Application in Parallel to U.S. Residency Training Programs in Multiple Specialties: Trends and Differences by...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Residency Admissions
• Graduate Medical Education

Background:

• The number of residency applications per applicant and associated costs are rising unsustainably.
• Little research has explored the role of parallel applications in this trend.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the prevalence and trends of parallel applications in residency.
• To determine the contribution of parallel applications to the growth in application numbers.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) data from 2009-2021.
• Inclusion of MD, DO, and international medical graduate (IMG) applicants.
• Analysis of parallel application rates, mean number of specialties applied to, and total submitted applications.

Main Results:

• The overall percentage of applicants applying to multiple specialties decreased from 41.3% to 35.4% between 2009 and 2021.
• DO applicants were the exception, showing a slight increase in parallel application rates.
• International medical graduates (IMGs and USIMGs) had the highest rates of parallel application, though these also declined.
• Despite a decrease in parallel application rates, the mean number of applications submitted increased significantly for both single-specialty and parallel-applying applicants.

Conclusions:

• Parallel application is a common but slowly declining phenomenon in residency applications.
• Parallel application does not appear to be a major driver of the increasing number of applications per candidate.
• Future efforts to manage application growth should focus on the number of applications submitted within each specialty.