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Report on Residents

Table A1. Continuity of Specialty Preference on the Matriculating Student Questionnaire and the 2019 Graduation Questionnaire

The table below displays the number and percentage of U.S. MD students who provided a specialty preference on the 2019 Medical School Graduation Questionnaire (GQ) and also participated in the Matriculating Student Questionnaire (MSQ), which matriculants are invited to complete during the summer before the first year of medical school. Data include 2019 GQ responses for those who indicated their specialty preferences compared with their previous responses on the MSQ. For example, 9.3% of those who indicated a specialty preference of anesthesiology on the 2019 GQ had selected the same specialty on the MSQ when they started medical school; 60.9% had selected a different specialty on the MSQ; 19.1% were undecided; and 10.7% had not responded to the question on the MSQ. Please contact residentreport@aamc.org with any comments or questions.

Selected Finding: Over the course of medical school, most medical students change their intended area of practice. Specifically, just over a quarter (25.6%) of 2019 respondents to the GQ indicated the same specialty preference as they had indicated was their intended area of practice on the MSQ.

Same Specialty Reported on MSQ Different Specialty Reported on MSQ Reported Undecided Specialty on MSQ No MSQ
Response
2019 GQ Specialty Preference 2019 GQ Respondents Who Also Participated in the MSQ Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
{{data.specialty}} {{data.one}} {{data.two}} {{data.three}} {{data.four}} {{data.five}} {{data.six}} {{data.seven}} {{data.eight}} {{data.nine}}

1. "No MSQ Response" includes counts for those who participated in the GQ and the MSQ but did not answer the specialty preference question on the MSQ.

Note: N/A indicates the response option was not available on the MSQ. Counts of individuals who responded "Undecided" on both the GQ and MSQ are displayed in the "Reported Undecided Specialty on MSQ" column. The "Different Specialty Reported on MSQ" column includes those who indicated "Allergy and Immunology" or "Colon and Rectal Surgery" on the MSQ because the response options do not correspond with the 2019 GQ specialty preference options displayed. The MSQ typically receives a response rate between 65% and 72% (e.g., 71.4% in 2018). The 2019 GQ had a response rate of 83.6%.

Source: 2019 GQ as of Aug. 20, 2019, and matching MSQ data from various survey years.

© 2019 Association of American Medical Colleges. May be reproduced and distributed with attribution for educational and noncommercial purposes only.