Most fourth-year medical students are eagerly awaiting noon on Monday of Match week to find out if they matched. If they didn't match or matched to a second-year position but not first-year, these is a process called the "Scramble" that they will be taking part in if they do not have a PGY-1 position. The majority of US medical school seniors will match if the process has worked well. By process, I mean that they have ranked places that interviewed them and the places that interviewed them, have ranked them. The computer attempts to match the applicants highest choice with the place that ranked them the highest. Most of the time, the process works out fine but sometimes it doesn't and an applicant will know on Monday if they need to actively look for a position.
There will be a scramble list published on noon of Tuesday that will include programs that didn't fill all of their PGY-1 slots. Some programs will elect to offer positions to people who applied outside of the match. This means that you need to be aware that many programs that you might have applied to will fill from people who have either applied and are eligible to accept a position outside of the match which means that those programs may show open slots but those slots are filled (usually by FMGs who have already signed contracts). The only way to find out that a slot on the scramble list is truly open is to call the program on scramble day and find an open slot. You also need to have your application materials ready to fax/send by e-mail thus you would need to be next to a fax machine or have your materials in electronic form and ready to send if requested.
On scramble day, programs that didn't fill (and want to fill) will have the program director and a couple of faculty, reviewing applications received and ready to make an offer of a contract on the spot. This is why is makes sense to be at your medical school (most schools will have a scramble set up) and have your materials ready to send. On scramble day, some programs that show openings will be literally deluged by unsolicited faxed applications from commercial services for applicants who didn't match. Most of those folks will receive an e-mail that stated that the program will not review unsolicited applications. Some unmatched applicants will spend literally hundreds of dollars with commercial services that will sent applications but be aware that unless you have spoken to a program, they are not likely to review your application.
Many very high-powered and excellent residency programs may not fill for a variety of reasons from clerical errors to not interviewing enough candidates. Every year some places that have national reputations may have openings. Most years, the preliminary spots at many programs will not fill completely because not enough people applied for those slots. This means that a US grad (who is at their medical school on scramble day) stands a good chance of getting into one of those unfilled preliminary spots. Many programs will call deans looking for unmatched candidates for slots which is a great way to snag an open position at a top-ranked program.
The scramble situation is very stressful for those who go through it but the worst case scenario is that an applicant spends one year in a preliminary position and enters the match as stronger candidate the next year having done one year of excellent work. If a candidate accepts a preliminary position, they have to work very hard to be sure that they get good letters and good experience to take into the Match for the next year. Most good program directors will help a preliminary candidate find a categorical position for the next year if they have done an outstanding job with the preliminary year. In short, doing a prelim year isn't the end of the world and can provide valuable time for making good contacts with programs that interest you for the next year. If you know that you will be going into the Match after a preliminary year, be prepared to make sure that your letters and application materials are sent to your medical school for uploading as early as possible. You don't want to risk not matching a second time.
My other piece of advice for anyone reading this post who receives a letter on Monday that says they are going to scramble, is that you need to immediately contact your dean of students at your medical school. You don't want to try to go through the scramble from a remote location without having the advantage of experienced people to help you through this. You need to learn as much about the process as you can in the 24 hours before the scramble starts. Positions, even the preliminary ones, will go very quickly. If you find that you don't have a PGY-1 position after the first 24 hours of the scramble, you are going to need to contact your medical school to let them know. Again, programs that don't fill (or who have open positions) will contact the deans at medical schools looking for candidates first. You want to be sure to let your school administration know that you are looking for a job.
To those that match and don't make the mistake of thinking that you are inferior because you didn't get your first or second choice. If you didn't have to scramble, you are definitely more fortunate that those who end up with no position for the next year. If you ranked the places that you would accept a job and you received a position, you are ready to start your residency. No one who goes through the scramble would ever say that the situation is wonderful but it's part of the experience and with that experience comes wisdom.
Showing posts with label Match Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Match Day. Show all posts
11 March 2011
07 March 2007
As Match Day Approaches...
