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Semin Neurol
DOI: 10.1055/a-2794-0336
Review Article

A New Dawn: Resident Recruitment in the United States in the Post-COVID Era

Authors

  • W. Alexander Dalrymple

    1   Department of Neurology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States

  • Jeffrey B. Ratliff

    2   Department of Neurology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
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Abstract

The widespread adoption of virtual residency interviews in response to the COVID-19 pandemic led to an explosion in literature comparing the pros and cons of virtual and in-person interviews, but also led to an explosion in already-high residency application and interview volumes. While virtual interviews were substantially cheaper for all involved, there is fear that applicants and programs cannot judge one another as well as during in-person interviews. Likewise, increases in application volumes have made holistic application review more challenging for program directors, but the recent rise in “preference signaling” seems to be an optimal solution to that issue. 2020 also saw increased awareness of systemic inequities in the United States, and medical education and residency recruitment was not immune from scrutiny. Finally, the rise of artificial intelligence could again fundamentally change the resident selection process. It is imperative that the GME community continues to adapt to a changing world.

Keywords

residency - interviews - signaling - application - education

Contributors' Statement

W.A.D. contributed conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, software, and writing—original draft, review, and editing. J.B.R. contributed to conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, project administration, resources, supervision, and writing—original draft, review, and editing.




Publication History

Received: 04 August 2025

Accepted: 20 January 2026

Article published online:
19 February 2026

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