Potentially discriminatory questions during residency interviews: frequency and effects on residents' ranking of programs in the national resident matching program

Medical students rank residency programs as part of the selection process in the National Resident Matching Program, also known as the match. Applicants to medical residency positions are protected against discriminatory employment practices by federal employment laws. To explore students' recall of being asked potentially illegal or discriminatory questions during the selection interview, and whether these questions affected students' ranking of the programs in the match. Fourth-year medical students from a single medical school were surveyed after the match. Students were questioned about their recall of the frequency of potentially illegal or discriminatory interview questions and their effect on the program's rank. Ninety percent of the 63 respondents in the study remember being asked at least one potentially discriminatory question. Among these, students were asked about their marital status (86%), about children (31%), about plans for pregnancy (10%), where they were born (54%) and/or about their national origin (15%), and about religious and ethical beliefs (24%). The majority of students did not think the questions changed their decision to rank the program, although the questions changed the way some students ranked the program, either lowering or raising the rank. Nearly all students reported that they were asked at least one potentially discriminatory question, although these questions for the most part do not appear to affect whether they ranked the programs.