Just a brief note!
The Fool will be off for a much needed break this week, thru the 4th of July!
If you are needing personal statement review or need to contact us, don’t expect to hear back right away!

Thanks
Medfools

The National Resident Matching Program has posted their stats for this year’s match up on their site. Looks like the number of applicants and 1st year positions was up again this past year. You can see the full PDFs of tables and statistics on the NRMP site.

Some interesting information at NEJM:

“The AMGA and MGMA surveys, as well as smaller-scale surveys and research conducted annually by national physician recruiting firms, are hardly uniform in their findings. Yet the most recent ones — from 2005 and 2006 — illustrate notable trends in compensation and employment.
Following are highlights and key findings that may be of interest to young physicians heading into their first or a subsequent job search this year:
In 89 percent of specialties, incomes increased in 2005, and the average overall increase was 6 percent. The biggest jumps occurred in dermatology, gastroenterology, and cardiac/thoracic surgery; all tallied gains from 10 to 12 percent. For the most part, however, those specialists also significantly increased their production. (AMGA)
Signing bonuses, primarily one-time offerings, are on the rise in number and amount — with the most pronounced hikes in primary care. Five-figure bonuses exceeding $20,000 are not uncommon, Cejka Search reported. The Merritt Hawkins 2006 survey of physician incentives found that the average bonus increased to $20,000 in May 2005, up from $14,000 per year earlier.
More than 23 percent of physicians worked for hospital settings in 2005, up from 19 percent in 2004. (Merritt Hawkins)
Following a persisting trend, physician compensation levels remain highest in the Midwest and northern Midwestern states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and the Dakotas, for example) and the Southern states, compared to the Northeast and Western regions. The most dramatic recent compensation increases occurred in the West, where incomes rose more than 8 percent in 2005. (AMGA)
Internal medicine and family practice searches increased by 46 percent and 55 percent, respectively, from 2004 to 2005. (Merritt Hawkins)”

Hey everyone,

As the Fool is working hard on many personal statement revisions via the Ask the Fool service, just wanted to remind folks that if you don’t hear back from us within a couple days to PLEASE check your spam filters, we’ve found that some personal statement revisions end up in the spam box! Go Figures, This seems to happen most often with Yahoo Mail. Also, if you haven’t been able to receive your personal statement, please email us and us an ALTERNATE email address in case our mail is not going thru properly to your mail provider. Thanks!

-Fool

Now that the Residency Application season is upon us again, just a reminder that we do have a huge section of Medfools dedicated to residency personal statements. Check out the Residency Personal Statement Essay Library as well as our Residency Personal Statement Tips page for how to get started. Also we have a Personal Statement Extreme Makeover section where you can see how essays went from dead to great! Finally, whatever you do, make sure you don’t copy personal statements from any where on the internet, because you will get nailed! Just see our Top Copied Personal Statement lines for proof! Good luck! And if you’re still stumped, be sure to Ask the Fool!

From the American College of Physicians website :

The salaries of specialist physicians in the private sector are increasing more rapidly than those of academic specialists, according to a new survey by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). Among primary care doctors, the trend is reversed, with academic physicians experiencing greater percentage gains in pay.

According to the study, private-sector specialists saw a 6.61% increase in 2006 (to a median of $316,620 annually) while academic specialists gained 3.59% (median $202,000). In primary care, academics made 5.51% more than in 2005 (to $142,251) while those in private practice received a 3.89% increase (to $168,111).

The gains in academic primary care could be due to competition with the private sector for new physicians, said an MGMA representative. A few academic specialties had little or no increase in compensation in 2006. Neurology, ophthalmology and ob/gyn all saw less than 2% increases in pay.

Both general and specialist physicians are doing well compared to the rest of America, according to another study. Doctors took 13 of the top 15 spots on Forbes’ annual list of the best-paid occupations in the U.S. Anesthesiologists had the top mean salary at $184,340, followed by surgeons and ob/gyns. General internists came in sixth with an average annual salary of $160,860. Family physicians/general practitioners took the ninth spot with an average of $149,850 per year.

Read the MGMA report