How competitive are anesthesiology residencies?

I have seen older threads about this topic from almost 10 years ago, and I wanted to ask why now, in 2017, and going forward, why isn't anesthesiology more competitive to match into? Residency average hours about 60 per week according to FREIDA, starting salary around 400k according to MGMA. read more

Depends on which residency. Stanford will be more competitive that a lesser brand name medical center of course. However most people that want to go into anesthesiology will be able to secure a spot with average board scores and letters of support. Anesthesiologist tend to look beyond just test scores and more extra curricular interests. read more

Some residencies are much more competitive than others, resulting in a low match number for students. Meanwhile the less popular specialties go begging for applicants. They have no choice but to accept nearly everybody who shows even a hint of interest in going there. read more

Yes, that's very consistent with previous data from Charting Outcomes in the Match, showing that anesthesiology is an average specialty in terms of competitiveness. I guess I'm a little surprised that Stanford's applicants weren't any better than the average. read more