Top 5 Most Competitive Doctor Specialties (2022) 

RU-vid Doctor is at the top of the list

One of the best advice I had in medical school was to choose the specialty that you love. An orthopedic surgeon or plastic surgeon may have a fantastic salary, but if you don’t enjoy it and retire earlier in your mid 50s versus a primary care provider who works well into their 70s enjoying life, the compensation doesn’t matter as much.

That bit and the end about not being discouraged was wonderful. Thanks!!

Kevin I really enjoy your videos! Your the reason why I have turned my head to medicine and thinking about studying the field of Sports Medicine in Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy. Can you please do a “So you want to be” video for Occupational Therapy/Therapist and Physical Therapy/Therapist.

The best part of studying on a Saturday is taking a break to watch the new MSI video and gaining even more motivation to go back studying!

Applying anesthesiology this year! It’s insane how many applications programs have told us they have received compared to other years.

Pls do a series on best cash based specialties. I would like to know about other cash based specialties except derma & plastic surgery. Each of your videos are awesome. 💖

Any chance you have a full list? I'm curious to see what happened with other "mid-level competitiveness" specialties.

Great vid! Can you do a vid covering oncology as a specialty?

Hopefully by the time i get into a residency Opthalmology will be less competitive i really want to get into that field!

Still in high school and btw I find my major on here by your help thank you

Do you think you could make a video on the nuances that go into running a private practice?

So educational

Thank you for the videos on health. I want to see a video on small things. Maybe how to read a book. Or how to make a healthy and energetic lunch.

May you do a “So you want to be a Surgical or medicine Prelim” PGY-1 and PGY-2 ? These situations are quite relative to medical students and non-categorical interns. Appreciate you.

The result pretty much makes sense; overwhelming duties or working hours affect specialty options so much for medical students, who sometimes need to be on call for over 36 hrs under covid...

One video on *tips to be a Stronger Medical Student* 😃

Neurosurgery is my intended field, but the results aren't surprising. The NRMP recently proposed a two-phase residency match, can you talk about that in a video on this channel or your personal channel. I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

Can you please develop an updates spreadsheet for FMGs too? This helps a lot! Thank you so much!

I know your videos are mostly for med school students, but could you do a video on Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy?

I would add caution about using AOA as a marker, as the criteria to gain membership seem to vary b/n medical school. While I was in medical school (known MD state school), criteria changed from 80% Step scores & pre-clinical/clinical grades and 20% extra-curriculars to complete swap in percentages b/n the two. Plenty of rumors went around about how much your classmates who were elected into the governing roles of AOA favored you weighed more than the actual mission of AOA itself. I definitely had my eyebrows raised w/ how some gained membership and some who I thought were much better suited based off their mission did not. In reality at the end of residency and even during it, unless you're pursuing a competitive fellowship or a career in academic medicine (most aren't for either) most don't give 2 s**** about AOA in your CV.

Nice work! Do you think number of residency spots also plays a role in competitiveness?

I'm planning to be a neurosurgeon Any Advice? Also love your videos.

Surprised you didn’t mention EM. Good lifestyle and compensation. Large increase in number of programs. But, seems to be less competitive that a couple of years ago. Encroachment is a concern.

Where can I find the full list?

What happened to the ranking or radiology or interventional radiology ? Radiology seems to be going up cause of the COVID pandemic as well.

Where is the data spreadsheet found? I do not see it linked

Can you please do a video on non-surgical specialties?

Psych is the new Derm for people interested in work-life balance and there is a tremendous shortage of Psychiatrist ensuring employment.

Imma prolly be a Psychiatrist. Good pay, and even more if you do locum work. I know psychiatrists making 350k-450k doing that. Great hours, in high demand, especially with the mental health focus of the world becoming more prevalent, and it’s not really competitive. Not to mention you can just stay home and do telemedicine appointments if you want, or travel and still work if you need. It may absolutely be draining for some people, but I think if you personally suffer from mental health issues like depression and anxiety, it may be rewarding to help those with similar issues as well. Plus you might have a better idea of what they might be going through. I’m 32 with just a semester away from finishing my bachelors. Applying to medical school this spring, and can’t wait.

Endocrinology for me! 👍

Can you include the link to the 2022 MSI Speciality Compet Index

I can't find the link to the NRMP data you mentioned..

