high schooler to a foreign med school

Bigredmed
Tue, 30 May 2006 19:39:52 +0000

I think that the recent trends have done a lot to make it more difficult for these IMG’s to come to the US in recent years - particularly the Step 2 Clinical Skills portion of the USMLE’s that was introduced in 2004.

But the trends from The Match show there is a definite skew against IMG’s for residency programs. The data below is from the 2002 Match as published in The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Medical Specialty by Brian Freeman MD

US seniors = students applying from one of the 125 allopathic medical schools in the United States

Also keep in mind this is pre Step 2 CS requirement. That may have altered these trends some b/c no residency program wants to use people who are at risk for not passing boards.

Finally, the calculations may be slightly off due to rounding errors (my calculations and those from the book) Anything in parenthesis besides the US senior component of applicants is a calculation I performed.

Anesthesiology:

1169 positions
1588 applicants (992 were US seniors - remaining were “independent” applicants with no breakdown of IMG or DO candidates) "applicants mean they ranked at least one program in this specialty, but doesn’t announce where this specialty was ranked - could have been 10th or lower
95.2% of positions filled during initial match (1112)
Sucessfully matched applicants: 81.8% US Seniors (910 students), 13.1% IMG students (146 students) 4% Osteopathic Grads (DO)

Dermatology:
545 applicants (347 US Seniors)
275 positions
100% of all positions filled in initial Match
Successful Applicants 91.9% US seniors (253) 4% IMG (11) 4% DO (11)

Emergency Medicine:
1564 applicants (992 US seniors)
1211 positions
98% of all positions filled on Initial Match (1187 filled)
Successful applicants 87.5% US Seniors (1039) 4.5% IMG (53) 7.5% DO (89)

Family Practice:
3761 applicants (1533 US seniors)
2962 positions
79.1% of positions filled on initial Match (2343 positions)
Successful Applicants: 59.7% US Seniors (1399), 25.4% IMG (595) 11.1% DO (260)

General Surgery
2250 applicants (1350 US seniors)
2019 positions (1039 Categorical and 980 prelim)
94.4% of all positions filled in Initial Match (1906 spots)
Successful applicants: 79.7% US Seniors (1519), 12.6% IMG (240), 3% DO (57)

Internal Medicine:
9551 applications (5146 US seniors)
6297 positions (4622 categorical and 1675 prelim)
94.3% filled on initial match (5938)
Successful applicants: 62.3% US Seniors (3700), 29.4% IMG (1746), 5.6% DO (333)
% of US seniors unmatched who only ranked Internal Medicine positions: 1.6%

Neurology:
638 applicants (324 US seniors)
541 positions
90% of positions filled on initial Match (487)
Successful applicants 64.3% US Seniors (313), 28.7% IMG (140), 6.5% DO (32)

Neurosurgery: Not very good data here, part of the SF Match…
227 applicants
143 positions
93.7% of positions matched (134)
15% of US seniors who only applied to Neurosurgery positions left unmatched
Average USMLE step I scores were 230 - we’ve already discussed the issues IMG’s have with just passing Step 1

OB/GYN
1389 applicants (920 US Seniors)
1138 positions
93.8% fill rate on Initial match (1067)
Sucessful applicants 79.6% US seniors (850), 12.1% IMG (129), 5.3% DO (57)

Ophthamology: More SF Match Data
671 applicants (I calculate 492 US Seniors, though it wasn’t given like the other specialties)
440 positions
99.5% positions filled on initial Match (438)
Sucessful applicants: 87.7% US Seniors (384) 7.9% IMG (35), no DO grads.
22% of US seniors who only ranked Ophthalmology were left unmatched.

Orthopedic Surgery
842 applicants (670 US Seniors)
570 positions
99.3% postions filled on initial Match (566)
Successful applicants: 93.6% US seniors (530), 1.4% IMG (8), .2% DO (1)
14.9% US senior unmatched rate applying only to Ortho

ENT/Head/Neck: more SF match data
390 applicants
250 positions
98.8% initial match fill rate
15% of US seniors applying only to ENT left unmatched
Average Step 1 score of matched applicants: 233

Pathology:
639 applicants (214 US Seniors)
398 positions
83.7% fill rate on initial Match (333)
Sucessful applicants: 62.7% US seniors (209), 29.7% IMG (99), 4% DO (13)

Pediatrics:
2821 applicants (1769 US Seniors)
2209 positions
90.2% of positions filled on initial match (1993)
Successful applicants: 78.4% US Seniors (1563), 14.4% IMG (287), 4.5% DO (90)

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
467 Applicants (201 US Seniors)
323 Positions
89.5% initial match rate (289)
Successful applicants: 67.8% US seniors (196), 20.3% IMG (59), 3.1% DO (9)

Plastic Surgery:
157 Applicants (134 US Seniors)
77 Positions
100% of all positions filled on initial match
Successful applicants: 93.5% US seniors (72), 1.3% IMG (1), 1.3% DO (1)

Psychiatry:
1588 applicants (652 US seniors)
984 positions
94.5% of positions filled on initial match (930)
Successful applicants: 58.9% US seniors (548), 27.7% IMG (258), 5.3% DO (49)

Radiation Oncology:
188 applicants (140 US seniors)
97 positions
97.9% filled on initial match (95)
Sucessful applicants: 89.6% US Seniors (85), 7.2% IMG (7), 3.2 % DO (3)

Radiology:
1380 applicants (938 US Seniors)
920 positions
97.9% fill rate after initial match (900)
Successful applicants: 86.4% US Seniors (778), 4.8% IMG (43), 2.4% DO (22)

Urology: Does it’s own match
336 applicants
233 positions
100% fill rate by initial match
Successful applicants: 80% US seniors (186), 20% IMG (47).
20% of US seniors applying only to Urology left unmatched.