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Well, another residency application season is in the books.

And in 2019, the average residency applicant (all comers) submitted 92 residency applications.

Yes.

NINETY-TWO.

And each year, this number creeps higher and higher.

We need to talk about this.

(thread)
First:

Can we please stop defending application inflation by saying that applicants *HAVE* to apply to so many programs because the number of residency programs isn’t growing at the same rate as applicants?

It’s not true.
Statistically-speaking, there’s never been a better time IN THE PAST 50 YEARS for a graduating U.S. medical student to get a PGY-1 position.

But don’t take my word for it - let’s get it straight from @TheNRMP.

mk0nrmp3oyqui6wqfm.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/upl…
Second:

In the aggregate, applying to more programs does NOT help students. Match rates do not improve when students overapply.

(Overapplication occurs because students are caught in a prisoner’s dilemma, in which overapplying is a dominant strategy.)

jgme.org/doi/pdf/10.430…
Third:

Overapplication does not help program directors. PDs need more applications like they need a hole in the head.

Instead, overapplication guarantees the use of whatever convenience metric will help thin the pile (USMLE scores, school prestige, citizenship, etc.).
But #ApplicationFever has been very beneficial for one group:
the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), corporate sponsor of ERAS.

Note how ERAS revenue has increased almost three-fold since 2008.
In fact, in 2019, ERAS accounted for

$94,153,946

of revenue for the AAMC.

Here’s how that compares to their other revenue streams.
All that’s to say that the AAMC has a financial conflict of interest in providing solutions to #ApplicationFever. If we’re tired of it, we have to demand solutions.

And I’m on record as saying that nothing short of application caps will fix this.

thesheriffofsodium.com/2019/06/01/wha…
If you’re in a video/podcast-y mood and want to learn more, I made one a while ago:

thesheriffofsodium.com/2019/06/14/app…
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