Hahaha, someone please tell me which ORs are running case starts at 9am and don't have a call team. I can tell you that the Anesthesiology workday is closer to 6am- 5pm + call responsibilities. Not bad, but not 9-5.

Don’t know why RU-vid recommended this to me. I’m just an electrician.

Will you be updating the MSI Competitiveness spreadsheet?

step 2ck is true less important for US grads, but for IMGs, it is definitely more than 15% in terms of weighing in the match equation!

In school right now to be a Neurotic Psychiatrist. I don’t think it’s as competitive as compared to other specialties. Which is good for me.

In my country the most comparative specialties are ophthalmology, dermatology, plastic surgery and ENT.

Where is the linked spreadsheet?

Please do electrophysiology

Could you publish the complete list?

What about Integrated Interventional Radiology Residency? That is consistently up there in competitiveness

Can you do a ‘so you want to be a neonatologist?’

I hope someone can help me, but is Cardiothoracic Surgery the same as Thoracic? I been wondering how competitive Cardiothoracic Surgery is as it’s the field I really want to get into.

My dad is an anaesthetist. He does get called in the night when he is on call.

neurosurgery,heart,or plastic surgery will be one of my choices rule dont walk before can run

Great video, but Saying "I wasn't the most gifted student" is a bit misleading. Not saying you didn't work for it. But you still scored in the 99th percentile on the MCAT and got a full ride through medical school, as stated in another video. Semantics aside not everyone can do that.

For any medical students interested in ophthalmology, find out more about our most complex and rewarding surgical procedures by visiting our channel! comments questions are encouraged! Above all follow your dream and aim to choose a specialty that grows on your best qualities :D

Can we see the full list?

Is genomic medicine a specialty ?

Ehh I would put anesthesia in the middle pack in terms of lifestyle. You're still getting up super early in the morning since that's when surgeons start operating, and attendings definitely still take call. I've never heard of a 9-5 anesthesiologist unless you're talking pain fellowship Psych is an interesting case. Average step score still below 230 but match rate dipped to the high 80s last year. Think it's back up this year

Hey Kevin so what tier does Urology and Thoracic surgery rank now?

What about mid level encroachment for anesthesiologist

It really pays to know smart people. I wish they were leaders, instead of politicians.

Been more interested in pursuing EM recently. How is the mid level encroachment looking?

Im currently in my undergrad majoring in biology and my dream is to become a plastic surgeon and im scared I won’t be able to make it because I ain’t the smartest lol

Internal medicine doesn’t exactly stand out because it’s the general one but I’m glad to learn about these specialties. Also, wanted to let you know I got secondary application offers from 6 medical schools and I’m on a waitlist for another one.

How competitive is radiology? Also can you cover myths/facts regarding dual applications

Make videos for imgs please

Why no interventionnal radiology

What do you think are my chances for orthopedic surgeon being an IMG with pass fail step 1 and step 2 ck score of 260.. nothing else no research or LOR

Where are you getting your data for an anesthesiologist’s work hours? I work 55-80hrs a week with in-hospital weekend and night calls. There is a gross shortage of anesthesiologists as well as CRNAs (both have their crucial roles and there is no shortage of work for either). Hospitals have a never ceasing urge to keep ORs running at all times. If a surgeon is operating, an anesthesiologist is there. I love my job, the pay is good, and the job market is wide open. There are some ‘cush’ anesthesiologist positions out there but they are not the norm and are getting more rare as OR utilization increases. Other than preoperative preparation, anesthesiology does have the benefit of not being bothered at home (if not on home call) for patient management.

What is mid level encroachment?

Does the admission office of medical schools application cares about high school education? Like If I graduated with a high GPA and with an American high school diploma does my chance on getting accepted increases?

Thoracic surgery. Woot woot

A question that has always interested me are what percentage of people who go into dermatology actually passionate about skin? Why does it feel like everyone who does it couldn't care less about skin but is only doing it for the lifestyle and compensation?

Do so you wanna be oncologist!! Pls i find cancer SO interesting

You can specialize within specializations, right? Is it competitive to become an otolgist? Is that too niche?

I'm so...idk. I was so interested in plastic and dermat but I don't think I'm smart enough for that. :(

Interventional radiology is not in top 5?!? IR and neurointervention is one of the most difficult specialities because of huge range of procedures

What’s the average pay for a anesthesiologist?

