Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-28-2020

Publication Title

PLoS ONE

First page number:

1

Last page number:

8

Abstract

Background: Dual degrees combining and MD with another professional degree (MPH, MBA, or PhD) are becoming more common in an attempt to increase an applicant’s competitivity for a residency. Objective: This study was designed to assess differences in MD-only and dual degree MD applicants with respect to applicant characteristics and match outcomes. Methods: Utilizing the voluntarily-reported publicly available 2017–2019 Texas STAR database, we assessed applicants from 115 medical schools. Texas STAR indicates that over this time period, there were 18,224 responses for a response rate of 43.8%. Comparisons were made between groups using student’s t-test and chi-squared analysis. Results: Compared to MD only students, MD/MPH applicants had a higher propensity towards primary care specialties. MD/PhD applicants did not differ versus MD only applicants in their selection of primary care specialties, or of competitive specialties. MD/MBA applicants chose more competitive specialties and less primary care specialties. Despite all these differences, match rates were not different comparing MD only and dual-degree students. Conclusions: Despite the growing popularity of combined MD programs, such programs do not appear to increase applicant match competitivity.

Disciplines

Medical Education

File Format

pdf

File Size

331 KB

Language

English

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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