Outcome Analysis of Factors Impacting the Urology Residency Match

Evaluating Urology Residency Applications: What Matters Most and What Comes Next?

“…Publications may be a more important factor for programs with a strong academic culture that expect residents to engage in scholarly activity and pursue a career in academic medicine. One study found that an applicant's number of published abstracts was associated with matching into highly ranked programs, which are often ranked based on academic output metrics such as citations, publications, and research grants among program graduates [17]. For programs who value academic productivity among graduates, medical school research output may be a predictor of future academic activity, as having at least one publication prior to residency has been reported to be significantly associated with an eventual academic career [27].…”

“…Despite their known limitations, clinical grades remain an important component of assessing urology applicants. In a study that sampled applicants in the 2015 urology match, the number of “honors” grades was one of the few positive predictors of a successful match [ 17 ]. This was echoed in a survey of 131 urology residency program directors, who were asked what criteria were most important in assessing prospective residents [ 18 ••].…”

“…In this context, it might be expected that residency programs would begin using the relative reputations of applicants’ medical schools as an indirect means of contextualizing students’ performance. In fact, some studies have demonstrated an association between attendance at a lower-ranked medical school and a lower probability of successfully matching [ 17 ]. A separate study also found that attendance of a higher-ranked medical school was associated with better performance on the urology in-service examination among residents [ 23 ].…”

“…A recent survey of 173 applicants who interviewed at 18 institutions demonstrated that 95% of urology applicants completed at least one away rotation and nearly 70% performed more than one [ 29 ]. Additionally, completing visiting sub-internships increases the likelihood of successfully matching, as 87% of program directors report that they gave special consideration to applicants who completed an away rotation at their institution [ 17 , 18 ••]. There are several concerns about the increasing reliance on away rotations, which include exacerbating the financial burden of applying into urology as well as assigning undue significance to a students’ performance during a single month at the expense of achievements over the course of multiple years of medical school [ 29 , 30 ].…”

“…Recent literature has demonstrated that Step 1 has played an important role in the selection of urology residents. Higher Step 1 scores are associated with successfully matching into urology residency, with over 80% of programs using a Step 1 cutoff to assign interviews [ 17 , 22 ]. Program directors consider it to be the second most important factor in assessing candidates, below only urology letters of recommendation [ 18 ••].…”