Finally, A Useful Tool When Applying to Residency Programs
As I enter my sixth year of neurosurgical residency, I am reminded of the trials and tribulations of our beloved match day through the various groans and grumbles of our rotating sub-interns. It is interesting to note that they seem to be asking the same questions that I struggled to answer when I was in their shoes approximately seven years ago. Namely, why is this process so confusing? Why can’t I seem to find any good information online? As with most major transitional life events, such as deciding upon a graduate school or signing a lease on a new car, there is a general sense of confusion and fear that surrounds selecting a specialty and residency program. Since some residency programs can take up to seven years to complete (ahem), it is no wonder that match day can simultaneously elicit feelings of happiness and dread at the same time. Fortunately, with the recent launch of the Residency Navigator, Doximity has taken the lead in helping medical students learn about all the ins-and-outs of residency programs before taking the plunge. Before I discuss my favorite aspect of this resource, I’d like to share a quick story about my own personal gripes with match day.
In general, my problems with match day boil down to a lack of “useful” statistical information about specific residency programs. This lack of “program specific” information makes the entire match process obtuse and quite frustrating. For example, hard data such as average MCAT scores and GPAs are readily available for each major medical school; however, this information does not exist among individual residency programs. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) does publish some helpful statistical data such as average USMLE Step 1/2 scores, number of programs ranked, and presence of extracurricular activities among the various specialties (Here is the “Charting Outcomes for the 2014 Main Residency Match: http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Charting-Outcomes-2014-Final.pdf).
What I really wanted was a resource, or search engine, that could accomplish the following:
· List residency programs in terms of their overall ranking, number of applicant spots available, reputation among peers, major research labs
· Average USMLE board scores of accepted residents in a given program rather than the specialty as a whole
· Number of residents in a given program that graduated with honors (Alpha Omega Alpha) and percentage of residents with a PhD
Sure, the average USMLE Step 1 scores of a student who matched into neurosurgery was generally greater than 245, but what about the average student who matched into Columbia or Mount Sinai? How many of those applicants graduated with honors? That information was nearly impossible to obtain.
In addition, many residency websites can be outdated and other than the most basic program information, are pretty useless. In fact, one of my former colleagues, Dr. Branko Skovrlj published an excellent manuscript in World Neurosurgery discussing this exact problem in 2015 (http://www.worldneurosurgery.org/article/S1878-8750(15)00480-5/pdf) . In his study, he performed a survey of the 103 neurosurgery residency programs and found that less than half of them contained easily accessible information or were useful for recruitment or education. Although this study only looked at neurosurgery programs, I strongly believe this is broadly generalizable among all specialties.
Furthermore, I was frustrated by the lack of information about applying and obtaining a sub-internship. The sub-internship process is like a giant maze that one needs to navigate through. I always thought it would be great if there was one resource medical students could use as a “go-to” in terms of obtaining information about sub-internships, pre-residency fellowships, etc.
With all of this said, I am pleased that Doximity has finally addressed the needs of fourth-year medical students with the launch of the Residency Navigator. The Doximity team has gone all out to make this an outstanding search engine and forum to obtain information about residency programs in all specialties. The Residency Navigator contains easily searchable information about > 4,000 programs spanning 28 specialties. The user interface is clear, concise, intuitive, and contains useful features such as a favorites list and program map views (Figure 1). The program information provided is current and clearly demonstrates how many residency spots are open in a particular program and provides a basic outline of the training and accredited fellowship programs. This information can be hard to find at times and it is nicely presented in the Residency Navigator. Also, the names and contact information of the program director and coordinators are clearly presented with an accompanying link to the programs’ homepage (Figure 2). It is an outstanding resource for medical students to obtain information that used to be challenging to obtain. I remember the days of pouring over online forums scanning for program-specific posts that were often marginally better than anecdote. The Residency Navigator seems to be the answer to the questions I had when I was applying to neurosurgery programs many eons ago.
In a nutshell, I would highly recommend the Residency Navigator to rising fourth-year medical students. It can be a valuable resource in your arsenal of tools that you will use to combat the perpetual uncertainties and confusion that is inherent to the match process. Fortunately, the Doximity team has taken many major steps in the right direction to accomplish this immense task. I wish all my readers good luck and godspeed during this incredible time in your medical training!
— JR
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