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Parallel Application to U.S. Psychiatry Residency Programs: Trends in Frequency and Differences by Applicant Group, 2009–2021

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Abstract

Objective

The present study examines trends of percent of applicants, number of specialties, and specialty combinations for psychiatry residency applicants applying to multiple specialties (parallel application).

Methods

The authors conducted a retrospective analysis of data captured by the Association of American Medical Colleges Electronic Residency Application System for applicants to psychiatry residency between 2009 and 2021. The percent parallel-applying, the mean number of specialties, mean application counts, and frequency of specialty combinations with psychiatry residency were determined.

Results

The dataset described 67,261 applicants. The percentage parallel-applying decreased from 73.7% in 2009 to 60.0% in 2021. International Medical Graduates and U.S. International Medical Graduate parallel-applied at the greatest rate in each year. Applicants who were parallel-applying submitted larger numbers of applications compared to those who were single-specialty applying.

Conclusions

Parallel application to psychiatry residency appears to be a common practice, but has decreased in frequency. However, the mean numbers of applications submitted to each specialty in parallel application combination and among single-specialty applicants have increased. This practice appears to have a disproportionate impact on international and osteopathic applicants. Additional efforts are needed to develop evidence-based advising tools to reduce the number of residency applications submitted to psychiatry programs.

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Data Availability

The data for this study was obtained from the AAMC via a signed Data Use Agreement.

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Funding

This project was supported by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience and the Office of Diversity of the Biological Sciences Division of the University of Chicago. No other funding was received to support this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Samuel R. Bunting & Deborah Spitz

  2. The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Nitin Vidyasagar

  3. Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Neeral K. Sheth

  4. Riverside Health System, Kankakee, IL, USA

    Raunak S. Khisty

Authors
  1. Samuel R. Bunting
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  2. Nitin Vidyasagar
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  3. Neeral K. Sheth
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  4. Raunak S. Khisty
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  5. Deborah Spitz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samuel R. Bunting.

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Disclosures

This material is based upon data provided by the Association of American Medical Colleges (“AAMC”). Dr. Bunting reports receiving unrestricted research funding from Gilead Sciences for work unrelated to the present study. The remaining authors report no disclosures.

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Bunting, S.R., Vidyasagar, N., Sheth, N.K. et al. Parallel Application to U.S. Psychiatry Residency Programs: Trends in Frequency and Differences by Applicant Group, 2009–2021. Acad Psychiatry 48, 135–142 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-024-01948-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-024-01948-0

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