Session 59
In this episode, Ryan takes a question directly from the OldPreMeds.org forums and delivers the answer right here to you. This week’s question is an interesting one:choosing which schools to apply to.
OldPreMeds Question of the Week:
“I was looking into residency match rates of DO versus MD programs using the school website and comparing them to an NRMP. I noticed that the 2016 data for DO match rate was 80.3% versus 93.8% for MD. When I look at the data from DO schools like Western and Touro I find reports of 90% to 100% match rates. Is the difference because of the schools and the 80.3% looks at all DO programs? Should one look at the individual school match rate instead of the overall match rate when choosing a program? If anyone has information about the discrepancies please let me know”.
(2:00) Questioning the data
I dug into this a little bit to figure out where this person was getting their data. I pulled up the information from the American Osteopathic Association Intern and Residency Registration Program match data; this is the matching system for DO students. I also looked at the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) that matches for MD residencies.
So just to backtrack and give you a little information: two different tracks, DO and MD. A DO is doctor of osteopathic medicine, MD is a medical doctor, just two different types of medical school. You both end up being physicians at the end of the day; there's really no difference and actually, their residency programs are merging. Not a lot of information has come out on how that's going to happen, but I believe the year is 2020 when that happens. Therefore, much of this information, by the time you start medical school and as you're listening to this, perhaps won’t matter because much of it will have changed. However, I still wanted to reply to this question because I thought it was a good one.
Here’s my take on this question:
(3:20) Match Rates
This student is claiming the 2016 data for DO match rate was 80.3%. However, when I bring up the 2016 match data, I see an unmatch rate of 13% - which is a match rate of 87%. So I'm not sure where this student was coming up with 80.3%. If you just look up DO match rates for 2016, the website comes up and it's the match data for the DO applications and has a list of every school.
The highest school on here, the highest non-match school is at 28.6%, so that's a match rate of 71.4% which isn't very good at all. That school is Touro University in Nevada (TUNCOM) There are several different Touro schools and that is the worst one by far. The next closest one on here isn't far behind at 26.9% non-match, and that one is William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Mississippi.
(5:15) Matching vs. Unmatched
Percentage matched vs. Percentage Unmatched. The way that the AOA lists this, is they have percentage matched, percentage non-matched, and then percentage of non-participants. When you look at percentage matched, it's only 40.9% and you might think, 'Wow that's crazy, how come nobody's matching?' But then when you combine that with non-participants, DO students that are matching outside of the DO residency matching program (as a DO student you can match through the MD matching program and you're counted as a non-participant). When you look at the percentage matched at 40.9% and the percentage non-matched at 46.1%, the result is 87%, which is obviously the leftover from the non-match of 13%. So 87% of DO students are matching.
(6:35) Is every spot getting filled?
Not every prelim spot is getting filled. Now here's something to think about when it comes to residency matching. When I looked at the NRMP match data, they have the total match of 96.3% of all US spots filled. So not every residency spot is getting filled, which is not good. And when you look at it, you have several different types of programs that are more than likely not getting close to getting filled, and those are prelim spots. If I look at surgery prelim- and a prelim is a PGY1 year only. It's basically saying, 'Hey come to our prelim spot, and try out for our residency.' It is basically if you didn't match anywhere else, then a prelim spot you can hopefully come into our program after you do well your prelim year. If you look at surgery prelim according to NRMP, it only filled 64.4%. There were a lot of spots available.
(8:00) Know yourself, and your competition
If you’re not matching, you are probably trying to match into a very competitive program that you aren't qualified to match in. What does this all mean? It means that a lot of people that aren't matching are probably trying to match into a very competitive program that they aren't qualified to match in. It's very similar to trying to get accepted to Harvard, Yale, and Wash U medical schools when you have a 3.0 GPA and a 500 on the MCAT. You're dreaming a little bit too big, but it also could be that that year that you're applying for something is a very competitive year and a lot of people are trying to match into it and you just didn't make the cut.
Typically, the students that go through the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP, formerly called Scramble) get notified during the time period before the match and are notified that you did not match. You then enter this SOAP program and you find residencies that didn't fill, and a lot of them are going to be PGY1 only spots. Some of them may be internal medicine spots and you wanted to do something else besides internal medicine. However, there are these other spots, and if you want to match into one of those programs you can go do that. There's a whole separate system outside of the normal match program to allow students that didn't match to get into a program so that they can continue their post-graduate training, which is necessary if you want to be a doctor here in the US.
(9:38) Know when to ask questions, and which ones to ask
My personal belief? You shouldn't look at residency matching rates for choosing which schools to apply to, with one exception. Look at those huge outliers like Touro Nevada, like William Carey University, and ask yourself:
- Why is their match rate so low?
- Are they a brand new school and they're just getting ramped up
- Perhaps their first round of students that they let in weren't the best students?
- Are they just getting their curriculum under control?
- Are they under some sort of probation because their curriculum isn't training students well enough?
Then call the school and say, 'Hey I noticed your residency match rates are pretty terrible,' and find out from them what they have to say. If it's a school that you're interested in going to because the location is perfect for you, consider it.
(10:45) Past performance does not predict future performance.
It's like the stock market: it doesn't matter what the stock market did yesterday, it's not going to determine what it does tomorrow. It's a good predictor, it's a good kind of rule of thumb to think about it, but things change, people change, professors change, and you - the person that is actually learning and studying and figuring this all out, is one of the biggest variables to all of this. So if you are motivated, if you are driven, if you are determined to get whatever residency spot you want, then you will probably do well. You cannot rely on the school to help you match somewhere. The school is there to help support you, but you need the drive and motivation to do it yourself.
(11:32) My Bottom line
When it comes to residency matching and picking schools, look at those huge outliers, but outside of that I wouldn't look at residency programs to determine where you want to go to school. Locations, curriculum and many other factors come into play.
Resources Mentioned on this Episode:
http://www.oldpremeds.org
American Osteopathic Association Intern and Residency Registration Program
https://medicalschoolhq.net/pmy-215-why-do-you-want-to-be-a-doctor-you-need-to-know-this/
Touro University Nevada
Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program
William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine
