Can programs limit the number of students from a particular "sister school"?

[pinipig523]

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Hey fellas,

I was wondering, is there any way a program can limit the number of students they get from a particular school (particularly a "sister school") for the match?

Is there an "if then" clause on the program's rank order list...

Like, if 2 match from this school, then drop the remaining students from that particular school off the rank list so as to avoid matching 3, 4, or 5 from that particular school?

Thanks!

 

[SK14CAT]

To my understanding, there are no such clauses, the computer just goes down the school's list just like it goes down the candidates. But I could be wrong. If anyone else has any insight feel free to comment.

 

[Tiger26]

Not sure--but last year 3 people from my school matched EM at our home program

 

[pinipig523]

So there's no way to limit the number by dropping applicants from the match once a certain quota is reached?

 

[Hawkeye Kid]

The only way to do this would be to decide how many applicants you're willing to take from your school and then to rank only that many applicants. The match is the same for programs as it is for applicants--if you rank them you could match them.

 

[USCDiver]

I theory that is the only way, Hawkeye, but in practice, most programs know how far down their list they typically go. They can arrange their list so that only the top (say) 3 students from a particular school are close enough to the top to have a chance to match. Then if something crazy happens they will be more likely to get the others lower down (because a lot of people rank their home program highly) which is better than scrambling. Nothing says "F*ck you" more than when your home program doesn't fill and you didn't match.

 

[Hawkeye Kid]

I theory that is the only way, Hawkeye, but in practice, most programs know how far down their list they typically go. They can arrange their list so that only the top (say) 3 students from a particular school are close enough to the top to have a chance to match. Then if something crazy happens they will be more likely to get the others lower down (because a lot of people rank their home program highly) which is better than scrambling. Nothing says "F*ck you" more than when your home program doesn't fill and you didn't match.

That's a good point, and I suspect that many programs rank "safety" applicants in the same way that many applicants have "safety" programs.