There’s No Place Like Home: Evaluating Trends in the 2023 Ophthalmology Match

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate trends in home-institution match rates during the 2023 ophthalmology match cycle and identify factors contributing to the observed rise in home-institution matching. Design: We obtained match results from the 2023 SF match database and annotated each applicant with their home institution. Chi-squared tests were used to compare 2023 home institution match rates with match rates from preceding years. Additionally, we retrieved data on letter writers and their primary affiliations for 441 applicants from the 2023 Cole Eye match database. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationship between letter writer affiliation and whether applicants matched at their home institution. Results: In 2023, the home institution match rate was significantly higher than rates in years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic (2017-2020). Furthermore, the number of home institution-affiliated letter writers positively correlated (r = .3, p < .0001) with and increased the likelihood of an applicant matching at their home institution (RR 4.5, CI: 2.2-9.4, p = 0.0001). Conclusions: Despite easing pandemic restriction on away rotations, home-institution match rates for ophthalmology applicants remained elevated in 2023. We also found that the primary affiliation of letter writers was an important factor influencing where an applicant matches.