Objectives: To analyse the choice of career of a sample of second-cycle French medical students following the implementation of the recent national-ranking exam (NRE).
Methods: All the medical students registered in a cycle of conferences to prepare for the NRE filled-in a self-administered, anonymous, questionnaire in Paris and the provinces during the university year 2004. The items concerned the choice of career, according to the NRE discipline selected, and the mobility required for the success of the project.
Results: Six hundred students were included in the study; 398 were women (66%) and 202 were men (34%), with a mean age of 23.2 +/- 6 years (21-29). Two hundred were at the end of their first cycle (33%) and 400 at the end of their third cycle (67%). Two hundred came from the provinces (33%) and 400 from Paris. Regarding the disciplines selected, medical specialisation predominated (36.2%) followed by surgical specialisation (15.5%) and general medicine (11.3%); psychiatry ranked lowest (4.5%). Psychiatry ranked lowest in Paris (4.8%) and gynaecology-obstetrics in the provinces (3.5%). Regarding geographical mobility, 83.3% of Parisians and 16.8% of provincials refused the idea of completing their third cycle anywhere other than in their area of origin.
Conclusion: The NRE permitted the integration of general medicine among all the other clinical specialisations. Surgery retained a place of choice among the disciplines selected by the students. However, many Parisian students will be obliged to take on a residency in a hospital other than their original university hospital.