Annual Specialty Competitiveness Stats

[MacMed2018]

definitely looks like things are only going to get tougher for carsm

[Vanguard]

Updated for 2017.

[Snowmen]

All in all, the trend seems for pretty much everything to become more competitive. Sweet.

[LeBronto2019]

Bless PHPM and FM

[liammo29]

Thoughts on path competitiveness this year? Unmatched spots?

[goingplaid]

One problem with this stat is that it doesn't take everything into consideration. There were 92 derm apps last year. 61 people ranked it first. Likely, 30(ish) people did not get an interview. Only one person matched to derm as a third choice (no idea how). Internal had >900 applicants but only about 450 ranked it number one, but I bet that more than 450 got interviews. There is a stat missing to get the real answer. 

Also, French schools throw things for a loop. With >1/3 of the derm spots in QC the spots in other provinces are likely more competitive. 

[humhum]

On 12/12/2017 at 4:00 PM, goingplaid said:

One problem with this stat is that it doesn't take everything into consideration. There were 92 derm apps last year. 61 people ranked it first. Likely, 30(ish) people did not get an interview. Only one person matched to derm as a third choice (no idea how). Internal had >900 applicants but only about 450 ranked it number one, but I bet that more than 450 got interviews. There is a stat missing to get the real answer. 

Also, French schools throw things for a loop. With >1/3 of the derm spots in QC the spots in other provinces are likely more competitive. 

This is one of the most insightful things I have read here, pretty much ever.

[FailureToThrive]

On 12/12/2017 at 7:00 PM, goingplaid said:

One problem with this stat is that it doesn't take everything into consideration. There were 92 derm apps last year. 61 people ranked it first. Likely, 30(ish) people did not get an interview. Only one person matched to derm as a third choice (no idea how). Internal had >900 applicants but only about 450 ranked it number one, but I bet that more than 450 got interviews. There is a stat missing to get the real answer. 

Also, French schools throw things for a loop. With >1/3 of the derm spots in QC the spots in other provinces are likely more competitive. 

Wow very interesting. How competitive are the derm spots in QC? Is derm still the most competitive specialty in QC or does another specialty take the cake?

[indefatigable]

On 2/26/2018 at 12:47 AM, MD_2021 said:

Wow very interesting. How competitive are the derm spots in QC? Is derm still the most competitive specialty in QC or does another specialty take the cake?

Derm spots in QC (French-speaking) were the most competitive in Canada in 2017 post-interview accounting ~1/2 of first choice discipline rankings for derm (but with ~1/3 of the spots).  It's likely because it's probably easier to get a derm interview in Québec and so more people go to the MMI, and thus rank the discipline first.  This gives roughly 1 in 2-3 chance post-interview in QC.

[MDLaval]

2 hours ago, marrakech said:

Derm spots in QC are the most competitive in Canada post-interview accounting >1/2 of first choice discipline rankings for derm (but with ~1/3 of the spots).  It's likely because it's probably easier to a derm interview in Québec and so more people go to the MMI, and thus rank the discipline first.  This gives roughly 1 in 2-3 chance post-interview in QC.

12 Derm positions in QC and last year 29 applicants ranked Derm in QC as their 1st choice.

[W0lfgang]

Has this not been done for 2018? Would someone mind volunteering their time for the community?

[Beardy]

On 3/1/2019 at 1:04 AM, W0lfgang said:

Has this not been done for 2018? Would someone mind volunteering their time for the community?

Sure! Here's the 2018 stats.

I believe I followed the same methodology. Correct me if I'm wrong!  

[Beardy]

Simplified version

 

[W0lfgang]

thank you both!

[Med0123]

wow, Radiology is really becoming less competitive

[ralk]

For those interested, ran my version of the stats on last year's match earlier, just not in this thread. I usually look at the rate of successfully matching to a first choice discipline as my main metric - using quotas as the denominator provides a useful look, but I find it can get difficult to interpret as they're heavily impacted by people backing up and by regional mismatches in quotas vs interest, especially for middle-competitiveness specialties. Link is below.

 

[Bandicoot]

4 hours ago, Med0123 said:

wow, Radiology is really becoming less competitive

Wonder why this is? Any thoughts?

[hero147]

56 minutes ago, Bandicoot said:

Wonder why this is? Any thoughts?

Increasing volume and worsening lifestyle. You can actually see the volume objectively increasing year to year.

[Bandicoot]

13 hours ago, hero147 said:

Increasing volume and worsening lifestyle. You can actually see the volume objectively increasing year to year.

How much do you think the increasing volume will affect lifestyle (hours wise) in the next 5-10 years? I'm interested in rads but I guess I don't really have a full perspective on what lifestyle is like now, and what it will be like.

Maybe you could chime in too @rmorelan!

[ralk]

On 3/8/2019 at 4:55 PM, sWOMEN said:

How do you determine this number - is it # RANKED DISCIPLINE AS 1ST CHOICE divided by # filled - do you have similar stats for previous carms years

For my look, # ranked discipline as first choice is the denominator, not the numerator. It's # who ranked discipline as first choice AND matched to it, divided by the # who ranked discipline as first choice regardless of what they matched to.

The CFMS publishes this same statistic in their Matchbook every year, though it looks like they've restricted access to them now and I can't personally access them. I've run the stats on this and posted them somewhere in this forum every year since 2014 (the 2014 stats are in this thread at the start) except last year I believe when another poster ran the numbers and posted them first. I'm not in a position to draw up previous years' stats right now, but will see if I can find the old year's numbers on my computer when I get the chance.

[garlic]

On 3/8/2019 at 12:46 PM, Med0123 said:

wow, Radiology is really becoming less competitive

That certainly is the trend, though I heard this year was very competitive (especially at Western, Calgary and UBC). Dal, as usual, was popular as well. 

[Radsinthefuture]

23 hours ago, garlic said:

That certainly is the trend, though I heard this year was very competitive (especially at Western, Calgary and UBC). Dal, as usual, was popular as well. 

Those darn UBC radiology kids

(Anyone who did rads carms tour this year understands)

[1D7]

In general I think there are 3 factors with radiology's declining popularity.

1) Many students are scared about the future of radiology as a field because of the potential for AI to disrupt the field. For the most part, informed radiologists are not scared about the future of the field. It tends to be those with a vested financial interest in these platforms, or those who don't understand radiology who believe future radiologists will be negatively impacted.

2) There is decreasing representation of radiology and radiologists in medical school. Often dedicated teaching from radiologists are the first to be cut whenever time for didactics is decreased (which is the trend in most medical schools).

3) Shifting demographics of the medical student population towards a decreasing proportion of male students. Like most tech heavy fields, most applicants to radiology are males. Unless radiology is able to do what surgery has done and recruit more women into the field, it is likely that number of applications will continue to fall.

[ourlastnight]

23 hours ago, garlic said:

That certainly is the trend, though I heard this year was very competitive (especially at Western, Calgary and UBC). Dal, as usual, was popular as well. 

I know an IMG student who matched radiology with only doing four weeks of Rads total, no publications, little research and no physics/math background.... 

[Radsinthefuture]

20 minutes ago, ourlastnight said:

I know an IMG student who matched radiology with only doing four weeks of Rads total, no publications, little research and no physics/math background.... 

I also know someone who matched to derm at a high end school with only 2 weeks of derm electives.

CaRMS is a black box for many reasons. Anecdotal stories such as yours (and mine) don't really prove how competitive a field is per year.