Post-Match Day 2016

So, Match Day this year has come and gone. Lots of friends and colleagues got some pretty good results! Can't express how happy I am for them.

It'll be awhile before we have any firm numbers on the match overall - even my school's internal numbers have yet to be released - but the unfilled positions heading into the second round are out. Not too many surprises there - most leftover spots were in relatively non-competitive fields and/or in non-competitive locations. A lot of open spots are undoubtedly IMG positions rather than CMG spots, as many programs are happy to wait until the 2nd round to fill IMG spots, either because their 1st round IMG applicants weren't compelling enough or because they'd rather see if any unmatched CMGs could be a better fit. Hard to say without official numbers, but that's what I've been hearing and it generally lines up with the specifics of the reported unfilled spots.

The one genuine shocker was the large number of unfilled Diagnostic Radiology spots. The rumor mill was that applications had dropped significantly, but having heard that rhetoric before, I just assumed it was a typical "down" year for Radiology. Down years don't leave that many spots unfilled in that specialty, however, so I should have given more credence to the word on the street. I don't have a good explanation for such a divergence from the norm for Radiology. It has been trending towards being less competitive in general, but not to this extent. The job market has tightened, work hours have increased from what I hear and pay did go down in Ontario at least, but none of these changes have been overly dramatic - Radiology is still a well-compensated field with a work week on the shorter end of things and a job market that, while not great, could be much worse.

At this point I'm chocking it up to chance - this year may just have been a fluke. I certainly know quite a few people interested in Radiology, for good reason. In any case, we'll see what the numbers say when the stats come out and I'll be keeping an ear out for the subjective competitiveness in my cycle. If this isn't a fluke, I expect Radiology as a field will be in for some changes to improve its competitiveness.