DO residency pre-match

[postbacpremed87]

Is pre-matching still allowed at AOA residencies?

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[cliquesh]

DOs cannot prematch acgme programs anymore.

Never heard of aoa prematching.

 

[postbacpremed87]

DOs cannot prematch acgme programs anymore.

Never heard of aoa prematching.

I always thought away rotations were more important for DO programs (ex: Osteo Neurosurg). If they want you and you perform extremely well could they pretty much offer you a spot in the match?

 

[cliquesh]

I always thought away rotations were more important for DO programs (ex: Osteo Neurosurg). If they want you and you perform extremely well could they pretty much offer you a spot in the match?

In the past, when someone pre-matched, they signed a contract right then and there. You didn't have to submit an ERAS (residency) application. You can no longer do this.

As you said, PDs do, at times, unofficially offer people positions, but they also may change their mind if they find a more qualified applicant. Since there is no contract involved in this process, it is possible for you to get burned on match day. But, yes, there is a "good old boy" mentality in the AOA world and people often known where they are going well in advance to match day.

When you apply for residency, you will get emails or phone calls from programs saying "we are going to rank you really high," which basically means if you rank them #1 you can go there if you want.

 

[babdoc]

Think of sports recruiting. A verbal commitment or offer is not binding. A friend of mine got some big nudge nudge wink wink's from his top program only to find he didn't match because he put all of his eggs in that basket. Keep your options open.

 

[SLC]

When you apply for residency, you will get emails or phone calls from programs saying "we are going to rank you really high," which basically means if you rank them #1 you can go there if you want.

I've had my preceptors tell me this is a huge red flag, and to run in the other direction! Basically implying that programs that do this do so in an attempt to get as many people to rank them highly as possible. That somehow this might make the program "appear better"? Having never been through the match, I don't know if that's really the case or not.

I was basically told that if a program tells me to rank them high (and that they're going to do the same), to think about how many other folks they're likely doing that to as well.

What's your take on that?

 

[cliquesh]

I don't know. I think people are pretty honest. I guess it depends if the contact you receive is personalized or mass spam. I got a personal email from my program director telling me he was going to rank me highly. I also received some phone calls from other PDs. One PD hand wrote a page letter. Literally a page. I doubt they'd do this kind of stuff unless they were serious.

I wrote an email of interest to one PD. He said "Sorry. Not likely. However, anything can happen on match day. Good luck." Lolz

 

[SLC]

I don't know. I think people are pretty honest. I guess it depends if the contact you receive is personalized or mass spam. I got a personal email from my program director telling me he was going to rank me highly. I also received some phone calls from other PDs. One PD hand wrote a page letter. Literally a page. I doubt they'd do this kind of stuff unless they were serious.

I wrote an email of interest to one PD. He said "Sorry. Not likely. However, anything can happen on match day. Good luck." Lolz

Good to know. I did see an upperclassman get burned with what was apparently a somewhat generic letter of intent from a program. He dropped out of the AOA match as a result of said letter, and subsequently didn't match. This led to a scramble into a less-desirable AOA program in a field he didn't even want.

That kind of stuff scares me to death.

 

[mommy2three]

I have had only one AOA program this year tell me there was a high probability I would be high on their rank list. Straight AOA programs can do this.

I have also received the generic emails from PD's reflecting on my interview day and remarking that I would be a good fit for their program and one saying he would be happy to see me on his match list.

I am never sure how much stock to put in any of them- I have also heard horror stories. My main thing though is my husband works in a high level professional job and is involved with recruiting/hiring and says that these types of communications should be taken with a grain of salt as the PD's probably have a handful of generic emails that they send based on where someone will land on their rank list.

 

[hallowmann]

I personally know of someone being told by a program to rank them the highest because they will do the same. Match day came, and he didn't match. He ranked that program top, then found out that they didn't even rank him, because they ended up having one spot unmatched. It seems it is in their best interest to have lots of people ranking their programs top in general.

Since then I have been told by many friends and family members associated with residency programs and med schools to never buy statements like that and rank places based on what you want. What they say might be true and it might not, but you won't regret ranking the places in the order you want.