Unveiling the Need to Improve Personalized Applicant Tools: A Critical Evaluation of the Reliability of the Texas STAR database in Predicting Match Success for Plastic Surgery Applicants.

Texas STAR is a resourceful and reliable tool. We conclude that a research year and geographic connections are strong predictors of matching in plastic surgery. However, more factors (e.g., applicants' home medical school, number of sub internships, and number of mentors) should be considered to make a well-informed decision on determining their own competitiveness, away rotations and residency programs.