Annals of plastic surgery
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Annals of plastic surgery · Oct 2013
Recent trends in applicants and the matching process for the integrated plastic surgery match.
Matching into a plastic surgery (PS) residency program is a highly competitive process. Selection criteria are very stringent and may influence an applicant's candidacy and application strategy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate recent trends of applicants matching into integrated PS programs using published National Resident Match Program data. ⋯ The proportion of applicants ranking PS only is steadily rising. The ranking strategy used by US senior applicants is self-selecting into a more competitive (PS only) and less competitive (PS + other) applicant pool. If this continues, nearly 50% of applicants will not match and could be left scrambling for an alternative residency position. These findings therefore suggest that all candidates, regardless of their perceived application strength, should consider having a "backup plan."