Plastic surgery applicants in 1992.

All the applicants to plastic surgery residency programs who participated in the residency matching program for 1992 were reviewed. Data were collected on age, sex, race, nationality, place of birth, undergraduate education, medical education, postgraduate training, research activity, and evaluation scores. Findings indicate that applicants interested in academic careers are significantly more likely to have published research and are generally rated higher in categories of intellectual curiosity, performance, and intelligence by evaluators. Women and some minorities were underrepresented when compared with recent medical school graduating classes. We recommend a longitudinal study of applicants to correlate career achievement with applicant characteristics. We also recommend some changes in the application and evaluation process and in efforts to interest women and minorities in the specialty.