Away rotations and recent trends in the dermatology residency match

Dermatology residency remains a highly competitive specialty. Other competitive specialties have shown that applicants believe completing an away rotation is a good way to determine "best fit" and leads to higher likelihood of matching at a visiting institution. The aim of this study was to assess trends in composition of dermatology residency programs based on the percentage of residents who had completed an away rotation with their subsequent training location. Ninety-one academic allopathic dermatology programs across the United States were individually emailed between January and April 2025 with a short survey inquiring about the number of residents in their program per class, and how many of their residents (Post-graduate year (PGY)-1 through PGY-4) were graduates of their home institution (home rotator), had completed an away rotation at their program (away rotator) or neither. Sixty-six academic dermatology programs (72.5%) responded to our survey. Among these programs, 35% of residents were home institution rotators, 25% were away rotators, and 40% were neither. Across the four years assessed, there was an upward trend in the number of residents who matched with a program where they had completed an away rotation. Logistic regression analysis revealed that for each additional year during this period, residents had 1.52- and 1.4-times higher odds of being an away rotator compared to nonrotators ("neither") and home rotators, respectively. Our findings suggest that away rotation participation may impact match outcomes and highlight the importance of institutional and programmatic support to ensure equitable access to these experiences.