Orphan Applicants in Plastic Surgery: Where Do Medical Students Without an Affiliated Residency Program Match?

The number of resident positions in integrated plastic surgery residencies are relatively few and highly sought after. Medical students interested in plastic surgery as a career are faced with the challenge of deciding where to apply for these highly competitive spots. This sense of keen competition means students are often applying to almost all available programs across the country with the idea of increasing their chance of successfully matching. Previous research has shown that exposure to specialty programs in medical school portends enhanced success in residency matches. This study focuses on medical students who come from schools without plastic surgery residencies-orphans-and the characteristics of those who successfully matched into integrated plastic surgery programs.

This study evaluated trends in successfully matched applicants in integrated plastic surgery residencies from 2016-2021 by looking at applicants' medical school type, presence of plastic surgery residency associated with the medical school, and geographic region. Geographic region of residency programs, medical school of applicants, and national quality ranking of medical schools were correlated with applicant demographics. The data were tabulated and analyzed utilizing chi-square analysis.

Orphans who graduated from allopathic medical schools without an affiliated integrated plastic surgery residency program comprised 24.4% of successfully matched applicants, whereas those with affiliated integrated residency programs comprised 72.2%. However, at the top quartile of prestige-rated residency programs, these orphan applicants only comprised 17.4% of residents. Of all medical school applicants, 18.2% matched at a residency program affiliated with their medical school (P = 0.04). Annually, 1 to 3 osteopathic medical school graduates and 3 to 9 international medical graduates matched, representing less than 1 and 4%, respectively, of all matched applicants; these applicants had the least successful match rates.

There continues to be a modest number of successfully matched integrated plastic surgery residents who are graduates of allopathic medical schools with no affiliated residency program but disproportionately fewer at the top quartile institutions. There are also very few osteopathic and international medical school graduates who match, which has seen no significant change over the last 6 years.