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Professional and Personal Development

Changes in Otolaryngology Residency Applicant Characteristics Over Time

Wednesday, October 4, 2023
9:39 AM - 9:45 AM East Coast USA Time
Location: 204

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Matthew E. Lin, BS

    Medical Student
    Keck School of Medicine of USC
    Alhambra, CA, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • NL

    Neil N. Luu, MD

    Resident Physician
    Caruso Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Keck School of Medicine of USC
    Los Angeles, CA, United States

  • NB

    Neelesh Bagrodia, BS

    Keck School of Medicine of USC, USA

  • Deborah Choe, BA

    Medical Student
    Keck School of Medicine of USC
    Las Vegas, NV, United States

    • Senior Author(s)

  • TC

    Tamara N. Chambers, MD

    Associate Professor of Clinical Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
    Keck School of Medicine of USC
    Los Angeles, CA, United States

Disclosure(s):
Matthew E. Lin, BS: No relevant relationships to disclose.
Introduction: Otolaryngology has become an increasingly popular specialty over the past several years. Thus, we sought to characterize how applicants have evolved in response to increased competition.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of the 2019-2022 Texas Seeking Transparency in Application to Residency database. Academic, extracurricular, and application characteristics were collected from all otolaryngology applicants in the 2019-2022 Texas STAR database. Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to compare annual differences in applicant characteristics. Fischer’s exact and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare matched and unmatched applicants.

Results: Among all 395 applicants included, match rate decreased significantly (p=0.012) over time. There was a significant increase in the average number of programs applied (p=0.0004) among all applicants, a trend that persisted for matched (p=0.001) but not unmatched (p=0.139) applicants.

Over time, unmatched applicants endorsed significantly fewer non-medical degrees (p < 0.001), significantly more leadership positions (p=0.034), and non-significant increases in publications (p=0.074), abstracts, presentations, and posters (p=0.097). Matched applicants reported significantly higher academic quartiles (p=0.021) and held significantly more leadership positions (p=0.014), publications (p=0.008), abstracts, presentations, and posters (p=0.006) in 2019-2020 but not in subsequent years.

While significantly fewer matched applicants were from MD schools over time (p < 0.001), MD applicants represented a higher proportion of matched applicants relative to unmatched applicants in the 2021-2022 application cycle (p=0.040). Matched applicants received significantly more interviews than unmatched applicants across all three match cycles (2019-2020 p= < 0.001; 2020-2021 p= < 0.001; 2021-2022 p= < 0.003).

Conclusions: The otolaryngology match has become increasingly competitive. Differences between matched and unmatched applicants have decreased, but matched applicants still receive significantly more interviews.