Applying to Orthopaedic Residency and Matching Rates

Abstract

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Cost Analysis of Medical Students Applying to Orthopaedic Surgery Residency: Implications for the 2020 to 2021 Application Cycle During COVID-19

“…Given that, prospective orthopaedic surgery applicants spend thousands of dollars rotating at away institutions, interviewing, and often times applying to many more programs than necessary. Within the past decade, the number of programs each US orthopaedic surgery residency applicant applies to has nearly doubled 2 , 3 . Although studies have evaluated the economic burden of the application process to medical students desiring a residency in orthopaedics broadly 4 - 6 , no study has evaluated in detail the application costs, away rotation costs, interview costs, and total costs.…”

“…Although previous studies have broadly evaluated the economic burden of applying to orthopaedic surgery residency, these studies were completed almost 5 years ago 5 , 6 , and their relevance remains unknown. Although much of the application process remains unchanged including the importance of board examination scores, clinical grades, letters of recommendation, away rotation experiences, and interview performance, each year becomes more competitive 2 , 10 - 16 . The number of orthopaedic surgery positions is far outpaced by the increased number of applications for these highly coveted positions 2 , 17 .…”

“…Although much of the application process remains unchanged including the importance of board examination scores, clinical grades, letters of recommendation, away rotation experiences, and interview performance, each year becomes more competitive 2 , 10 - 16 . The number of orthopaedic surgery positions is far outpaced by the increased number of applications for these highly coveted positions 2 , 17 . Completion of more away rotations and applying to more programs may increase an applicant's chance for match success, but it is not without significant cost, of which we attempt to evaluate.…”

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency Experience

“…7 In an attempt to exclude any non-trainees from participating in the anonymous survey, program coordinators for all 201 registered OS residency programs (representing approximately 3,640 active residents) received a cover letter email including an electronic link to the anonymous Qualtrics survey and were asked to forward this link to their residents. [8][9][10] Responses to the survey were accepted between April 20, 2020 and May 3, 2020. The responses remained anonymous and were stored on a secure server affiliated with the authors' institution.…”

Do Orthopaedic Residency Programs Have the Least Time Between Invitation and Interview?

“…4 For orthopaedic surgery, the average number of applications currently sent by residents (80) and reviewed by programs (598) has doubled when compared to 25 years ago. 5 Based on computer modeling of matching and application data, there is no benefit for applicants to send more than 50 applications, but the average applicant is sending nearly double that number and going on as many interviews as possible to increase the chances of matching. 5 This behavior is mentally and financially costly to applicants.…”