Cali Post Interview Correspondence

[CAtoBostonDoc]

Long time reader, first time poster, but appreciate learning of everyone's experiences along the match trail. Haven't heard much about California programs post-interview correspondence. Anybody getting love letters/calls from any of the UC schools lately? Particularly interested in UCLA and UCSD, but wouldn't mind hearing about all the other CA schools as well. Thanks and good luck to everyone.

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[jdh71]

Long time reader, first time poster, but appreciate learning of everyone's experiences along the match trail. Haven't heard much about California programs post-interview correspondence. Anybody getting love letters/calls from any of the UC schools lately? Particularly interested in UCLA and UCSD, but wouldn't mind hearing about all the other CA schools as well. Thanks and good luck to everyone.

the culture is such that you should not expect calls from those programs

 

[codeb1ue]

Other than an email from a random resident at Cedars asking if I had any questions, nada.

 

[chitown82]

UCLA "ranked to match" e-mail.

 

[Scaredshizzles]

UCLA "ranked to match" e-mail.

That's interesting, was that from Dr. Friedman?

 

[chitown82]

That's interesting, was that from Dr. Friedman?

Nope.

 

[Scaredshizzles]

Nope.

I'm just a little surprised because I was told there that they pretty much rank everyone they interview because they don't interview all that many more than they need to fill.


BTW, a lot of people have expressed concern over programs like MGH saying you are ranked to match and then you don't match there.Technically, ranked to match really just means that you are on their rank list. Programs like MGH have the luxury of not needing to rank everyone they interview because they interview mnay more than they need to fill. Ranked to match doesn't necessarily mean you are in a spot that is super likely to match, they obviously will rank enough more than they usually need to fill because they don't want to risk going unmatched. Most programs I get the sense rank most of the applicants they interview. When they don't, what happened to Duke a couple of years ago tends to happen.

 

[Frugal Traveler]

I'm just a little surprised because I was told there that they pretty much rank everyone they interview because they don't interview all that many more than they need to fill.


BTW, a lot of people have expressed concern over programs like MGH saying you are ranked to match and then you don't match there.Technically, ranked to match really just means that you are on their rank list. Programs like MGH have the luxury of not needing to rank everyone they interview because they interview mnay more than they need to fill. Ranked to match doesn't necessarily mean you are in a spot that is super likely to match, they obviously will rank enough more than they usually need to fill because they don't want to risk going unmatched. Most programs I get the sense rank most of the applicants they interview. When they don't, what happened to Duke a couple of years ago tends to happen.

Incorrect.

Here's the deal:

If a program tells you straight up that you are "ranked to match," it means that:
Program A has X spots
You are on the ROL from 1-X
If you rank the program # 1, then you will match
Hence, ranked to match

Some programs will use confusing language such as "historically ranked to match."
This means you are not 1-X... but rather 1-Y with Y being the # of spots that they usually go down on the ROL to fill the program.
If the program fills at a lower number, then guess what... if you were Y, then you don't match there despite the e-mail. History did not repeat itself.

MGH uses careful language (not explicit like ranked to match), so a call does not guarantee matching there.

Bottom line: Rank the programs how you like and not based on e-mails or calls.

 

[Scaredshizzles]

Incorrect.

Here's the deal:

If a program tells you straight up that you are "ranked to match," it means that:
Program A has X spots
You are on the ROL from 1-X
If you rank the program # 1, then you will match
Hence, ranked to match

Some programs will use confusing language such as "historically ranked to match."
This means you are not 1-X... but rather 1-Y with Y being the # of spots that they usually go down on the ROL to fill the program.
If the program fills at a lower number, then guess what... if you were Y, then you don't match there despite the e-mail. History did not repeat itself.

MGH uses careful language (not explicit like ranked to match), so a call does not guarantee matching there.

Bottom line: Rank the programs how you like and not based on e-mails or calls.

