Medical students who apply to almost every medical and surgical specialty apart from Urology and Ophthalmology have long had an arsenal of statistics to peruse and to help inform their residency applications.
The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) publishes annual data for each medical specialty that includes number of positions offered and filled by U.S. seniors and other applicants, number of unfilled positions, number of programs, average USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK scores, number of research experiences, abstracts, presentations, publications, work experiences, volunteer experiences, percentage of AOA members, percentage graduating from a top 40 U.S. medical school with highest NIH funding, having a Ph.D. degree, and having another graduate degree.
This list of data goes on and on and is extensively explained and charted in the “Charting Outcomes in the Match” document available on the NRMP website here.
Unfortunately, since medical students applying to ophthalmology do not use the same Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) like most their peers, with the exception of applying for their internship year, there has been very limited data available regarding previous ophthalmology matches for medical students interested in ophthalmology to analyze.
Ophthalmology applicants apply to residency programs through the San Francisco Match (SF Match), which has listed some statistics regarding the 2008-2017 matches under the “Statistics” section of its website; but prior to 2017, extensive data and charting like what the NRMP provides for other specialties was not available.
After the January 2017 Match, the SF Match published a full Ophthalmology Residency Match Report for the very first time.
In this article, we will use the data from both the Statistics section of the SF Match website, as well as this new 2017 Ophthalmology Residency Match Report, to observe and analyze trends in the ophthalmology application process over the past decade. All images used are from the SF Match website Statistics section and the Ophthalmology Residency Match Report.
Let’s start by examining the Statistics table from the SF Match website.
Statistics from the SF Match website (as of 4/4/2017)
Applications
If we look at the rightmost column with the latest statistics from the 2017 Match, we can see that 702 people registered for the SF Match. Of those 702, only 660 participated in the Central Application Service (CAS). Of those 660, only 594 submitted a rank list. The drop in the number from CAS participants to the number of rank lists submitted could be due to applicants dropping out of the Match, choosing not to rank any of the programs at which they received interviews, or not receiving any interviews at all.
Of the 594 applicants who interviewed at programs around the country, 578 were ranked by programs. This means that 97.3% of applicants who submitted a rank list were ranked by at least one program at which they interviewed. The remaining 2.7% of applicants interviewed at one or more programs, but were not ranked by those programs. Of the 578 applicants who were ranked by programs, 562 matched through the initial Match process. A total of 132 applicants interviewed at a minimum of one program and ranked at least one program, but went unmatched during the initial Match process.
Perhaps due to the highly competitive nature of the Ophthalmology Match, the average number of applications per applicant for each of the past two Match cycles was 68. Including the $100 CAS registration fee, this means that the average applicant paid $1,590 in application fees alone ($60 flat fee for the first 10 applications, $100 for the next 10, $150 for the next 10, $200 for the next 10, and $980 for the last 28 programs).
SF Match CAS application fees from the 2017 Ophthalmology Match.
Positions
If we look at the first page of the Ophthalmology Match Report, we can see that there were 468 positions offered during this most recent Match cycle, of which 462 were filled during the initial Match. There were six positions left that went unfilled, but all have since been filled.
In the “Participating Applicants by Category” section we can see that most applicants were U.S. allopathic seniors (80%), with the remainder being international graduates, U.S. allopathic graduates, and U.S. osteopathic seniors and graduates.
On the next page, we can see that overall match rate this past cycle was 78%, and that U.S. allopathic seniors had the highest match rate of any demographic at 89%, followed by U.S. allopathic graduates at 44%. The match rates for international applicants and U.S. osteopathic seniors were 36% and 26%, respectively. The match rate for U.S. osteopathic graduates was 0%.
As can clearly be seen from this data, international applicants and osteopathic applicants have a significantly harder time matching into ophthalmology than U.S. seniors or U.S. graduates.
USMLE Step 1 Score
Ophthalmology has a reputation for being one of the most competitive fields in medicine to match into. This is supported by the average Step 1 score of ophthalmology applicants, which has gone up by over 10 points over the last decade. The average Step 1 score from the 2017 Match was a 243. Notably, the average score of applicants who went unmatched was lower at 227.
Rank List
2017 Ranking Results by Matched Applications from the Ophthalmology Residency Match Report
While the NRMP provides data explaining what percentage of applicants matched into their 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice program, etc., it does not do so specifically by specialty. Since the Ophthalmology Residency Match Report only pertains to the field of ophthalmology, applicants can now see just how high or low previous applicants fell on their match lists.
In the 2017 Match, 58% of applicants matched at their number one program, 24% at their second choice program, and 18% at their third choice program. This means that 68.5% of applicants who were successful in the Match matched at one of their top three programs. In the previous three application cycles (2014, 2015, and 2016), the number was even higher at above 70%.
Overall, applicants match very high on their rank lists.
Across the Decade
Although there have been some fluctuations in total number of applicants, number of applicants who matched, and overall match percentage across the past decade, the Ophthalmology match has been relatively stable.
- The 2017 Match was notable for having the least amount of SF Match registrations and CAS applicants of the past decade, although it was comparable to that of the 2013 Match.
- U.S. allopathic seniors continue to have the highest chance of matching out of any applicant demographic, ranging from 87-92% between 2008 and 2017.
- The overall percentage of applicants who successfully match has ranged from 70-78% between 2008 and 2017.
- The number of ophthalmology positions offered has slightly increased from 454 in 2008 to a high of 469 in 2016. There were 468 positions offered in the 2017 Match.
- The average USMLE Step 1 score for both matched and unmatched applicants in the Ophthalmology Match has steadily increased almost every single year from 2008 to 2017. Although the average USMLE Step 1 score among U.S. and Canadian first-time test takers has also increased over this same time period, the average score for matched ophthalmology applicants has always been at least 10 points higher than the national average.
Conclusion
Ophthalmology remains a highly sought after and competitive field, although match rates for U.S. allopathic seniors have been favorable.
REFERENCES:
- http://www.nrmp.org/
- http://www.nrmp.org/match-data/main-residency-match-data/
- https://students-residents.aamc.org/attending-medical-school/how-apply-residency-positions/applying-residencies-eras/
- https://sfmatch.org/
- https://sfmatch.org/PDFFilesDisplay/Ophthalmology_Residency_Stats_2017.pdf
