not fill this year, I would still not imagine it a more difficult specialty than ortho (which is what the figures below imply). That being said, I still think the ratio is the single best measure of a speciality.
Surgery and Medicine may suffer from the dual applicant. For example, someone who applies for neurosurgery or ortho surgery may also interview general surgery, but only as a backup. Or someone applying to derm may also apply to medicine. This may inflate the number of US applicants.
I will say that what everyone should be able to agree upon is that the most difficult direct match specialties are integrated plastics (the six or seven year plastic surgery programs that you match directly out of medical school) and dermatology and perhaps radiation oncology. Those two or three are in a class by themselves right now.
Actually, I suppose even that may be up for debate. I've heard the argument that integrated plastics is actually less self selective than other competitive residencies because there's a second, more common, pathway (general surgery ---> plastics fellowship) to plastic surgery as a backup.
Basically, judging competitiveness is all a mess. I would learn to listen in on gossip and to take what you think it appropriate and useful from such and discard the bull****.
The applicant to matched ratio for various residencies are as follows:
Integrated Plastics
US Applicants 275
Spots 81
App-to-Spots 3.39
Derm
US Appicants 709
Spots 316
App-to-Spots 2.24
Radiation Oncology
US Applicants 267
Spots 137
App-to-Spots 1.95
General Surg
US Applicants 1978
Spots 1051
App-to-Spots 1.88
Ortho
US Applicants 1002
Spots 610
App-to-Spots 1.64
Radiology
US Applicants 1467
Spots 1018
App-to-Spots 1.44
Anesthesia
US Applicants 1767
Spots 1283
App-to-Spots 1.38
Pediatrics
US Applicants 2394
Spots 2269
App-to-Spots 1.05
Medicine
US Applicants 4859
Spots 4768
App-to-Spots 1.02
Family Practice
US Applicants 2332
Spots 2761
App-to-Spots .84
As for the early matches, we can't get the same data for them but we do get more complete data.
2006 Neurosurgery - US Applicant Match Rate: 88%
2006 Ophthalmology - US Applicant Match Rate: 88%
You can also find their average step 1 scores, etc. elsewhere on this site. Also, you can find early match data for ENT previous to this year, which should still give you a very good idea of just how competitive that specialty is.
Scooterguy posted a very useful tier system based on various info and apparently, based on the numbers he posted, weighted heavily in favor of number of spots and the number of spots per program.
As a single available statistic by which to judge a speciality's competitiveness I personally favor the applicants to matched ratio. This gives you an idea of how many medical students are competing for each resident position.
Even this however has noticable limitations...most prominent is the fact that extremely difficult residencies to match enjoy self selection. For instance, not very many students who are bottom quarter of their class and scored 190 on Step 1 are going to apply for Dermatology. Almost every applicant is competitive. You can see its limitations even in the numbers. Despite the fact that only 1 general surgery spot did not fill this year, I would still not imagine it a more difficult specialty than ortho (which is what the figures below imply). That being said, I still think the ratio is the single best measure of a speciality.
Surgery and Medicine may suffer from the dual applicant. For example, someone who applies for neurosurgery or ortho surgery may also interview general surgery, but only as a backup. Or someone applying to derm may also apply to medicine. This may inflate the number of US applicants.
I will say that what everyone should be able to agree upon is that the most difficult direct match specialties are integrated plastics (the six or seven year plastic surgery programs that you match directly out of medical school) and dermatology and perhaps radiation oncology. Those two or three are in a class by themselves right now.
Actually, I suppose even that may be up for debate. I've heard the argument that integrated plastics is actually less self selective than other competitive residencies because there's a second, more common, pathway (general surgery ---> plastics fellowship) to plastic surgery as a backup.
Basically, judging competitiveness is all a mess. I would learn to listen in on gossip and to take what you think it appropriate and useful from such and discard the bull****.
The applicant to matched ratio for various residencies are as follows:
Integrated Plastics
US Applicants 275
Spots 81
App-to-Spots 3.39
Derm
US Appicants 709
Spots 316
App-to-Spots 2.24
Radiation Oncology
US Applicants 267
Spots 137
App-to-Spots 1.95
General Surg
US Applicants 1978
Spots 1051
App-to-Spots 1.88
Ortho
US Applicants 1002
Spots 610
App-to-Spots 1.64
Radiology
US Applicants 1467
Spots 1018
App-to-Spots 1.44
Anesthesia
US Applicants 1767
Spots 1283
App-to-Spots 1.38
Pediatrics
US Applicants 2394
Spots 2269
App-to-Spots 1.05
Medicine
US Applicants 4859
Spots 4768
App-to-Spots 1.02
Family Practice
US Applicants 2332
Spots 2761
App-to-Spots .84
As for the early matches, we can't get the same data for them but we do get more complete data.
2006 Neurosurgery - US Applicant Match Rate: 88%
2006 Ophthalmology - US Applicant Match Rate: 88%
You can also find their average step 1 scores, etc. elsewhere on this site. Also, you can find early match data for ENT previous to this year, which should still give you a very good idea of just how competitive that specialty is.
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