Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Geographic Residency Placement Relative to Medical School Location

Abstract

Background The 2020–2021 residency application cycle was altered to reduce COVID-19 transmission, with moves to all virtual interviews and no away rotations for medical students. These changes may have affected how students ranked residency programs, such as choosing programs near their medical schools. Objective To determine if a larger percentage of medical students matched to residency programs in the same state as their medical schools in 2021 vs 2018–2020. Methods We searched the webpages or emailed student affairs deans of the 155 Liaison Committee on Medical Education accredited MD programs to attain medical school match lists. Differences in the percentage of students matching to residency programs in the same US state as their medical schools in 2021 vs 2018–2020 were compared using chi-square tests. Results We recorded 36 021 of 79 406 (45%) National Resident Matching Program, 759 of 1720 (44%) ophthalmology, and 586 urology MD residency matches between 2018 and 2021. The percentage of students matching to residency programs in the same state as their medical schools was 35.9% in 2021 versus 34.3% in 2018–2020 (P¼.005). Students were more likely to match to programs in the same state as their medical schools in 2021 if they attended a public medical school (40.3% vs 38.5%, P¼.009) or applied into specialties where ≥50% of students traditionally perform away rotations (32.2% vs 30.2%, P¼.031). Conclusions There was a small difference in the percentage of medical students matching to residency programs in the same state as their medical schools in 2021 vs 2018–2020.