Examining Reapplication to the Ophthalmology Residency Match

So I invited the two of you not only 'cause you two are awesome and because you two are friends and because you two are residency program directors, because we're gonna-- but I'm inviting you mostly because you guys, um, went out on your own out of the goodness of your heart, and you did a webinar for unmatched ophthalmology residents, um, about reapplying for ophthalmology residency, and it seems like a niche topic.

If someone's out there listening who's, like, 10, 15, 20 years out, they're like, "Well, why would you spend a whole podcast episode talking about reapplying for residency?" Statistically speaking, most people who apply for ophthalmology residency match.

And I will say, if you haven't been keeping tabs or if you're not involved, um, the ophthalmology residency match rate for first-time US applicants has been steadily dropping.

You know, it was-- Um, I, I got in when it was easy.

I always tell, uh, my friend Chris that.

Um, it was in the '90s, I know, when I matched in 2009, 2010 cycle.

Um, but that rate has dropped precipitously in the last four or five years post COVID-19, and first-time applicants dipping down now into the low 70s for match rate, which means that you have a large pool of really qualified, really interested applicants, not, you know, international medical graduates or osteopathic graduates who might be fantastic, but historically have had a hard time getting into residency.

Now, you also have a large pool of allopathic grads from the US who are struggling to get into residency and trying to figure out next steps when they do not match.

So Chris, first of all, some comments from you.

Um, I was just trying to underline why this is an important topic to talk about reapplicants, but any comments about that increasing competitiveness of getting into ophthalmology residency for anyone who hasn't been in the know? 'Cause a lot of our listeners, for example, may be out in practice and may not know what's going on.

Yeah.

It's great that you bring this up, and I'm glad we're drawing a little bit of attention to this topic.

I think any conversation about the ophthalmology match has to begin with a little bit of humility because it's such an extraordinary fe- extraordinary field, and the match is competitive for understandable reasons.

I mean, we know why ophthalmology is great.

It combines medicine, surgery, imaging, technology, genetics, global health, epidemiology, et cetera, so the brightest and best are cle- clearly being drawn to it.

At the same time, I think we have amazing ophthalmology academic departments that are growing strong all across the country, and as a result, they're able to leverage their faculty to really promote the field and get the medical students excited a little bit earlier on.

So my perception is that the interest is growing largely because the field is growing, uh, a- across the medical school campuses in-- along-- all across the country.

Yeah.

And Alice, uh, it c- you know, that increased interest, again, like I said, it really has spiked in the last three, four, five years.

And Chris referenced we're doing a better job of reaching people out there.

We're seeing more and more students apply from newer medical schools that may not have established ophthalmology departments.

That's also quietly been happening in the background.

There's more and more allopathic medical schools that have come in the last five to 10 years.

Um, and then, you know, again, did COVID change what people find interesting or important? There's some fields of medicine that have seen a decline in the number of applications.

The most famous one in recent years was emergency medicine immediately following the pandemic.