Two hundred and seventy-nine applicants for an orthopaedic residency who
participated in the 1985 match program returned a questionnaire that was
designed to evaluate the candidate's impression of the process of selecting
a residency. The respondents requested information from an average of
thirty-three programs and applied to an average of twenty-two programs. The
candidates who participated in the match each ranked an average of 7.5
orthopaedic residency programs. The candidates assigned a high ranking to
programs in which the morale of the staff was high and the faculty was
committed to teaching. Low morale, poor treatment by people at the
institution, an inadequate commitment to teaching, a disorganized day of
interviews, and a program in transition were the major reasons for not
ranking a program. We concluded that the process is run for the convenience
of the programs, with little regard to the problems that are faced by the
applicants.