• Sangami Pugazenthi, Alexander S Fabiano, Awinita Barpujari, Meena Vessell, Vamsi Reddy, Owoicho Adogwa, and Karin R Swartz.
• Department of Neurosurgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
• World Neurosurg. 2024 Feb 1; 182: e308e318e308-e318.

BackgroundThe neurosurgical match involves selecting future neurosurgeons who will comprise the future national workforce, based on a competitive ranking process of applicants. We aimed to identify which sociodemographic and academic factors influence competitiveness and rank position in the match.MethodsA Council of State Neurosurgical Societies (CSNS) survey was distributed to current U.S. neurosurgical residents. The primary outcome measure was self-reported rank position of matched program. Variables included sociodemographic and academic metrics. Fisher exact, logistic regression, and t tests were performed.ResultsAmong the 72 respondents, median United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 score was 248, 34.7% were Alpha Omega Alpha inductees, 77.8% completed 1-3 sub-internship rotations, median number of publications was 5, and 13.9% had a Ph.D. Sociodemographic analysis demonstrated that 69.4% were male and 30.6% were female. Applicants with a home neurosurgery program or of female gender had statistically significantly higher odds of matching into a top 3 program on their rank list (odds ratio = 9 and odds ratio = 6, respectively). Female applicants exhibited similar mean, but less variance, compared with male respondents for United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 scores and number of publications. Respondents with a top 3 program match were more likely to agree that the home program supported their pursuance of neurosurgery.ConclusionsTwo sociodemographic factors were independently associated with high match rank: presence of home neurosurgery program and female gender. Female respondents reported consistently strong academic metrics (similar mean, but less variance, compared with male respondents).Published by Elsevier Inc.

14 keywords...

hide…