P. K. Manhas1, B. Maheta1, A. Niu1, D. Park1, A. Tong1, D. Chen1, H. Zhang1, A. Pathak1, C. Goswami1, A. Noon2, M. S. Wong1 1California Northstate University, College Of Medicine, Elk Grove, CA, USA 2Geisinger Medical Center, Department Of Plastic Surgery, Danville, PA, USA
Introduction: In 2023, the average match rate for US MD students into general surgery was only 63.6%. With the steep competition, applicants struggle to differentiate themselves for residency applications. Home residency programs may provide medical students opportunities for networking, mentorship, research, and exposure to surgeries that may spark interest in surgical specialties. The goal of this project was to understand the impact of home surgical residencies on match rates of students into specific surgical specialties.
Methods: This was a 5-year retrospective study (2019-2023) looking at 12,916 matched applicants from 152 United States MD programs through data from the Office of Student Affairs and publicly available match lists. Odds ratios (OR) were used to determine the likelihood of medical students from institutions with home surgical residency programs matching into desired surgical specialties compared to students from institutions without home programs. Other variables included the Alpha Omega Alpha and the Gold Humanism Honor Society statuses of the medical school, the number of faculty, and the type of residency program (academic or community).
Results: Of the MD-granting institutions, there are 831 home surgical and surgical subspecialty residencies. Of the applicants that matched into a surgical specialty, 11,442 attended an institution affiliated with a home residency program resulting in a 4.34% match rate for students with a home institution residency program versus a 2.43% match rate for students without a home institution residency program (OR: 1.76) (p<0.001). Of the applicants with a home institution residency program, 69.22% matched into an academic residency compared to 67.96% of matched applicants from institutions without a home program (OR: 1.06), 7.69% matched into a community residency compared to 8.47% (OR: 0.90), 13.60% matched into a combined academic and community residency program compared to 14.16% (OR: 0.95), and 2.47% matched in a military residency compared to 1.90% (OR: 1.31).
Conclusion: Medical students graduating from institutions with home surgical residencies were more likely to match into a surgical residency program, and furthermore into an academic program, which tend to emphasize research and potential fellowships. In contrast, graduates from institutions without home residencies tended to match into community programs that may not have all the subspecialty fellowships, thus propagating the cycle of limited networking and research resources. Exposure to resources, mentorship, and opportunities during medical education likely shapes a student’s career path. Future studies should look at how access to certain resources may influence a student’s future match rate.
