Medical Can you help me understand match discrepancies?

[Goro]

Hi All,

How is it that most DO schools individually claim a 95%+ residency match, yet NRMP claims appx. 90% match nationwide for DOs? Does this have something to do with "traditional internship year"? And if so, what is this "traditional internship year" anyway? Or is there another reason for the discrepancy? Thanks!

Not all match paths go via NRMP. Mil Match, Uro and Opthal come to mind.

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[tantacles]

The statistics claimed by schools are often calculated differently by the schools than they are by the NRMP. In addition, a school may be counting students who SOAPed, scrambled, or found spots outside of the match either before or after the match as part of their match rate.

 

[Goro]

Can you elaborate on SOAP and scrambling? Does this have to do with the unspecified "internship year"? My understanding is...do well on COMLEX/Step tests...rank your choices for residency programs/apply to them...get them or don't. What are the possible trajectories for people who don't match? Is failing to match more on the student or the school?

SOAP is the second round/last chance/emergency find-a-job mechanism of the match. Basically, if you get shut out of, say all your your Ob/Gyn choices, you then look for any position open, and take their offer. It has to be done rapidly (like within a few days, if not less) hence the name "scramble"

People who don't match do so for several reasons:
Red flags like Boards failures or repeating a year (most common at my school for those who don't match..they're "the usual suspects")
Too few sites on the rank list
Unrealistic sites on the match list (I've seen this happen a number of times
Bad interview skills (typically for my students, these kids have abrasive personalities)
Having failed to match (the PD guide now has categories for MD and DO seniors vs graduates. The latter do worse and are less likely to be ranked/interviewed)
Bad dean's letters or LORs
Evidence of IAs in med school

Failing to match is definitely on the student, but the school is not immune...poor Boards prep, poor rotations etc are also factors. There are several veteran DO schools on my Bad Boy list that have poor match rates and or Board pass rates that are more indicative of a brand new school, and as such this is a double red flag for me.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Many schools report "placement rates" which is different from the "match rate." Placement is how many people actually found a spot in the regular match AND the SOAP. If you found a spot and are employed, you are counted in the placement rate. As you can imagine, the placement rate is going to look much better than the match rate cause not everyone matches and this is why a lot of schools boast this number (which is me is a little shady). I also think that the students who applied urology, military, etc are NOT counted in the match rate as they didn't go "unmatched." If you match into a transitional year or "TRI," you MATCHED (as long as you didn't SOAP into that position) and would be counted in the match rate. It is kinda confusing.

The SOAP is super stressful as I know multiple people who went through it last year and I was sweating just hearing what they had to go through. Basically it's a week-long process of you doing multiple mini-interviews and mini-matches (3 to be exact). If at the end of those three rounds you don't find a place (which is most likely not going to be in your specialty/location of choice) you are unemployed.

As long as you apply smart and have a backup, you most likely will find a spot. Most people who don't find a spot in the regular match don't apply to programs that match with their scores (for example, applying to MGH ortho with a 210 Step 1), or applying to places only in one geographic region or applying to a really competitive specialty without a backup.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Thank you, this helps a lot, too. And yes that's what I meant, the "transitional" year not 'traditional.' What exactly is one practicing during a transitional year? Are there people who actually choose this (i.e. they're still undecided) or is it definitely a last-resort kind of thing?

Transitional years are basically a fifth year of medical school. You rotate through different specialties. In many specialties (radiology, dermatology, anesthesiology) your first year (PGY-1) you are in a transitional year.

So long story short, for some it’s your PGY1 year before your real specialty, for others it’s because they didn’t match and need a job before they reapply the next year and try again.