LAUSR

Orthopedic fellowships first became popular in the 1970s.1 In recent decades, the number of residents pursuing postresidency fellowship training has increased, leading to further specialization within the field.2,3 Aside from increased clinical knowledge and surgical skill development, fellowship training has been shown to increase employment prospects and compensation for orthopedic surgeons.4,5 The modern orthopedic fellowship match was established in 2008 to provide a fairer and more organized process for matching residents to fellowship.6,7 Since then, studies have attempted to quantify the factors that affect the application process, determine how residents establish a rank list, and elucidate the time and financial impact of the fellowship match process.7–9 Although informative, these studies provide little or no information specific to the spine surgery fellowship match and its applicants. The spine fellowship match is unique because it includes both orthopedic and neurosurgical residents. Moreover, trends and behaviors may change over time. Here, we identified factors considered most important by spine fellowship applicants when evaluating fellowship programs and provided benchmark cost and application statistics for the spine fellowship match. We also present the best practices in terms of characterizing what programs consider important when evaluating applicants and what applicants should consider when constructing their rank lists.