A. V. Niu1, P. K. Manhas1, A. Pathak1, D. Chen1, A. Tong1, D. Park1, H. Zhang1, B. Maheta1, C. Goswami1, A. Noon2, M. Wong1 1California Northstate University, College Of Medicine, Elk Grove, CA, USA 2Geisinger Medical Center, Department Of Plastic Surgery, Danville, PA, USA
Introduction: On average, competitive surgical specialties (e.g. plastic surgery, thoracic surgery, etc.) have significantly lower overall match rates, and the competitiveness of the residency match rises each year. Besides test scores, applicants need to demonstrate interest in research, leadership, and clinical experience, which may be more accessible at schools with a home program, or residency program within their own institution. This study assesses how home programs impact residency match rate for medical students applying into competitive specialties, aiming to enhance program directors’ assessment of applicants, guide medical school advisors, and aid students in strengthening their residency candidacy.
Methods: 12,489 US MD medical school graduates from 2019 to 2023 were assessed retrospectively from the match list published on each institution’s official website and the Office of Student Affairs. 152 US MD programs were examined for characteristics including: Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism Honor Society chapter statuses, home residency program, and number of faculty in the specialty. An odds ratio (OR) analysis was conducted to determine the likelihood medical students with a home program matched into a competitive specialty compared to those without a home program.
Results: 984 competitive residency programs had school affiliations and 660 were without affiliations. Of the matched applicants in a competitive specialty, 10,541 attended an institution affiliated with a residency program resulting in a statistically significant 2.01% match rate for students with a home program versus 1.13% match rate for students without a home program (OR: 1.78) (p=0.012). Applicants with and without a home program matched 58.28% and 52.71% into academic (OR: 1.25), 4.15% and 4.82% into community (OR: 0.86), 8.66% and 8.77% into combined academic and community (OR: 0.99), and 1.90% and 1.39% into military residency programs (OR: 1.38), respectively.
Conclusion: Graduates from US MD programs with a home program were nearly twice as likely to match into their competitive specialty of choice compared to programs without a home program. This could be attributed to graduates with home programs having more clinical exposure, building strong relationships with faculty, and receiving application support. This study demonstrates that lack of a home program disadvantages applicants, and is a factor contributing to disparities in acceptance rates for competitive specialties.