This is just stupid I’ve been studying how one can become a doctor in the US (I’m from Greece btw) and I was shocked to find out that you need to match into residency In Greece once you’re in you can be anything you want, however if there are no spots available when you finish med school you do have to wait (with no pay obviously) Plus med school (6 years) starts right after high school or once you manage to get in which is pretty hard Idk I wanted to study there but for me I don’t think it would be wise to do so 😅

Hello, we are two people from Iraq who specialize in microbiology. For pathological analyzes, we want to work with you, or in my European country, who can help us

Where does internal medicine stand?

How is step 1 score assessed as it is now P/F? Are we still seeing a group of med students who received a numerical score? If so, how will is moving to P/F alter the assessment of an applicant?

surprised by anesthesiology. That field will 50% midlevel in 10 years.

Rocket surgery is the most competitive Pretty easy for me though 😎

I am so f*** pist because the specialty I loved before starting medical school, that I am working on matching into, just went higher. Go down ENT. I chose this for the body area and the trauma and clinic. not because of lifestyle or money. urghhhhh.

What does he mean by “midlevel encroachment”?

There’s gonna be a shortage of MD’s in the future. Competitiveness means nothing when MD’s are outnumbered 10,000 to 1

is ENT more competitive than ophthalmology?

Forensic doctor please

Where does GI stand in these rankings?

2:38

Cadiac Sugeon >>>>>>>

Mid-level encroachment?

? Interventional Radiology????

Plastic surgery - when I started medical school, I was naive and thought that I am going to save the world, I hated ''commercial'' medicine, like plastic surgery etc...But now, I say why not. People are usually not dramatically ill, they will recover, and it is connected to psychology, because if you do some procedure, you raise self esteem to that patient....the only disadvantage is too long training ENT - It is good, because you have ambulances, wards and operations. Operations usually are not so long - 30-50 min, so that's great....the disadvantages what I see here are two = 1. long training (5 years), 2. small space for operating....ENT doctors are usually called ''one hand surgeons'' because they do everything with one hand....In this case I would rather chose OB/GYN - it is similar, you have ambulances, wards and operations...operations are also short = 30-50 minutes, but you have more space for operating (in stomach or vagina there is much more space and it is more comfortable). And it is just 4 years of traning. Dermatology - Great speciality in my opinion. When I had dermatology rotation there was one young lady doctor and she was very easy going. So I asked her about dermatology, if it's hard or not...She told me that she thinks that it is one of the easiest speciality in medicine. No calls, no night shifts, people don't usually die. Your use corticsteroids for everything :D or some cream...nothing hard she said....Also in my view it is connected to psychology too. Because if someone has some eczema or rash, you give them cream/corticosteroids and it dissappears. So they are happy, because skin diseases are visible to others. Neurosurgery - From marketing perspective it looks great. If you want to hook up some girl in a bar it is great. But I remember my neurosurgery rotation. These doctors are overworked. They start at 6-7am and they work until the work is over. So it means that they usually go home at 8-9pm. In comparison with dermatologist - they go home at 2-3 pm :D So if you want to be neurosurgeon you must sacrifice a lot - your family, free time, hobbies etc... Othopedic surgery - Good speciality because more and more people need new hips or knees. But in my opinion it is physically hard. You must be strong, have a lot of muscles and not be afraid of manual work. My father (anesthesiologist) told me once that if you want to me orthopedic surgeon it is similar to construction worker or miner in mine. You will be as tired as them after shift. My resume on this is - from these I would chose dermatology or similar to ENT - OB/GYN

Step 1 should not be rated more than step 2...its pass/fail

I’m planning on going for PA Dermatology, currently going for Biology Science bachelors. I plan on opening my own practice. Any advice?

Yet all the anecdotal data is anesthesiology is the top dog currently.

The question is why these speciality are competitive?

He forgot the part where uncle sam takes $80K-$340,000+ depending on your high tax bracket. Also, income from academic v. private v. investor/Misc can vary drastically. I know these are the "averages," yet even the numbers Dr. Jubal presents are misleading so many premeds into believing that certain specialties as more lucrative.

This is a stupid analysis. ENT is not lifestyle...

🩸 Ah, good that HEMATOLOGY isn't up there!