Dermatology residency match: Is the glut of applications for limited positions corrupting the process?

March 7, 2018|Dermatology

EXPERT ANALYSIS FROM AAD 18

“I don’t believe that dermatology match is broken, unethical, or unfair. The match is not perfect, but it’s fair,” contended Dr. Bercovitch, professor of dermatology at Brown University, Providence, R.I. “The problem [of an application glut] is real, but it’s not an ethical issue.”

Dr. Grant-Kels sees it in ethical terms because, in her view, “everyone is gaming the system. It makes applicants liars” when they profess interest in moving to a remote location or planning to practice a certain type of dermatology.

She traces the dilemma to the large number of applications submitted by each candidate as they tried to contend with long odds: Each candidate was vying against about 651 U.S. and foreign physicians for 423 residency slots offered by 121 U.S. dermatology programs in 2017, according to statistics compiled by the National Resident Matching Program. This produced an applications glut: 2017-2018 data from the Association of American Medical Colleges showed an average of about 53 applications from every dermatology residency applicant overall and an average of 69 applications submitted by applicants with U.S. medical degrees.

The “extremely competitive” process leads a majority of applicants to “shot gun” their filings to many programs such that dermatology residency programs are “deluged” with applications, Dr. Grant-Kels said. Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges for 2017 showed an average of just over 500 applications received by each U.S. dermatology residency program.