In France, a ranking of medical specialties reveals the preferences of future doctors for the year 2024. Based on the ranks of those admitted and the filling rates of positions, this ranking highlights the most coveted disciplines, such as plastic surgery or ophthalmology, but also those in difficulty, such as public health, geriatrics but also general medicine.
In France, the classification of medical specialties published by The Student is based on a rigorous methodology. It is established from the data of those admitted published in the Official Journal, based on six main criteria: the proportion of those admitted appearing among the first 100 of the group, the proportion of those admitted appearing among the first 1,000, the rank of the first admitted in each specialty, the rank of the last admitted, the average rank of those admitted, as well as the filling rate of open positions. This ranking highlights the most coveted specialties and those that struggle to attract candidates.
The complete ranking of preferred specialties for 2024 is as follows:
- Plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery
- Ophthalmology
- Dermatology and venereology
- Maxillofacial surgery
- Infectious and tropical diseases
- Otolaryngology – head and neck surgery
- Cardiovascular medicine
- Anesthesia-resuscitation
- oncologists
- Nephrology
- Neurosurgery
- urologists
- Orthopedic and trauma surgery
- Thoracic and cardiovascular surgery
- Neurology
- Hepato-gastroenterology
- Radiology and medical imaging
- Obstetrics gynecology
- Rheumatology
- Hematology
- Nuclear medicine
- Intensive medicine-resuscitation
- Visceral and digestive surgery
- Pediatric surgery
- Internal medicine and clinical immunology
- Vascular surgery
- Medical gynecology
- Pneumology
- Pediatrics
- Oral surgery
- Pathological anatomy and cytology
- Endocrinology-diabetology-nutrition
- Vascular medicine
- Medical genetics
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation
- Emergency medicine
- General medicine
- Allergology
- Legal medicine and medical expertise
- Psychiatry
- Geriatrics
- Medicine and health at work
- Public health
- Medical biology
This ranking highlights the most attractive specialties. Plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery takes the lead, followed by ophthalmology and dermatology. Medical specialties such as infectious and tropical diseases, ranked fifth, are experiencing renewed interest, undoubtedly linked to the attention paid to emerging pathologies.
At the other end of the ranking, certain specialties struggle to attract candidates. Public health, for example, filled only 26% of open positions this year, followed by medicine and occupational health (61%), medical biology (67%), psychiatry (76%), geriatrics (79%) and medical genetics (90%). These figures demonstrate a persistent disaffection, despite growing needs in these areas.
General medicine, although essential, ranks 37th. It attracts more candidates in certain regions or specific contexts, but struggles to compete with more technical or better paid specialties.
Although this ranking carried out by the Student concerns France, it raises the question: would it reflect similar trends in Belgium if a comparable analysis were carried out? Such an exercise could shed valuable light on the preferences of future doctors and the existing tensions in certain specialties.
