The December 2019 issue of Cutis (104;6:352-353)
has an interesting Commentary about of some aspects of the dermatology
application process from Dr. Aamir Hussain titled, “Reducing the Cost of
Dermatology Residency Applications: An Applicant’s
Perspective.” Some ideas for reducing the costs of dermatology
residency applicants include the establishment of regional interviews
(dermatology residency programs in the same geographic region would
agree to interview in a timeframe that would allow applicants
with multiple interviews in the same region to travel to that region
only once and avoid the costs of multiple flights and other travel
related inconveniences), and different regions would coordinate so that
there were no competing regions interviewing at
the same time). Capping the number of applications was also discussed,
either by a “hard cap” (limiting the number of programs an applicant may
apply to) or through imposition of an economic disincentive by charging
higher application fees for applying to
more programs than diminishing returns would suggest.
However, no mechanism for establishing a “hard
cap” on the number of applications is suggested, and this strategy seems
a bit unusual (most job openings do not place a limit on the number of
applications they will review before selecting
several candidates for interviews). The author does concede that
placing a financial disincentive on additional applications above a
certain number could favor more affluent applicants. However, several
other approaches have the potential to decrease costs
in the dermatology application process. Programs could opt to use Skype
or telephone interviews instead of on-site visits, saving applicants
travel costs. Rotators and home students could be interviewed during
their dermatology rotations, a step that would
eliminate a return visit for interview. Policy change at the NRMP that
allowed programs to offer dermatology residency positions outside of the
match would also decrease program need to interview additional
applicants since the position would already be filled.
Applicants may be able to limit applications if they had greater
information about specific programs (how many residency positions are
filled with internal applicants and rotators, how many of the current
residents went to medical school outside of the region,
how many of the current residents were AOA, what are the mean and range
of the current resident Step scores, how many of the residents have
additional degrees (MA, MS, MBA, MPH, PhD), etc.