Scrambling, how to do it?

HP11 · Oct 29, 2005

I know people do not want to go through this process, but, some of us might. How does the scrambling process work? Can someone who has been through it explain the whole process clearly for those of us who don't know, so at least we can be ready. Thanks

njbmd · Oct 29, 2005

HP11 said:
I know people do not want to go through this process, but, some of us might. How does the scrambling process work? Can someone who has been through it explain the whole process clearly for those of us who don't know, so at least we can be ready. Thanks

Hi there,
I helped my best friend scramble last year. Here is how it worked for her. She received notification on the Monday before the Match that she did not match. On Tuesday, she reported to her Deans office at 10AM. She had copies of her ERAS application and had access to a computer.

At 11:30 (her Dean gave the scramblers the Scramble list 30 minutes before it was officially released), she made a list of programs that had vacancies that she wanted to apply to. At noon, she sent ERAS applications to unfilled programs and faxed her ERAS application to others. (Last year, you could use ERAS for the Scramble unlike in previous years).

By 12:30, she had phone calls from four programs that wanted her and had signed a contract by 1pm.

The key to the scramble is having a fax machine handy and getting the list of unfilled programs as early as possible. This list goes to the Deans offices at 11:30AM and to everyone else at 12 noon. By getting the list early, she could apply to programs and hit the "Send" button at noon.

The other thing is that you do not want to be trying to scramble into a competitive residency. There are not many categorical general surgery, orthopedic surgery, anesthesia, emergency medicine or ENT slots out there on Scramble day. There are a good number of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Family Practice positions out there.

If you are applying for a competitive residency make sure that you have applied to enough programs to have 10-15 interview invitations. If you do not get enough interviews, you may have a difficult time matching. It does not hurt for you to apply to your dream program and rank it first if you manage to interview there but you NEED to have enough interviews. My friend made the mistake of not applying to enough programs and thus she had to scramble into Internal Medicine. She managed to get into a good program but she was fortunate.

I hope that this helps and and Good luck!
njbmd

HP11 · Oct 29, 2005

thanks.

so, for programs that accept ERAS, one can just send their ERAS application online when scrambling, or have to send a paper ERAS via Fax?

njbmd · Oct 29, 2005

HP11 said:
thanks.

so, for programs that accept ERAS, one can just send their ERAS application online when scrambling, or have to send a paper ERAS via Fax?

Hi there,
If you talk to the program and they are downloading through ERAS, you can send your application through ERAS. Some places will not use ERAS and will want you to fax hardcopies. For my friend, some places wanted fax and some downloaded ERAS.

More programs may use ERAS this year since it was such a big hit last year.

njbmd

pa2do · Oct 29, 2005

njbmd said:
Hi there,
I helped my best friend scramble last year. Here is how it worked for her. She received notification on the Monday before the Match that she did not match. On Tuesday, she reported to her Deans office at 10AM. She had copies of her ERAS application and had access to a computer.

At 11:30 (her Dean gave the scramblers the Scramble list 30 minutes before it was officially released), she made a list of programs that had vacancies that she wanted to apply to. At noon, she sent ERAS applications to unfilled programs and faxed her ERAS application to others. (Last year, you could use ERAS for the Scramble unlike in previous years).

By 12:30, she had phone calls from four programs that wanted her and had signed a contract by 1pm.

The key to the scramble is having a fax machine handy and getting the list of unfilled programs as early as possible. This list goes to the Deans offices at 11:30AM and to everyone else at 12 noon. By getting the list early, she could apply to programs and hit the "Send" button at noon.

The other thing is that you do not want to be trying to scramble into a competitive residency. There are not many categorical general surgery, orthopedic surgery, anesthesia, emergency medicine or ENT slots out there on Scramble day. There are a good number of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Family Practice positions out there.

If you are applying for a competitive residency make sure that you have applied to enough programs to have 10-15 interview invitations. If you do not get enough interviews, you may have a difficult time matching. It does not hurt for you to apply to your dream program and rank it first if you manage to interview there but you NEED to have enough interviews. My friend made the mistake of not applying to enough programs and thus she had to scramble into Internal Medicine. She managed to get into a good program but she was fortunate.

I hope that this helps and and Good luck!
njbmd

NJBMD: Just out of curiosity, how many programs did your friend apply to in internal medicine? Thanks

njbmd · Oct 29, 2005

pa2do said:
NJBMD: Just out of curiosity, how many programs did your friend apply to in internal medicine? Thanks

Hi there,
She applied to six in the original Match and applied to 10 in the scramble. You really need to make sure that you have at least 10-15 solid interviews in places that you want to be. She ended up at Bay State (Tufts) but she was interested in being further south.

njbmd

HP11 · Oct 29, 2005

Thanks!

Just emailed the Dean to make sure they get the list from both matches since I'm osteopathic. It's just a worse case scenario. I suggest others do the same. You never know about these things until it happens and you're left with these expressions

on your face.

A. Melanoleuca · Oct 30, 2005

The best thing is not to scramble. Trust me. But with that being said, you need to have a plan in place before that dreadful day when you find out that you didn't match.

