Students' Perspectives on the Impact of Scholarly Projects on Residency Applications

With the transition of United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 to pass/fail scoring, medical students have increasingly turned to research to strengthen their residency applications. However, the variability in residency research expectations leaves the impact of scholarly work on match outcomes unclear.

We conducted a survey among fourth-year medical students at a large academic medical school in the Midwest to evaluate their perceptions of the role of scholarly work in residency applications and match outcomes.

Of the 55 students who matched, the majority (53%) reported that more than half of their residency interviews included discussions about their scholarly projects. A substantial majority (78%) believed that presenting and/or publishing their scholarly work contributed to securing their residency positions.

Our findings indicate that students generally view scholarly work as valuable for residency applications. However, there is a clear need for a consistent and objective standard for how residency programs evaluate scholarly work.