Total Costs of Applying to Integrated Plastic Surgery: Geographic Considerations, Projections, and Future Implications

Abstract

In 2020, the American Council of Academic Plastic Surgeons and the Association of American Medical Colleges recommended residency programs suspend away rotations and in-person interviews. This study quantifies applicant costs and potential savings in the residency application process resulting from that change, while also evaluating differences in cost with respect to geographic region of the applicant.

Methods: A retrospective evaluation of the 2019-2020 Texas STAR (Seeking Transparency in Application to Residency) database was conducted. We queried responses from plastic surgery residency applicants, including expenses associated with the application, away rotations, interviews, and total costs for medical school seniors. Applicant characteristics were recorded. A Kruskal-Wallis H-test was used to evaluate differences in mean costs by medical school region.

Results: In total, 117 US allopathic applicants to plastic surgery residency were included. Total expenses for the application cycle were $10,845. This was made up of $1638 in application costs, $4074 in away rotation costs, and $5486 in interview costs. No significant differences were observed for mean total costs for applicants from schools in the Central ($11,045/applicant), Northeast ($9696/applicant), South ($11,332/applicant), and West ($11,205/applicant) (P = 0.209).

Conclusion: Assuming relatively minimal expenditures related to a virtual interview cycle and lack of away rotations in 2021, the average cost savings for plastic surgery residency applicants during the COVID-19 pandemic was estimated to be over $9000.

Fig. 1.

The mean costs to students applying to plastic surgery residency during 2019–2020. Error bars are SD of the mean.

Fig. 2.

Box plot of costs associated with applying to plastic surgery residency for all applicants from 2019 to 2020. Box plot resembles median value with quartiles.

Fig. 3.

Box plot of total costs associated with applying to plastic surgery residency from 2019 to 2020 by applicant geographic region (Central Group on Student Affairs, Northeast Group on Student Affairs, Southern Group on Student Affairs, Western Group on Student Affairs). There was no significant difference between the mean incurred total costs for applicants from schools in the Central Group on Student Affairs region ($11,045/applicant), Northeast Group on Student Affairs region ($9696/applicant), Southern Group on Student Affairs region ($11,332/applicant), and Western Group on Student Affairs region ($11,205/applicant) (P = 0.209).

Fig. 4.

Box plot of costs associated with applying to plastic surgery residency from 2019 to 2020 by applicant geographic region. There was no significant difference between the mean application fees (P = 0.901), away rotation costs (P = 0.308), or interview costs between regions (P = 0.246).