Just about any accredited medical school can prepare students to enter a variety of residency programs, from dermatology to general surgery.
Graduates from some schools, however, are more inclined to go into certain residencies over others. Medical school admissions experts say it’s important that prospective students look into residency match trends among schools they are considering.
“For instance, a school world renowned for cancer care may have some residencies, like radiation oncology, that may not be present at a school whose mission is primary care (family medicine, pediatrics, general internal medicine),” says Quinn Capers IV, the associate dean for admissions at Ohio State University’s College of Medicine, in an email. “This would be important to know for a student who is interested in radiation oncology, because with no residency in that field, there would be fewer opportunities for mentoring, shadowing, and advice in that area.”
During residency programs, which doctors are required to enter if they want to practice, new physicians receive intense training for three to seven years in various specialties.
Medical school applicants can speak with school leaders and current medical students, as well as do research online, to find out how different schools’ graduates compare for residency matches, experts say.
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Susan Schmidt, the associate dean for student affairs at the East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine, suggests prospective students review a school’s Match Day list to get a sense of what specialties graduates enter. On Match Day, graduating medical school students find out where they will spend residency.
Medical schools usually list online where students have matched.
“We have about 10 years of information on our website,” Schmidt says.
When reviewing residency information online, applicants should ask themselves if a school’s students are entering residency specialties that are also of interest to them, she says.
Prospective students should also inquire about advising as it pertains to getting into a residency program.
“What is their match advising curriculum?” Schmidt suggests they ask. The curriculum can vary from school to school, but if a school says they don’t have it, that’s a good inclination that something is missing, she says.
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Brody has a four-year match advising curriculum that includes workshops on interviewing and familiarizing students with the website for the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Students spend much of medical school receiving hands-on training that will make them good residents and competitive in the match process.
As an applicant, it’s worth asking about how students are trained, says Walter Hartwig, associate dean for academic affairs at the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Touro University California.
“I would want to know how the school invests in training opportunities,” he says.
Some schools will have a larger, more outfitted anatomy lab, while others invest in basic science research, Hartwig says.
Applicants should evaluate, he says, if their needs match what the school has been investing in over the years, as well as its resources for providing training in the areas of medicine that interest them.
The type of training students receive as well as their academic knowledge are tested during the various steps for becoming licensed. They take different parts of the licensing examination during medical school and once they graduate. Their scores on these tests can influence where they match for residency, making board examination results another factor to inquire about if you’re an applicant, experts say.
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If students are not successful on those exams, it makes their odds of matching much lower, Schmidt says.
Experts recommend students be direct when asking how a school’s graduates perform.
“I would ask, ‘Can you provide information about your school’s average score on USMLE Step 1 exam?” Capers wrote in an email, referring to the United States Medical Licensing Examination. The first two parts of the examination, which are commonly referred to as Step 1 and Step 2, are taken during medical school. Students are tested on basic science as it applies to medicine and their clinical knowledge.
He cautions students from reading too much into the scores, though.
“Many factors go into a school’s average board exam scores. While it may be a reflection of how well the school prepares students, it could also be a reflection of the student body,” he wrote. “That is, if a school is more liberal about accepting students with lower standardized test scores (which is probably a good thing for society–you can certainly be an excellent physician without having superb standardized test scores), it would be expected that the school’s average board scores might be lower than average.”
While some premed students have a clear idea of what they want to do in medicine and where they’d like to practice, many applicants aren’t as sure. Capers says it’s OK if applicants don’t have their career paths completely figured out.
“The majority of students entering medical school are not sure what specialty they will ultimately practice; most decide sometime in their third year of medical school,” he wrote. “In general, you want to know if students are going into a wide variety of fields (specialties as well as primary care) and if they seem to be going to places that are geographically diverse (east coast, west coast, north, south) vs largely in one geographic area.”
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