Dermatology faculty and residents' perspectives on the dermatology residency application process: A nationwide survey

Abstract

The authors would like to thank the APD for distributing the surveys, as well as the residents and faculty who completed the surveys.

Interview date trends for dermatology residency from 2012-2017

“…Currently, there seems to be dissonance regarding residency applications between dermatology faculty and applicants. In a 2017 study (N=174), nearly three-quarters of faculty recommend that that applicants apply to <60 programs, but more than 70% of dermatology residents applied to >60 programs [7]. This information could help bridge the gap between applicants and faculty as well as encourage program directors to better coordinate interviews and attempt to reduce conflicting interviewing dates [7].…”

“…Current studies about dermatology residencies focus on different factors that best increase chances of matching into dermatology residencies, such as publications, volunteer work, or letters of recommendation [9]. There are also studies looking at the difficulty and cost associated with the dermatology residency interview process, but no study to our knowledge addressed the different interview dates and patterns [1,3,[6][7][8][9]. According to our results, the vast majority of interview offers were given in November and this remained consistent throughout the five application cycles.…”

A perfect match: Pros and cons of preference signaling in dermatology

“…1 Concerns among program directors include burdensome application volumes and insufficient information regarding applicants' genuine interest in their programs. [2][3][4] In response, program directors sense a duty to pursue ''justice'' in residency selection processes through preference signaling (PS), a systematic means of providing applicants the ability to evenhandedly indicate interest in programs, while also allowing programs to gauge an applicant's genuine interest. In this way, applicants formally convey interest to a limited number of residency programs to which they apply.…”

New Insights Into the Dermatology Residency Application Process Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…2 However, in a 2018 survey of 180 dermatology faculty members, 80% stated that time spent reviewing residency applications was already excessive. 3 The Association of American Medical Colleges reported that for medical student applicants with US Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 scores lower than 237 or higher than 251, the value added by submitting one additional application beyond means of 43 (95% confidence interval [CI], 34-53) and 34 (95% CI, 28-41), respectively, is reduced relative to the value added by each application before reaching the point of diminishing returns. 4 Therefore, we suggest limiting the number of applications per applicant to the upper bounds of the CI for the lower US Medical Licensing Examination…”

“…In the 2018 survey of dermatology faculty members, only 11% believed that applicants interviewing virtually received equal consideration to those interviewing in person; a solution to this problem would be to mandate that all applicants use VCIs during the COVID-19 pandemic. 3 This coming year, residency programs may elect to replace in-person interviews with VCIs, or they may utilize VCIs as screening tools to narrow down the applicant pool and for students to rank their preferred programs prior to an in-person interview. By inviting fewer applicants for in-person interviews, travelassociated health risks, financial costs, and missed educational activities would be minimized.…”