Ranking Programs: Medical Student Strategies

Moore

Smith

et al. 2021

Cureus

IntroductionMost medical school applicants use the internet as a source of information when applying for medical school. Previous analyses have evaluated residency and fellowship websites; however, an in-depth analysis of medical school websites is lacking. MethodsWe evaluated 192 United States (US) medical school websites for presence or absence of 39 items relevant to medical school applicants. Items fell into seven general categories: curriculum, research, demographics of incoming class, admissions information, faculty, financial aid, and social. ResultsOf the 192 websites evaluated (152 allopathic and 40 osteopathic schools), websites contained a mean of 23 items (59%) with a standard deviation of 4.2 items. ConclusionOur study examining US medical school websites revealed a lack of online information for medical school applicants. As medical school interviews transition to being online during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of the medical school website to applicants becomes increasingly crucial. The information contained in our study could be used to improve the functionality and quality of information on medical school websites, which could help both applicants and the medical schools themselves.

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Content and Functionality of United States Medical School Websites

Moore

Smith

et al. 2021

Cureus

“…Understandably, some factors are more important to applicants than others, such as patient volume, curriculum, faculty, research, and simulation training centers. 14 Although the importance of these factors varies from applicant to applicant, the majority of the variables applicants deem as necessary or desirable information were included in our list of 38 items, in addition to many more items of potential interest we included based on our literature review. 15 We also added a few additional items to make our study more comprehensive based on items we believe could be lacking from other studies in our literature review, such as social media, resident pictures, and resident hobbies.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Descriptive Analysis of Components of Emergency Medicine Residency Program Websites

Weyand

Reyes

et al. 2021

WestJEM

Introduction: Most emergency medicine (EM) applicants use the internet as a source of information when evaluating residency programs. Previous studies have analyzed the components of residency program websites; however, there is a paucity of information regarding EM program websites. The purpose of our study was to analyze information on EM residency program websites. Methods: In April–May 2020, we evaluated 249 United States EM residency program websites for presence or absence of 38 items relevant to EM applicants. Descriptive statistics were performed, including means and standard deviations. Results: Of the 249 EM websites evaluated, the websites contained a mean of 20 of 38 items (53%). Only 16 programs (6%) contained at least three-quarters of the items of interest, and no programs contained all 38 items. The general categories with the least amount of items were social media use (9%), research (46%), and lifestyle (49%), compared to the other general categories such as application process (58%), resident information (63%), general program information (67%), and facility information (69%). The items provided by programs most often included program description (98%), blocks and rotations (91%), and faculty listing (88%). The items provided least often included housing/neighborhood information (17%) and social media links (19%). Conclusion: Our comprehensive review of EM residency websites in the US revealed the absence of many variables on most programs’ websites. Use of this information to enhance accessibility of desired information stands to benefit both applicants and programs in the increasingly competitive specialty of EM.

“…[4-6, 9, 10] Some of these factors on medical school websites could be more important to applicants than other factors, as suggested by studies examining how medical students choose a residency program. [15] However, we controlled for this by examining a large number of items (39) on each website and based these items on a variety of studies, as previously described. As the data contained in residency websites can be subjective, we created a standardized process to evaluate the websites, similar to the previous studies in other specialties.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Content and Accessibility of United States Medical School Websites During COVID-19 and the Online Interview Season

Moore

Smith

et al. 2021

Preprint

BackgroundMost medical school applicants use the internet as a source of information when applying for medical school. Previous analyses have evaluated residency and fellowship websites, however, an in-depth analysis regarding medical school websites is lacking.MethodsWe evaluated 192 United States medical school websites for presence or absence of 39 items relevant to medical school applicants. Items fell into 7 general categories: curriculum, research, demographics of incoming class, admissions information, faculty, financial aid, and social.ResultsOf the 192 websites evaluated (152 allopathic and 40 osteopathic schools), websites contained a mean of 23 items (59%) with a standard deviation of 4.2 items. ConclusionOur study examining United States Medical School websites revealed a lack of online information for medical school applicants. As medical school interviews transition to being online during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of the medical school website to applicants becomes increasingly crucial. The information contained in our study could be used to improve accessibility and information on medical school websites, which could help both applicants and medical schools themselves.