So now that I've decided to take only COMLEX (for now... hopefully),
I wanted to ask how many osteopathic (AOA) residency programs are out there.
And no I am not talking about derm, ortho, and other highly competitive residencies even in MD world.
More like IM, EM, general surgery, and etc at a decent community hospital or even low-tier academic hospitals.
Are we talking about 1:100 (AOA 1:100 ACGME) or like 1:1000?
I just want to know if taking step 1 is a do or die (I know it's not) when it comes to finding a residency in a decent location (nothing like NYC, SF, miami, or other metropolitan areas, but somewhere like.... suburban virginia/arizona/texas/florida/phensylvenia/maryland/NC/Nevada/etc).
Sorry for not doing my research on my own.
No. Just no. Take the USMLE unless you're dog bad on NBMEs.
Also, I know you didn't want criticism for not doing your own research, but this is really basic info that can be found by a 5 min google search and some time on your part. It's also info you need to be very aware of during 3rd year and as you approach application season.
There's somewhere in the range of 700 AOA programs in the NMS match total (777 at its peak last year), but that number is declining as some are switching completely to the NRMP match and others are closing. If you're graduating in 2019, basically very few will be left in the NMS match by then, and the NMS match won't exist in 2020.
Let me ask another way,
how plentiful are EM, general surgery, and anesthesiology AOA residencies?
I'll should just shut up and study
Looking at this year's data:
2017 Summary by Program Type
Gas: 10 programs, 23 spots - at most there was only ever 13 programs in the AOA match, some are now in the NRMP match and I guess some (two?) closed or are closing
EM: 51 programs, 310 spots, virtually all have applied for ACGME accreditation and some have already left the AOA match
GS: 52 programs, 155 spots, most have applied for ACGME accreditation, and this is the most there have ever been anyway. Some of these will close down and some will make the transition
You can see where the locations are in the AOA opportunities search. If you aren't finding many in the locations you want, that's because there aren't many. There's no secret post anywhere. Most programs are concentrated in FL, MI, OH, PA, and NY.
You mean "initially approved" residencies or residencies in general?
In general there are not a lot of AOA residencies in the specialities. For anesthesia, a lot of people say go ACGME or don't apply at all since most of them are not that great. The pick of the mentioned AOA residencies was never that good to begin with.
Yeah, the bolded is generally true, but less true in certain regions.
If we're talking only initially accredited programs, that number is smaller and there's no guarantee COMLEX only would be sufficient at those programs.
It's been a while since I looked at the numbers, so let's...
Initially accredited programs:
EM - 27 (50 applied so far)
Gas - 10 (11 applied so far)
GS - 14 (54 applied so far) - GS is going to struggle
Total - 201 (430 applied so far)
*All as of today's report (not including fellowships, with fellowships its 214 and 456)
So this is where we're at. 55% of programs have applied, 26% have initial accreditation, and we're 2 years into the 5 year transition. Time will tell what happens by 2020.
If you'll be matching in 2020 or later (which I assume you are), a helpful resource may be the ACGME website which seems to be more regularly updated than AOA opportunities. The link I am putting below will let you search all current and applied programs for "Osteopathic Recognition" which is the new designation you will want to search for as the NMS/AOA match ultimately goes away. Not sure how many surgical programs will go through applying for Osteopathic Recognition but I suspect you will find a good number of IM and FM and likely a few EM too. Good luck!
ACGME - Accreditation Data System (ADS)
I'm not even sure the Osteopathic recognition is a good enough indication that a program will take him with a COMLEX only. I'm sure there are plenty of programs out there without osteopathic recognition that will gladly take someone that securely passed boards, but there's no point limiting yourself like that if you can do OK on the USMLE.
