Graduates Attained Residencies at Higher Rates than Osteopathic Medical Graduates and International Medical Graduates
CORAL GABLES, FL (October 27, 2016) – American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC) today released its annual residency placement report, which charts 2015-16 graduates’ residency attainment, including performance in the Main Residency Match®. That system, used by allopathic, osteopathic, and international medical school graduates, placed nearly 30,000 physicians into residency positions across the United States.
For the fourth consecutive year, AUC saw an increase in graduates’ residency attainment. At 86.4%, AUC’s attainment rate not only surpassed US citizen international medical graduates (53.9%) and non-US citizen international medical graduates (50.5%), but also osteopathic medical school graduates (80.3%). It was also the school’s strongest first-time match rate since 2012.
Other Key Findings:
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AUC’s residency attainment rate increased two full percentage points from last year’s rate of 84.3% and three percentage points from 2014’s rate of 83.3%.
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AUC graduates placed into similar specialties as their US medical school peers. The majority entered primary care, including internal medicine (76), family medicine (63) and pediatrics (27). In total, AUC graduates secured PGY-1 and PGY-2 positions in 29 specialties at 209 unique programs.
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Graduates are pursuing postgraduate training across the United States (37 states and Washington, DC), Puerto Rico, and Canada. The majority earned residencies in New York (55), Michigan (33), Florida (19), New Jersey (15), California (11) and Texas (11).
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Nearly one in three graduates are returning to their home state for residency. For students who want to serve patients in their hometown communities, AUC provides that opportunity.
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97 percent of 2014-2015 AUC graduates who passed their United States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE) on the first attempt attained a residency position by April 2016.
The report also looks at AUC’s role in addressing the US primary care workforce shortage, which is in current need of 8,200 physicians. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, that shortfall is projected to reach up to 35,600 by 2025.
Schools like AUC, which train primarily US citizens who return home to practice medicine, are critical to filling that gap. This year, more than half (68.2%) of AUC’s residency-seeking graduates chose to enter primary care specialties (family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology)—that’s 172 new primary care physicians from AUC alone.
“I am very proud of what our graduates have achieved,” said Dr. Heidi Chumley, Executive Dean and Chief Academic Officer of AUC. “I’m confident that we are continuing to make AUC even better and will be able to sustain and build on these achievements.”
Read the full report here.