The residency interviews are over and you have submitted your Rank List to the NRMP. If you have been fortunate as I was, you have been guided along this process by more senior medical students and/or a good faculty advisor. In any event, at this point in the process, that is less than a week to the point where you find out if you have matched or not, you are nervous but excited; depressed but hopeful; and a couple of hundred other emotions that fit the situation of having your immediate future in the hands of a computer.
During your third year of medical school, as you moved through your clinical rotations, you should have been collecting your letters of recommendation from your clinical preceptors. At my medical school, these letters were sent to the Dean of Students for inclusion in your file and made available for you to designate when you filled out your ERAS application. (ERAS is Electronic Residency Application Service). It was up to you to ask for the letters and up to you to make sure that the letters were in your file by the appropriate deadlines.
I had the added advantage of making sure that my personal statement, CV and letters were done very early. I had to apply for one of my away-rotations which had an early deadline. This rotation application needed the exact same content as my residency application so I was done long before I needed to be done. My application for this away rotation netted me a full-scholarship to cover travel costs and housing costs at my rotation location. During third year, investigate some possible away rotations that have scholarships attached. This does cut down on expenses during travel season.
As Match Day approaches, there is a tendancy to listen to all kinds of rumors that abound. Some people will try to say that you need 15 interviews in order to insure a match. If you are a marginal applicant to a competitive speciality, you might need 50 and still not match. If you are limited by geography and have a solid relationship established with a program, you actually only need one interview especially if you are a strong candidate for that program.
If you do not match, the Monday before Match Day, you will receive an e-mail that lets you know that you did not match. If you find that you are the recipient of this e-mail, you should contact your Dean's office immediately and find out what services are going to be availble for you during the Scramble.
The Scramble allows unmatched applicants to apply to any unfilled positions in any programs across the United States. In order to receive the list, you have to be unmatched, and in order to make sure that you application is ready to be faxed or e-mailed to programs with openings, you need to have all of your materials. You can print out a copy of your ERAS CV but you will need copies of your Dean's Letter and LORs which you should be able to get at your Dean's office. In addition, you need to have copies of your USMLE score reports and you need a copy of your personal statement.
A great advantage of being in your Deans office is that there are usually plenty of phone lines and fax machines available for you. If a program has an opening, they usually notify Dean's offices and your Dean can speak directly to a program director on your behalf. In any event, scramble from your Dean's office if at all possible. You can also find plenty of great classmates to help you man the fax machine and speak to program directors for you. (I helped a couple of classmates scramble and thus I learned loads about the process). Another advantage of being in the Deans office is that the Dean gets the unfilled list 30 minutes before it is available to the unmatched candidates. This gives you a 30-minute head start on getting your materials loaded in the fax machine and ready to go at nooon.
If you matched, you have to wait another three days to find out where you have matched. This can be more unnerving than finding finding out that you didn't match. On Match Day, many people have so much emotion pent up that they end up crying or depressed. I can tell you that as soon as you find out where you are going, you need to start looking for a place to live unless you have interviewed at places in the same location as your medical school and know that you don't have to move.
My medical school held a Long White Coat Ceremony on Match Day. On that day, we all received letters that told us where we would be going. At noon, we could open those letters and thus, we waited until everyone had letter in hand. We also received a Long White Coat with our names and the specialty that we had matched into. For some folks, they didn't know the specialty so they ended up with a nice long white coat that had their name and M.D. In any event, it was a great ceremony. We all open champagne and celebrated for the rest of the day. The first and second year students got the afternoon off so that they could participate in out fun too. I must say, that every year, I always enjoyed Match Day but I enjoyed it more when I was the "Matchee".
Match Day is a time of high emotions and expectations. It's far more charged than graduation day. On graduation day, everyone is just happy to have the whole situation over and done with. On Match Day, the anticipation is very high and we really do not know what to expect. The whole Match algorithm makes little sense and it is difficult to know why you ended up in the position that you ended up in. It's great to get your top choice but ask anyone who has scrambled and they will tell you that it is good to get any match at all. If you planned on going into a competitive specialty and found that you did not match, it can be pretty unsettling to end up in a preliminary position in a town or city that you did not plan to move to with the prospect of going back into the Match next year.
