What happens to a person who graduates from med school but doesn’t match even after a second year? I’m astonished that there aren’t spots for about 25% of graduates!
(I admit I’m waiting with bated breath to hear from @MiamiDAP. )
The NRMP headline is pretty misleading.
There were 41,000 applicants in the Match, but that number includes US allopathic grads; ~1000 US osteopathic grads (DO programs have their own separate Match system, but some DOs apply to MD residencies); US citizens who attended medical school abroad (US IMGs); and non-US citizens who attended medical school abroad (FMGs).
There were only ~17,000 US seniors (US allopathic grads) in the Match and between 98-99% of them Matched.
78% of DOs who entered the NRMP matched. (And the those who didn’t could still enter the US DO Match). Most of the unMatched are US IMGs (who have a match rate of 40-50%) and FMGs.
Unfortunately the longer one is out of med school the less likely it is that the individual match. Residency program directors worry that there is a significant decay of clinical skills. (In order to work/volunteer in a clinical situation and keep skills fresh, a med grad has to present proof of having a med mal insurance policy worth at least $1M–which is just too expensive for an individual to purchase.)
There are some jobs that don’t require a medical license-- research, blood bank management, medical records review for insurers. Occasionally some consulting jobs don’t require a medical license.
But for actually practicing medicine–usually the unmatched are SOL.
(Miami posted in the Residency thread here: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/1564022-residency-comes-next.html#latest)
D matched in 2013 and is finishing up her 2nd year of residency. She is very happy in what she is doing.
There is a serious disconnect between the number of US medical students and the number of residency slots. Here in Michigan, 3 new medical schools have opened in the last 5 years. It is my understanding that the total number of residency slots has stagnated for over 5 years. So, there are more US med students competing for the same number of slots. If you add in the DO students into the mix it is tighter still. Add in the International grads, and… well you get the picture.
I have a nephew-in-law that is attending a Caribbean medical school. Unless he does really well, he may not find a slot.
UMDad is correct, all the PR about needing more doctors, about adding new medical schools and adding more spots to existing med school classes does not help on the other end. Every graduating med student needs to complete residency to be a practicing physician (there is something about theoretically being eligible after 1 year of residency, but that’s not a practical option.
Residencies are funded by the government and are not increasing nearly as fast as the number of students.
Yes and no. There are enough residency spots for US grads. It’s just that they might not be in the specialties and locations students want. If you’re willing to do primary care, you don’t have much to worry about. From the article linked:
A lot of US med students want the high paying, easier life style specialities like dermatology. Then they only want to work in areas where there is the potential to earn a lot of $ doing the “easy” stuff like teen acne rather than melanoma. The number of dermatologists in Manhattan or Palo Alto, CA is ridiculous. http://archderm.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=421611 (2010 data)
My son’s girlfriend is graduating but is taking a year or more off before residency to be a pro triiathlete. She is not going into one of the crazy competitive specialties and she checked with a number of residency programs and they all told her it would not be a problem. This is really her only shot at the pro triathlon thing- she qualified for her pro card last summer. We shall see…
Congrats to all. I’ll resurrect this thread in 3 years!
One of the issues with looking at numbers like this is that you can’t see what additional requirements there are for the position.
For example, our state government funded 12 of those new FM residencies last year, but to actually match into the program you need to either: 1) graduate from one of the state’s med schools; or 2) sign a contract to practice in an underserved area of our state for 3 years after completing residency.
Many of the new residency positions have been funded by monies from various states and most of them have strings attached.
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What part of “one more more year” do you guys not get? MiamiDAP’s daughter is a 3rd year medical student, so she’ll be matching next year. You can hold your breath, but you might not make it the 362 or so days…
Wow, that is one rude post, anongrad.
FYI - Miami posted in March 2014. 2015 is THE year in “one more year.”
No…MiamiDAPs daughter matched for her residency. According to the post she put elsewhere, her DD will not be relocating, and is very pleased with her match.
