Top IMG friendly states in 2020 for pathology residency

Neurology and pathology have stood out as distinct choices in top 5 for IMGs. Last post looked at neurology and IMG friendly states, this post is for Pathology based on the 2020 data.

I calculated the percentage of IMG applicants who matched to different states. The results were then ranked in order of least to highest figure 1.

IMG friendly states ranked by proportion of IMGs matching into pathology residency PGY-1

States ranked by percent of IMGs matching to Neurology The results was as follows. Based on percentage the top states with greater than 50% chance of IMGs matching (red box in figure 1) were

1. West Virginia

2. Mississippi

3. Wisconsin

4. Indiana

5. Nebraska

6. Rhode Island

7. Oklahoma

8. Georgia

9. Connecticut

10. New York

11. Pennsylvania

Programs to avoid (black box) are the ones to the left of the ranking with 0% IMG matched or no pathology positions.

Smaller programs with higher IMG applicants can skew the ranking. To limit this skewing, I plotted the % IMGS to total number of positions. Figure 2 depicts this scatter plot.

Scatter plot of total positions versus percent of IMGs matched for pathology residency PGY-1

The solid line is 3rd quartile for both X and Y axes, The plot itself split into quadrant based on the median for both the variables. Thus as a reminder, 4 quadrants are,

1. Programs in top right quadrant would show, more available positions and IMGs matching.

2. Programs in bottom right would be more available positions but fewer IMGs matching

3. Programs in bottom left, would be fewer positions and fewer IMGs matching

4. Programs in top left, would be fewer positions but higher IMGs matching.

Thus top left and top right would be the quadrants that would be favorable.

From our previous list all 11 of these fall in these 2 quadrants. With New York and Pennsylvania in the top right quadrant. This suggests that these states have higher number of positions and IMGs matching. Thus, IMG applicants interested in pathology should consider these 11 states as priority. Special emphasis on New York and Pennsylvania for their high number of total positions and percent IMGs matching