2017 Match List analysis - Part 1 of 3
Class of 2017
Internal Medicine - 21
Pediatrics - 10
Medicine-Pediatrics (combined residency) - 2
Psychiatry - 6
Obstetrics & Gynecology - 5
Family Medicine - 6
General Surgery - 4
Orthopedic Surgery - 3
Otolaryngology - 3
Neurosurgery - 1
Emergency Medicine - 5
Diagnostic Radiology - 8
Interventional Radiology - 2
Radiation Oncology - 2
Anesthesiology - 5
Medicine-Anesthesiology (combined residency) - 1
Dermatology - 3
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation - 1
Pathology - 1
Child Neurology - 2
Neurology - 2
Oral Surgery - 2 (OMFS for Dental school graduates only)
Preliminary Medicine - 1
Preliminary Surgery - 3
Transitional Year - 2
Hey guys, sorry, I’m a little late with my analysis of the 2017 match list, I wanted to wait so that any changes to the match list could be made if necessary after match day and then got a little busy. I’ll try to follow the same format as last year in 2016, with some repeats in terms of analysis.
As students this month will be comparing medical schools at different BS/MD programs (if you’re lucky enough to be in the position of having several Bachelor/MD acceptances in the first place, and it’s perfectly fine if you don’t), residency match lists will be one factor that you will look at. If you’re someone who has not gone thru medical school and does not know any physicians or those who are currently in medicine, it can be very difficult as a layman to properly interpret and reach proper conclusions from match lists for a particular school when making medical school matriculation decisions.
Part of interpretation of a school’s match list involves:
a) knowing which are the good residency training programs in each individual specialty, with the top-tier programs in each specialty (regardless of institution) being the most competitive
b) seeing geographically where most students/graduates from that school end up matching esp. in competitive areas (i.e. California) and in which specialties in those areas
c) looking at several years’ worth of match lists to see their past “track record” in being able to sending graduates to specific specialties/regions/program institutions
Top-tier doesn’t necessarily automatically mean Ivy League name prestige, although it can sometimes be true. Particular residency programs can also be more competitive for other reasons: easier residency lifestyle, geography (i.e. being located in sunny California or in New York City), etc.
It’s more helpful to notice match trends overall rather than to hyperfocus on any one particular person’s match or only on one particular year in evaluating a school. For example, noticing 1 hard-hitting stellar match and then extrapolating it to the entire student body/school/yourself is probably not a wise idea, as you don’t know the story behind it (unless you ask/email the person), i.e. did research at the NIH, did an audition elective rotation, have a personal/internal connnection, etc.
Context is always helpful in terms of evaluating any particular person’s residency match. For example, did that person have to take a year off from the BA/MD program to get some research publications under his/her belt in order to come back and hopefully match into a specific specialty? Is that person part of the military match? Did that person couples match with someone else in the same class? Did that person want to follow a spouse from a previous class and thus do residency in the same area? Was that person geographically restricted in some way (i.e. wanting to be closer to family; having a significant other not in medicine, who has to find a job in the area where the person matches)? Did that person do an audition rotation at the place where they matched and knocked their socks off? Were they an MD-only student, who may have done quite a bit of research or had ancillary degrees? Was that person unable to match from the previous match cycle year and had to apply again? All these factors can play into a med student’s match which is the result of a computer algorithm that incorporates an applicant’s rank order list, a residency training program’s rank order list of applicants, and the computer spits out the best possible outcome taking into account both lists. Keep in mind if someone currently in the class applied but didn’t match into any training position even for the the first year of internship, you will not see their name on this list.
Things you won’t be automatically able to see in a medical school’s match list for a particular year:
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Whether the specialty the person ended up matching into was that person’s #1 preferred specialty or whether they ended up matching into a backup residency specialty, whether that’s simultaneously applying for 2 specialties, not applying at all for their #1 preferred specialty and instead applying for their #2 preferred specialty that they’d like or at least be ok with and are more competitive for, or going thru the SOAP process (formerly called “The Scramble” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Resident_Matching_Program#Failure_to_match).
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Where that residency program was ranked on the applicant’s rank list (whether it’s their first choice or last choice).
Different BA/MD classes have different personalities. For example, one year a lot of people may want to go for more primary care oriented type specialties or one year may have a lot more people going for surgical specialties, which may not be the case in other years.
Med students also take other things into account, besides just the residency training program itself, when it comes to coming up with a rank list and matching with programs: geographical considerations, wanting to live closer to family, spousal considerations, the standard of living of the city - since you’ll be making a relatively low resident’s salary, during residency training. There are also rankings of residency hospitals/programs which you can see from USWNR: http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals and Doximity: https://residency.doximity.com/, which varies by specialty.
One thing I wanted to make clear as I did last year, is that my analysis of this year’s match list is not meant to be a personal judgment of the students themselves. It’s not meant as a personal attack or criticism. My goal is to try to point out trends compared with the school’s prior Match lists and compared to other medical schools. It is also helpful to those who may be considering a particular specialty and need to see a school’s prior track record in getting students into that specialty or in particular geographic areas, which will be relevant in their decision making. If you’re someone who is not at all sure what specialty you want and thus don’t want to feel restricted in any way (and you don’t have to know at this point at all by any means), looking at match lists to see the distribution of matches a particular school is able to get, in terms of specialties and programs, is important. That being said, I kind of think of the match lists as sort of turning on the tv about a minute before the end credits come on, and trying to figure out the plot from the tv show that happened 29 minutes before. You guys are seeing the final product, but you don’t see the years before that went into initially creating that product – studying for basic science courses, taking Step 1, clerkship performance, audition rotations, taking Step 2 CK, research and any publications that came from it, how the person decided which specialty to shoot for and when they decided, how much geography came into play, whether people couples matched, what backups were seriously considered, etc. which also has an effect on the end match, although you can still note common trends from year to year.