PURPOSE Medical students who desire a career in plastic surgery must compete for entry into the few coveted residency positions in the United States. Our goal is to evaluate the objective and subjective data used by plastic surgery program directors to help select which candidates to interview. Such data include United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE) scores, Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) status, number of publications, clerkship scores, dean’s letters, and the formal interview. Whether such data can be utilized to reliably predict future performance is not known. Hypotheses: (1) Residents with USMLE step 1 and 2 scores at or below the survey mean (group A) produce more publications during residency than those students whose scores are above the survey mean (group B); (2) group B residents score higher on USMLE step 3 and on in-service examinations; and (3) group B residents who publish more papers than group A residents cannot be predicted.

METHOD Data on 50 years of graduated plastic surgery residents from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston were compiled. NBME/USMLE scores, in-service exam scores, number of publications, Alpha Omega Alpha status, and clerkship scores were recorded from resident files.

RESULTS One hundred resident files were evaluated at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to collect data for the study. Results: Fourteen records contained records of the three in-service examination scores. Nine of 14 residents published at least one paper before starting residency. Five of the 14 resident files had USMLE scores available, which averaged 190 ± 18. Two of 14 residents received AOA status before beginning residency training. In-service exam scores during plastic surgery training averaged 58 ± 10 for first year residents, 62 ± 7 for second year residents, and 66 ± 8 for third year residents.

CONCLUSION No correlation of USMLE scores could be made to in-service exam scores. More complete resident files are needed from multiple plastic surgery residency programs to adequately determine what objective data can best be utilized for selecting residents. Additional screening tools should be employed to evaluate and select medical students for plastic surgery resident programs.