Success in the Pediatric Surgery Match: a survey of the 2010 applicant pool Alana Beres, Robert Baird, Pramod S. Puligandla ⁎ Division of Pediatric General Surgery, The Montreal Children's Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3H1P3 Received 7 February 2011; accepted 11 February 2011 Key words: Pediatric Surgery Match; Ranking; Match application Abstract Background/Purpose: Traditionally, basic science research and publication record have led to a successful Pediatric Surgery Match. With changing applicant research backgrounds, we evaluated if these or other factors still apply. Methods: A SurveyMonkey questionnaire was distributed to 57 applicants with known contact information. We assessed demographic/financial data, application details and match results, research experience, publications, presence of a pediatric surgery fellowship at their home program, and applicant ranking criteria. Results: Forty-three (75%) responses were received. Twenty-five candidates matched, 12 (48%) to 1 of their first 3 choices. The median number of programs applied to was similar for matched and unmatched candidates (30), but matched candidates attended more interviews (21 vs 14.5; P = .03). Matched applicants had more publications (9.5 vs 5.1; P = .03), although research experience was similar to unmatched candidates. Research focus for matched vs total applicants included basic science (5 vs 12), clinical (4 vs 6), and both (11 vs 16). Five candidates matched without research experience. Ten (40%) applicants matched to institutions where they completed residency/research/fellowship training. Twelve (49%) applicants matched from programs without a fellowship program. Conclusion: A strong publication record remains important, although clinical research is being valued more. Candidates from nonfellowship programs can be successful. This information may be useful to mentor future applicants and lays the foundation for a critical evaluation of the match process. © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. The Pediatric Surgery Match remains one of the most highly competitive surgical subspecialty competitions. The average match rate over the last 5 years has ranged from 50% to 57%, with an average of 1.74 applicants per position [1]. Traditionally, applicants have been counseled to complete research training in basic science and to publish in these fields to improve their chances of success [2]. Our institution has noted a change in the applicant's research experience, including applicants with little or no research experience at all. We sought to reevaluate applicant demographics and characteristics to see if the same criteria that previously predicted a successful match outcome were still valid. ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 514 412 4438; fax: +1 514 412 4289. E-mail address: pramod.puligandla@mcgill.ca (P.S. Puligandla). www.elsevier.com/locate/jpedsurg 0022-3468/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2011.02.030 Journal of Pediatric Surgery (2011) 46, 957–961