Source for your definition of matched to rank? While in an ideal world that is what it would mean, and perhaps that is what we hope it means when we hear, I doubt very many programs stick to your definition. Medicine programs are large enough to know around how far down their list they will go, it is not as random as it is with small 2-3 resident programs, like in derm. If a medicine program was only sending ranked to match info to candidates to the top 30 or 40 on their list---they wouldn't even bother doing that. And the reason they wouldn't bother doing that is because the vast majority of programs probably hardly get any of the candidates in the top 40 of their list, with the exception of those candidates who went to med school there. Chances are that if a program loved a candidate so much to put them in the top 30 or 40....that an even better program also though highly of that candidate. The majority of programs in medicine probably only get 3-4 of the candidates they ranked in their top 30...(MGH, BWH, UCSF, Columbia, Upenn, Hopkins probably being the exceptions.) As a result, why would they even bother recruiting their top 30-40 that hard when they know they will only wind up with a handful of them.....Now trying to recruit their top 100 or top 125...that is a different story.

 

[theunderdog]

Source for your definition of matched to rank? While in an ideal world that is what it would mean, and perhaps that is what we hope it means when we hear, I doubt very many programs stick to your definition. Medicine programs are large enough to know around how far down their list they will go, it is not as random as it is with small 2-3 resident programs, like in derm. If a medicine program was only sending ranked to match info to candidates to the top 30 or 40 on their list---they wouldn't even bother doing that. And the reason they wouldn't bother doing that is because the vast majority of programs probably hardly get any of the candidates in the top 40 of their list, with the exception of those candidates who went to med school there. Chances are that if a program loved a candidate so much to put them in the top 30 or 40....that an even better program also though highly of that candidate. The majority of programs in medicine probably only get 3-4 of the candidates they ranked in their top 30...(MGH, BWH, UCSF, Columbia, Upenn, Hopkins probably being the exceptions.) As a result, why would they even bother recruiting their top 30-40 that hard when they know they will only wind up with a handful of them.....Now trying to recruit their top 100 or top 125...that is a different story.

Incorrect.

A former PD actually cleared this up in another thread recently. I'll try to rehash what he/she said, though I'm not great at explaining...

Though it can vary, generally, if a program tells you that you are ranked to match, it means that you are within that magic number in which a program has historically has gone down the list to guarantee match. So just say USC, in the last 6 years, has gone down to #175 on the list each year. If you are #170 on the list, you are "ranked to match." We hear it all the time in which people say they were called, but then they don't match there. This means that most likely, the program filled their spots earlier on the rank list than in previous years. In other words, USC only went down to #160 on the list. Because USC historically has gone down to 175 spots to match, they will call or email the top 175 on the list. Again, just an example.

Other programs, from what I am gathering, will personally call you tell you that you are ranked to match, but honestly, that is a total waste of a phone call. THey would have to call nearly 400-500 applicants. Waste of resources in my opinion.

The first explanation by a former PD makes a lot more sense. In other words, I agree with Frugal Traveler.

 

[Scaredshizzles]

Incorrect.

A former PD actually cleared this up in another thread recently. I'll try to rehash what he/she said, though I'm not great at explaining...

Though it can vary, generally, if a program tells you that you are ranked to match, it means that you are within that magic number in which a program has historically has gone down the list to guarantee match. So just say USC, in the last 6 years, has gone down to #175 on the list each year. If you are #170 on the list, you are "ranked to match." We hear it all the time in which people say they were called, but then they don't match there. This means that most likely, the program filled their spots earlier on the rank list than in previous years. In other words, USC only went down to #160 on the list. Because USC historically has gone down to 175 spots to match, they will call or email the top 175 on the list. Again, just an example.

Other programs, from what I am gathering, will personally call you tell you that you are ranked to match, but honestly, that is a total waste of a phone call. THey would have to call nearly 400-500 applicants. Waste of resources in my opinion.

The first explanation by a former PD makes a lot more sense. In other words, I agree with Frugal Traveler.

?? Actually you agreed with me and disagreed with FT. FT was saying if a program has 45 spots and told you that you ranked to match, it means you are in the top 45 on the match list. What I am saying is pretty much what you are saying, that most programs will tell you ranked to match to most people who fall within the historical norms of how far down the list you go...because it tends to become predictable when you have large numbers, as you do in medicine programs. On the other hand, I also said that technically speaking, ranked to match can simply mean that you made the program's match list....even if you are the last person on it....As a result, MGH can tell everyone on their list they ranked to match without technically lying, although it would be an unethical thing to do imho.