I have to say that going into the Match for fellowship is much better than residency. If I don't match into a fellowship, then I know for sure that I at least will be able to practice my specialty. It's a small victory but it's a victory.
During your third year of medical school, as you moved through your clinical rotations, you should have been collecting your letters of recommendation from your clinical preceptors. At my medical school, these letters were sent to the Dean of Students for inclusion in your file and made available for you to designate when you filled out your ERAS application. (ERAS is Electronic Residency Application Service). It was up to you to ask for the letters and up to you to make sure that the letters were in your file by the appropriate deadlines.
I had the added advantage of making sure that my personal statement, CV and letters were done very early. I had to apply for one of my away-rotations which had an early deadline. This rotation application needed the exact same content as my residency application so I was done long before I needed to be done. My application for this away rotation netted me a full-scholarship to cover travel costs and housing costs at my rotation location. During third year, investigate some possible away rotations that have scholarships attached. This does cut down on expenses during travel season.
As Match Day approaches, there is a tendancy to listen to all kinds of rumors that abound. Some people will try to say that you need 15 interviews in order to insure a match. If you are a marginal applicant to a competitive speciality, you might need 50 and still not match. If you are limited by geography and have a solid relationship established with a program, you actually only need one interview especially if you are a strong candidate for that program.
If you do not match, the Monday before Match Day, you will receive an e-mail that lets you know that you did not match. If you find that you are the recipient of this e-mail, you should contact your Dean's office immediately and find out what services are going to be availble for you during the Scramble.
The Scramble allows unmatched applicants to apply to any unfilled positions in any programs across the United States. In order to receive the list, you have to be unmatched, and in order to make sure that you application is ready to be faxed or e-mailed to programs with openings, you need to have all of your materials. You can print out a copy of your ERAS CV but you will need copies of your Dean's Letter and LORs which you should be able to get at your Dean's office. In addition, you need to have copies of your USMLE score reports and you need a copy of your personal statement.
A great advantage of being in your Deans office is that there are usually plenty of phone lines and fax machines available for you. If a program has an opening, they usually notify Dean's offices and your Dean can speak directly to a program director on your behalf. In any event, scramble from your Dean's office if at all possible. You can also find plenty of great classmates to help you man the fax machine and speak to program directors for you. (I helped a couple of classmates scramble and thus I learned loads about the process). Another advantage of being in the Deans office is that the Dean gets the unfilled list 30 minutes before it is available to the unmatched candidates. This gives you a 30-minute head start on getting your materials loaded in the fax machine and ready to go at nooon.
If you matched, you have to wait another three days to find out where you have matched. This can be more unnerving than finding finding out that you didn't match. On Match Day, many people have so much emotion pent up that they end up crying or depressed. I can tell you that as soon as you find out where you are going, you need to start looking for a place to live unless you have interviewed at places in the same location as your medical school and know that you don't have to move.
My medical school held a Long White Coat Ceremony on Match Day. On that day, we all received letters that told us where we would be going. At noon, we could open those letters and thus, we waited until everyone had letter in hand. We also received a Long White Coat with our names and the specialty that we had matched into. For some folks, they didn't know the specialty so they ended up with a nice long white coat that had their name and M.D. In any event, it was a great ceremony. We all open champagne and celebrated for the rest of the day. The first and second year students got the afternoon off so that they could participate in out fun too. I must say, that every year, I always enjoyed Match Day but I enjoyed it more when I was the "Matchee".
Match Day is a time of high emotions and expectations. It's far more charged than graduation day. On graduation day, everyone is just happy to have the whole situation over and done with. On Match Day, the anticipation is very high and we really do not know what to expect. The whole Match algorithm makes little sense and it is difficult to know why you ended up in the position that you ended up in. It's great to get your top choice but ask anyone who has scrambled and they will tell you that it is good to get any match at all. If you planned on going into a competitive specialty and found that you did not match, it can be pretty unsettling to end up in a preliminary position in a town or city that you did not plan to move to with the prospect of going back into the Match next year.
I have to say that going into the Match for fellowship is much better than residency. If I don't match into a fellowship, then I know for sure that I at least will be able to practice my specialty. It's a small victory but it's a victory.
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