In other words, unless you are AOA and have fifteen solid interviews at small community Family Medicine programs, ask yourself what you will do if you don't match and fail to scramble into your chosen specialty.

It happened to me and since I didn't have a plan I made a big mistake in the scramble.

First of all you will find out monday afternoon if you matched and have to scramble the next day. For me, this was panic time mostly. I was in shock and I felt humilated, neither of which constitute a good mindset for formulating a back up plan. In hindsight it shouldn't have been so difficult to formulate a decent plan. How hard should it be to decide on a preliminary year or to try a differnet specialty? I should add that I am older, much older, than most of you reading so an extra year, while nothing to you, was at the time a big consideration.

Then of course you can get in the mindset that you are a failure and might as well settle for some less than desirable (to you) specialty. By the time the scramble got into gear I had not really made up my mind what I wanted to do, tried a few of the open programs in the specialty I wanted, got no answer and ducked into an opening in a different specialty almost on a whim because it had a good name and they offered me a spot.

Mind you this was a specialty that I had not previously considered in a program that I knew nothing about and while I didn't hate the specialty it never really excited me.

Talk about dumb. Now I find myself having pretty much wasted a year anyways, facing another intern year next year, and one more year farther away from making any real money to support my growing family and long-suffering but most excellent wife.

I'm not proud of this turn of events. I own it completely however and I am just relating it for your edification and as a cautionary tale.

HP11 · Oct 30, 2005

That's exactly why I'm emphasizing this. Going for a competitive residency, I feel it's in my best interest to consider the worst-case scenario.

robotsonic · Oct 30, 2005

Would it look bad if someone who didn't match decided NOT to scramble, and just take a year off doing something else?

I'm applying for general surgery, which is likely to have very few categorical spots open during the scramble. So if I don't match, my choices are to take a prelim position or take a year off (there is no way I would do another specialty; surgery is the only path for me). I don't really want to do a prelim year, since that would most likely mean reapplying for categorical and then having to repeat intern year. But will it look bad if I don't scramble and decide to take a year off for research?

Chief Resident · Oct 30, 2005

robotsonic said:
Would it look bad if someone who didn't match decided NOT to scramble, and just take a year off doing something else?

I'm applying for general surgery, which is likely to have very few categorical spots open during the scramble. So if I don't match, my choices are to take a prelim position or take a year off (there is no way I would do another specialty; surgery is the only path for me). I don't really want to do a prelim year, since that would most likely mean reapplying for categorical and then having to repeat intern year. But will it look bad if I don't scramble and decide to take a year off for research?

If you don't get a categorical spot in GS then I've heard it's better to take a prelim spot rather than take a "year off" even if it is for research. At least with a prelim in GS you'll show that you're dedicated and will make some connections for a categorical spot at the same or other program. Repeating intern year would suck if you don't transfer from your prelim spot to a categorical PGY2 spot but if your desire to do surgery is as strong as you say then you need to suck it up and do 2 intern years if needed. Residents have done more (one person I knew did prelim PGY1, prelim PGY2 and then matched into categorical and had to start again at PGY1).

robotsonic · Oct 30, 2005

Chief Resident said:
If you don't get a categorical spot in GS then I've heard it's better to take a prelim spot rather than take a "year off" even if it is for research. At least with a prelim in GS you'll show that you're dedicated and will make some connections for a categorical spot at the same or other program. Repeating intern year would suck if you don't transfer from your prelim spot to a categorical PGY2 spot but if your desire to do surgery is as strong as you say then you need to suck it up and do 2 intern years if needed. Residents have done more (one person I knew did prelim PGY1, prelim PGY2 and then matched into categorical and had to start again at PGY1).

Yeah, it wouldn't be horrible to do 2 years of internship, but it would suck

(I can't complain, though - a lot of my friends are doctors from India. Most of them COMPLETED residencies in India (at top places) and then decided to come here and had to start all over again, from internship. And they have to train at crappy places because they are FMGs, despite the fact that some of them are absolute geniuses. So yeah, I can't complain.)

It seems unlikely that I won't match, but I guess there is always a chance. And since you have heard that it is better to take the prelim spot, I'll have to discuss it with my advisor. I was just planning on doing research if I didn't match. I haven't done research in surgical fields and would like to get involved, but I don't want that to hurt my chances for a categorical spot.

shortcoat · Nov 2, 2005

I'm applying for ENT and the interviews aren't coming in the way I had hoped. I didn't apply for gen surg as an alternative, b/c I really don't want to be a general surgeon. Is it feasable to make a jump to an IM program during the scramble if I don't match?

Hitch · Jan 29, 2006

Scrambling, how to do it?

HP11

Member

njbmd

HP11

Member

njbmd

pa2do

pa2do

njbmd

HP11

Member

A. Melanoleuca

HP11

Member

robotsonic

Senior Member

Chief Resident

Membership Revoked

robotsonic

Senior Member

shortcoat

Junior Member

Hitch

Alfred J.

Similar threads