Methodology

General Ranking

This ranking, also known as normalized score, ranks schools based on the strength of match regardless of specialty. Schools were given a specific point value for each match given the Doximity ranking bucket (see total score box for explanation of buckets) of that program given its specialty. This was performed for each matched student, getting a total score and then that score was divided by the total number of matches to get the general rank/normalized score.

Specialty Adjusted Ranking

This ranking, also known as the specialty score, is meant to account for differing competitiveness of medical specialties. The total rank is performed and then each point value is multiplied by a value for each specialty corresponding to how competitive that specialty is. The competitiveness rankings of the specialties are below from least to most competitive.

Family Medicine
Pediatrics
Emergency Medicine
Psychiatry
Pathology
Neurology
Child Neurology
Internal Medicine
PM&R
Medicine-Pediatrics
Ob/Gyn
Radiation Oncology
Anesthesiology
Diagnostic Radiology
General Surgery
Interventional Radiology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedic Surgery
Plastic Surgery
Neurosurgery
Dermatology

Total Score

Total score is generated by taking each match at a school and giving it a point value based on its Doximity rank for each specialty. Points were assigned in the following buckets, where ranks within each bucket are seen as equivalent.

Below are our rank buckets:

1st to 4th
5th to 10th
11th to 20th
21st to 30th
31st to 40th
41st to 60th
61st to 80th
81st to 100th
101st to 200th
201st>

 Match List Obtainment Process

An official MD school list was gathered. A team scraped publicly available school websites for match lists and videos, and if a match list or ceremony video was pulled for our team. If a match list or video could not be found, or did not have data on specific specialties and programs matched, schools were excluded.

Data Cleaning and Ranking

Data was cleaned using excel, R, and manual data cleaning. If a specific program or specialty was unclear from the match list, or could not be identified which program a record referred to, that record was excluded. Ranking data of residency programs was obtained via Doximity. Vascular surgery was excluded due to lack of Doximity ranks.

Schools with few matches

Schools with less than 50 available matches are marked with an *