Anongrad…you are incorrect. This student is a fourth year med school student, who will be starting her residency this summer.
Surgery?
no, anesthesiology
I don’t know anything about UCSD and that specialty. All I know is that was their son’s top pick and he got it.
D is facing nearly $300,000 in the end of loans. She is torn between Psychiatry, Derm, Peds, etc. In otherwords, she is terribly undecided because she is 31 yrs old and a 3rd yr.
She cannot imagine how she will manage her loans if she is primary care.
Her father has just retired after 30+ yrs of primary care and he does not see how she can do it either.
A very sad situation.
Her good friend, a yr ahead, matched in Denver.
Next yr for D. And in 4 yrs for DIL. DIL already is determined to be a surgeon at the age of 22. She loves working with her hands and it is her dream. She was accepted first wave and is steller.
But we shall see…
And just hope the best for all of the future docs who will be taking care of us.
I had a procedure last week and the Doc looked like a 16 yr old. She did a great job but…wow.
Peds and Psychiatry are amongst the lowest paid specialties. Yes, those facing big loans are forced to sometimes choose a specialty “just for the money”.
My son is a second year, preparing for Step 1 exams (fingers crossed), and he wants a competitive specialty…not for the money, but for interest. I could never see him in peds for long (even tho he loves kids) or psychiatry (altho the subject interests him), because he really likes the challenge of surgery and he has a LOT of energy and stamina. lol (got to be able to stand a lot).
Just an interesting note…he has two former football players in his class…one from Oregon and one from Auburn. There have been others here on CC who’ve asked if you can do a demanding sport and premed. One of these students took a gap year and applied, and the other did a SMP.
@oregon101
If your D is serious about primary care field (IM, FM, Peds, OB/GYN, Psych), have you look into loan repayment/forgiveness programs for primary care docs working in medically underserved areas. There is a federal program for this. Oregon has its own state-run program also.
http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/loanrepayment/
http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/outreach/oregon-rural-health/providers/loan-repayment/slrp.cfm
If you D doesn’t have the desire or the STEP scores for competitive specialties, would she consider emergency medicine? Rural EM docs have starting salaries in the $350K range.
Some rural medical sites (esp. hospitals) pay much higher than typical wages (in most specialties) due to their location. (See EM example above.)
And rural doesn’t have to mean “in the middle of nowhere”. In our state we have federally designated “rural” sites located less than 30 minutes from a city of 750K people and less than 30 minutes from the state capital.
LOL About the young looking doctors. All the pilots I’ve flown with lately look 12–and that doesn’t give me a warm, fuzzy feeling….
WOWM, thanks for the links. We have talked about this before but I had not looked at the Oregon areas.
So far she has the scores and honors, etc. to have choices.
Both DIL and D feel that ER medicine does not allow a doc to have a relationship with the patient.
I think DIL would be fabulous but do not see D there.
Of course we always saw D teaching lit at a nice liberal arts college. I will not be surprised if she, somewhere down the line, teaches at a med school.
Thanks again.
Thought I would share something I found quite funny.
D called early in her first yr to say that she liked the “language” of derm".
She liked to say the conditions and liked the spelling and found it interesting.
She had not thought of specializing in it at that time.
My relative who is a dermatologist loves the work/life balance she has been able to maintain. She works part time–mwf only and has for decades. She opts not to handle the significant cosmetic procedures, but refers most of then to others.
Madison and others who wondered, THANK YOU for thinking about my D.
Sorry, I did not see this thread here.
Happy to say that D. matched to her first choices to both Prelim year and her specialty. She kept saying that March 16 was more important (when they knew if they matched or not, but did not know where). However, March 20 super rocked for her. She is keeping most of her firends close by, 20% of her class are very happy to match locally. She knows all 3 others in her specialty “residency class”, she was super excited, could not stop jumping up and down. So, she is NOT moving.
Thanks again for your support!