question about army military match spots

[gator2255]

So I was looking over the army GME slideshows from the past few year and looking at number of applicant per approved position and the average scores for each specialty. Some specialties like optho i noticed that the number of applicant per approved position was always 1.0 or below for the past 5 years. Or in 2017 derm was .71 applicants per approved position. I'm just using optho as a hypothetical, but say you apply with a very below average score on your comlex or usmle, but there are enough positions for everyone who applied, would you automatically get matched to optho since they want to fill every position or is that not how it works? I know the amount of applicants for each specialty varies from year to year but I'm just trying to figure out how the process works exactly. Thanks!

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[HighPriest]

To be clear: what you’re asking is, what if you’re not technically competitive for a specialty, but you apply anyway and the match ratio indicates there aren’t enough applicants for the number of available positions?

 

[gator2255]

To be clear: what you’re asking is, what if you’re not technically competitive for a specialty, but you apply anyway and the match ratio indicates there aren’t enough applicants for the number of available positions?

Yeah my bad if I worded it terribly. Im a 3rd year army hpsp student. I’m just trying to see if there is any downside to applying to a more competitive specialty with a mediocre score and taking a chance that there are not enough applicants to fill all the positions. But say you’re okay with doing fm or im. Couldn’t you apply for the competitive specialty and then just scramble into the IM or FM unfilled spots? I know they probably wouldn’t be the best locations but still.

 

[HighPriest]

The downside would be that you don't match. That's always the downside. In the military, you might end up in a TY spot.

The benefit would be that if there aren't enough applicants you might match in to a specialty that you wouldn't otherwise.

The unknown is that these numbers vary widely, and often unpredictably, and a specialty might be 0.75 one year and 3.0 the next (applicants:spots) and you won't know until you've already applied.

Also keep in mind that you might be setting yourself up a bit. Program directors don't like taking what they think is a subpar resident. They'll do it when they have to do it, but you'll be under intense oversight until you've proven that you're more than your board scores.

Also keep in mind that it isn't at all unusual for a program director in a highly competitive specialty to accept a resident who is slightly less good looking on paper if they're a better fit for the program with regards to personality. And you're not the first guy to realize that you can apply out of your weight class. So you'll still have to do better than the next guy when it comes to performance on rotations.