Thanks for posting. Hmm... seems not quite as "impressive" (whatever that means) as last year, which is consistent with what a Penn student posted earlier in this thread. I wonder what the percentages are for students matching into their first choice. And, of those who get their first choice, was it *actually* their first choice. Interesting questions, albeit ones that there are usually no answers to...
As a fourth year at Penn, I'm going to come out of SDN lurk mode to ask what doesn't seem "impressive."
🙄 Believe me, I have been to some match days where it was incredibly obvious when people were blatantly unhappy with their matches (including last year when the list was supposedly more "impressive" to you). This year wasn't one of them. People were overall thrilled with their matches and this year's Match Day was a great one to witness. In four years, or whenever you apply to match, you will come to understand a couple of things:
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Every field of medicine has different "powerhouses" and they aren't always hospitals branded with Ivy or otherwise super-prestigous names. In my field, if you asked attendings whether they'd recommend UVA, UPMC/Pitt, or Columbia, the battle would be between UPMC and UVA. Columbia is strong in some other fields, but won't hold a candle to many other programs in my specialty.
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Being in the same vicinity as family, friends, or significant others/fiances (especially the latter) will trump all other factors in how a lot of people make decisions. For some, the worst program is the prestigious one that contractually obligates them to being a 6-hour drive from their fiancees, husbands, sick parents, etc for the next 3-7 years. Fortunately I didn't hear this happened to anyone at Penn but there are cases of this at different med schools every year.
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As a corrolary to the above, location and regionality are HUGE. Strong programs in major cities are very competitive to match. Additionally, for some, the worst program in California beats the #1 program anywhere else in the country.
--The Penn name will certainly open doors and make positive impressions, and the dean's office will do everything they can to make calls to help you get interviews and your 1st choice, but at the end of the day you still have to pull your weight on the boards and on the clerskhips. Going to Penn also never gives anyone license to be timid, personality-less, or (the worst) an arrogant jerk at residency interviews. You are not entitled to ANYTHING when it comes to the match. Simply put:
even if you drive a Mercedes, you still have to keep your eyes on the road. Same principle.
--Yes, it's true that the NRMP and schools are no longer allowed to release or solicit data regarding what position on the rank list students matched. Which to some degree is a shame because it really would reflect student preferences over name-grubbing. I know one girl who really wanted to match at a community program close to home and was actually worried coming from an academically oriented place like Penn would hurt her. She matched there, but it's a shame some outsider will read it and think it wasn't "desirable" because it wasn't a university program. Same goes for a friend who had to choose between two strong programs in the same city for her surgical specialty. She went with the non-Ivy name as her #1 because the Ivy was known to be a malignant place and she didn't want to deal with it for 5 years. She got her #1 and has no regrets. On the flip side, I know of someone last year who matched at a prestgious university program with a great name in her field, and would be many applicants' first choice, but was still in tears because it was not one of HER top choices for a number of factors.
--On the other hand, the NRMP stopped releasing rank data because they didn't want schools to start releasing it as a recruiting tool. Why? One reason may be because
everyone has a different threshold on their list for where they'll be happy. Mine was my top 8. Another person's may be their top 5, for someone else, top 3, for someone else, simply matching would make their day (as may be the case for plastic surgery and dermatology). Particularly when someone is a competitive applicant and interviews entirely at competitive places, matching at #5 may sound "bad" but it could still be a great place that tons of other kids ranked #1 or didn't even get an interview. Most importantly, on that list, it may have been #10 before the applicant was disappointed with the outcome.
Anyway, I say all this so you get a better sense of the factors that go into ranking and matching. The easiest list to judge will the one from your own class in 2014 because then you'll have a gauge of what your classmates really wanted. My own match was in one of the most competitive specialties at one of the hardest programs to score an interview and then match into, but if you're not in my field, you might not necessarily get a sense of it from the name alone. Doesn't change the fact I was jumping for joy on match day and I feel confident I'll be able to pursue whatever fellowship and career path I want coming from that residency training. I'm really humbled to have matched, period, and am starting to get nervous for everything I'll have to know!
Good luck to all of you with your med school careers at Penn (or wherever else you might go....) I certainly have no regrets about having chosen Penn and I hope you are all very happy in four years at your own Match Day!
😉
