I had an older brother who graduated from Cornell University Medical school in 1985. He was very smart, however, he had a history of severe migraines. He never pursued a residency. Thankfully, he got a medical discharge of his student loans and now teaches high school biology. He has a beautiful medical diploma hanging in his classroom. But with no state medical license, he’s still a Dr, just not a practicing one.
It has been shown that over 80% of medical students will fail to match. Failure to match can result in losing out on medical school placement opportunities. Failure to match is estimated to cost the US medical system between 2.8 billion-6 billion dollars a year. Failure to match can have adverse consequences for the health of the individuals in the applicant pool. It is estimated that there are more than 1 million medical students who match into residency positions every year. There are roughly 4,000 residency positions in residency slots nationwide. A medical student who does not meet the criteria for residency, but who already does not meet clinical residency requirements, will be able to enter the general physician pool.