ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: We sought to determine if training program "familiarity" played a role in the successful match of urological surgery residents. METHODS: We analyzed information from successful urology match participants in the United States between 2015 and 2020. Data were collected from the Association of American Medical Colleges applications, UrologyMatch.com and SurveyMonkey®. Information recorded included each candidate's name, hometown, undergraduate institution, graduate or research program (if applicable), medical school, location of visiting subinternships in urological surgery and urology residency training program. RESULTS: Overall, 1,080 of 1,451 successful urology match candidates (74.4%) met 1 or more "familiarity" criteria. Specifically, 329 (22.7%) and 508 (35.0%) students successfully matched into their home and visiting urology training programs, respectively. Of the remaining applicants 153 (10.5%) and 90 (6.2%) matched into training programs <150 miles from their hometowns and within institutions of previous academic pursuits, respectively. South Central section programs were most likely to match students into their home programs (p=0.010). Visiting students were most and least likely to match at programs from Western (p=0.044) and Northeastern (p=0.001) sections, respectively. The New York section matched more candidates from hometowns within 150 miles compared to other sections of the American Urological Association (p=0.0003). CONCLUSIONS: Student and program "familiarity" may play a role in residency match success. Our study demonstrated nearly 75% of urology applicants matched into either their home institutions, visiting subinternship programs, sites of previous undergraduate/graduate studies or training programs <150 miles from their hometowns.
