How Can Medical Students Best Navigate the Dermatology Residency Application Process?

🔍 Key Finding Dermatology mentors recommend students apply to 60 or fewer residency programs and advise against sending letters of intent, as they rarely influence ranking decisions. Instead, mentors prioritize letters of recommendation from writers who know the applicant well, regardless of title or rank, and encourage away rotations.

🔬 Methodology Overview

• Design: Cross-sectional survey study.
• Participants: Members of the Association of Professors of Dermatology (APD).
• Survey Distribution: Via email listserve from August 28, 2022, to September 12, 2022.
• Survey Content: Branching-logic questions addressing common medical student questions regarding dermatology residency applications (number of programs, gap year, internship year, letters of intent, away rotations, letters of recommendation, and ERAS supplemental application).
• Data Collection and Management: REDCap electronic data capture tools hosted at The Ohio State University.
• Analysis: Descriptive statistics.

📊 Results Here are the key findings from the survey of academic dermatology mentors regarding advising medical students on the dermatology residency application process:

• Residency Program Number: 54.1% of mentors who recommended a specific number of programs suggested applying to 59 or fewer, while only 9.8% recommended 80 or more.
• Gap Year: 74.5% of mentors at least sometimes recommended a research gap year, most commonly for applicants with strong research interest (71.8%). Other reasons included low USMLE Step scores (50.7%), low grades (45.1%), limited research experience (46.5%), and lack of a home program (43.7%).
• Letters of Intent: 48.5% of mentors indicated they did not recommend sending a letter of intent, and 75.8% said such letters rarely or never impacted rank lists.
• Away Rotations: 85.9% of mentors recommended away rotations, with 63.1% suggesting two rotations and 14.3% suggesting three.
• Letters of Recommendation: The most important factor in choosing a letter writer was how well the writer knew the applicant (90.8% of mentors ranked this a 4 or 5 out of 5). Factors like letter writer’s title/rank, standardized vs. non-standardized format, and chair vs. away rotation letters were considered less important.
• Supplemental Application: Mentors reported the supplemental application was more important for interview selection than for ranking. 58.8% found prior experiences important for interviews, and 49.4% for ranking.

💡 Clinical Impact This survey provides insights into dermatology mentors’ advice regarding residency applications, highlighting discrepancies between mentor recommendations and student practices, particularly concerning application numbers and letters of intent. This information can help guide both mentors and applicants, potentially leading to more efficient and less stressful application cycles.

🤔 Limitations

• Limited response rate and sample size to the survey.
• Only academic dermatologists belonging to the APD were queried.
• Lack of tracking of mentors’ personal information, so more than one mentor may have responded from a single institution.
• Data may not be broadly applicable to all institutions.

✨ What It Means For You This survey provides dermatologists with data-backed guidance for advising medical students on the residency application process, addressing common questions about application numbers, gap years, letters of intent, and letters of recommendation. The findings encourage more standardized and evidence-based mentoring, potentially reducing student anxiety and promoting equitable access to competitive dermatology residencies.

Reference Kaffenberger J, Lee B, Ahmed AM. How to Advise Medical Students Interested in Dermatology: A Survey of Academic Dermatology Mentors. Cutis. 2023;111:124-127. https://doi.org/10.12788/cutis.0727