| From the perspective of a US MD Medical Student. While the match system is certainly imperfect the numbers and points the report makes are either misleading or downright wrong. First, the match rates they reference are pre-soap numbers. In reality, the majority (~99%) of US trained medical students do match somewhere. Second, there are more positions (~38,000) than there are MD graduates (~32,000). Most of these positions are in primary care (Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine) (~17000). Third, most of the unmatched physicians in this country are either US citizens who had to train internationally or foreign citizens who are attempting to gain US certifications. Lastly, NRMP is actually extremely transparent with match data; this reference backs up my claims:
https://mk0nrmp3oyqui6wqfm.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/... From my perspective the issues with the match system are below:
1. Application Fever. The average applicant applies to 50-80 programs (depending on specialty) to guarantee matching.
2. Useful work hours. Many residents work 60-80 hours a week with much of this work being scut work rather than useful learning.
3. Low salary and benefits relative to training. Residency salaries are between 50k-70k annual which can be extremely difficult for families living in NYC or SF.
4. Inability to quit or switch programs. Many residents also don't have too much choice in residency location. In Washington State for example the residency positions available are extremely limited. |