Residency faculty opinions about medical student advising: a national survey

Medical student faculty advisors are charged with providing students the best possible information and advice regarding residency selection and how to increase their likelihood of matching into the program of their choice. Given the lack of clear and consistent processes for ranking residency applicants, medical student advisors will benefit from better insight into the perspectives of family medicine residency (FMR) faculty.

This study was designed to increase understanding of the perceptions of FMR faculty in evaluating and ranking medical student applicants. We surveyed all FMR programs in the United States and Puerto Rico. Program directors, or their designees, were asked to provide basic program characteristics and then to either agree or disagree with various advising statements medical school faculty might say to students applying to FMR programs.

Of the 24 items in the survey, consensus among programs was reached for only seven.

These results, especially given the current climate of an increasing number of applicants for a nearly stable number of residency training slots, clearly support the need for enhanced communication and collaboration between family medicine student advisors and residency educators.