> First, US medical school graduating classes are smaller in number than the number of available residency positions. That's because the artificial restriction

> First, US medical school graduating classes are smaller in number than the number of available residency positions. That's because the artificial restriction is placed on entrants to study, not qualified post-study graduates. And it really is a purely artificial restriction: in the 90s, in SA, when affirmative action was implemented (where a C student from a particular background would get placed before an A student from a different background) didn't result in any measurable difference to the resulting quality of doctors. We literally have a small experiment showing that allowing C students into med school doesn't affect the outcomes, and yet there is still a very limited intake into medical schools, and this is purely an artificial limitation.