What is your question even?
my original question was why is the match rate so high when it is perceived as a competitive specialty.
Self-selection also affects this.
i dont understand. there are many people applying to DR with all range of board scores and they pretty much all match...where is the self-selection?
I think that the match rate would be worse if there was not a perceived level of competitiveness. It would mean more people applying for the same level of spots. I think the nitty gritty analysis of specialty competitiveness is kind of useless because it's based on too many loose factors. And besides, who cares? Apply to the field if you like it and understand it. Or don't lol.
guess im gonna strike while the iron is hot
The perceived competitiveness is from the center of the board score distribution, not the range. Radiology is the largest specialty that has a mean Step 1 >240 among matched applicants. As you point out, the match rate is high, so this high mean must be due to self-selection. People judged competitiveness not only by the match rate, but also the likelihood that they personally can match at the program they want. If you have a 235, you're below average and even though you will likely match, it is less likely to be at the program that you want than if the entire field of applicants were shifted to the level of internal medicine or pediatrics.
This definitely played some role in my specialty selection among two specialties I liked more or less equally. We'll see if this is hubris by me after this cycle, but I was far more worried about what kind of program I would likely match to and how that would affect pursuing specific goals if I became x specialty doc versus y specialty doc than just simply matching to the specialty at all.
so people are just good at applying and subsequently ranking programs that they wanna end up in? i mean i guess that makes sense. but its crazy to think that everyone knows what programs will take them...esp so much so to the point that the match rate is insanely high
I wouldn't characterize it as everyone knows what programs will take them. Last year, the average US grad applying to DR submitted 48 applications. That's sounds more like a shotgun approach.
that was my second thought lol
I think more people would apply if they had a better understanding of the field and the variations of practice. The average student has a terrible idea of how life works for any specialty outside the academic center but I think non-core specialties are even harder to truly understand. I think it suffers the opposite problems of anesthesiology in a way too. Everyone thinks anesthesia is some dream land of 7-3 bliss and everyone thinks radiology is sitting in the dark alone reading negative chest x rays and AI taking their job in 3 years.
That's the perfect example because MGH does not have an FM program.
i guess this q was what i was trying to figure out
dw no one does
It did with me, I took 1 look at that step 1 average of 240 and was like nope. Now here I am. Life's funny
Hope you are doing well and intern year isn't killing you before you get to the good life!
6 more months in the surface world...
