Investigating the relationship between medical school attended and the outcome of the residency match

Abstract Background There is limited literature exploring the impact of medical school attended on a student’s potential to pursue a career in their desired medical or surgical specialty. The objectives of this study are two fold. (1) To determine the relationship between matching into a given specialty and a medical school’s academic and scholarly opportunities and resources, measured by US News and World Report’s (USNWR) best medical school research ranking. (2) To determine the feasibility of using Shannon’s Diversity (SD), a mathematical model, to quantify and assess the diversity of specialties matched into by graduates per medical school. Methods The authors conducted a cross-sectional study of residency match lists of graduates of 117 medical schools included in the 2022–2023 USNWR’s research rankings for years 2019–2023. Results Analyses of specialty matching with USNWR research ranking demonstrated three distinct groups: (1) significantly negative correlation, (2) negligible correlation, and (3) significantly positive correlation. Across all years, the diversity of specialties matched into by medical school and a medical school’s USNWR research rank were significantly positively correlated (τb = 0.604, p = < 0.001). Conclusion The authors demonstrated the feasibility of a novel application of an ecological diversity index to better understand the long-term effects of the medical school attended on one’s future career opportunities. Our data suggests that students attending medical schools with higher USNWR research rank have resources that help then become more “competitive” applicants. Utilization of SD may provide a methodology to measure and capture changes and trends within residency selection across time. Clinical trial number: not applicable