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[ERDOC555]

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[gyngyn]

Hello all!

I was looking at University of Miami's match list for the past 5 years and it seemed like they not only had a lot of people enter competitive specialties, but also the programs and hospitals I saw tended to look more well-known among all specialties.

I don't have much experience comparing match lists, so could someone who knows more about what they're talking about chime in? Does Miami have an impressive match list or am I just misinterpreting it?

Moreover, how does one try to gain useful knowledge from a match list?

The only one capable of really understanding a match list is the Student Affairs Dean in charge of career counseling. everything else is a generalization.

 

[Mansamusa]

For Miami, they match especially well in ophthalmology because their eye institute has been ranked #1 since 2004 (that is the only useful tidbit you can really get from Miami's match list)

It is better to compare programs rather than match lists. Miami has a strong program, good research and clinical opportunities, and has lots of home residency programs that are good for getting necessary LORs

 

[CopaceticOne]

I'll quote myself to give you my hint for understanding match lists:

People gravitate to various fields because of who they are and what they want. And they choose their desired residency programs (i.e. institutions) for a variety of reasons: educational opportunities, patient demographics, proximity to family, regional preference, culture of the residents/faculty, and overall gut-feeling about a program. I have multiple classmates who are AOA that want to go into Family Medicine - and that is awesome. In the end, my classmates are pursuing a spectrum of specialities because each of us is unique. Many changed their minds about the fields they would pursue over the course of our time here - something that is very common since you don't know what you don't know.

I wanted to give you this info before the chaos of medical school applicants critiquing various match lists to determine the "best school". Because in the end, the match results much more speak to the diversity of the individuals in the class than to the "quality" of a medical school.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Of course it's the new guy with "Derm" in his tag that posts about match lists...

They really only show the "flavor" of the class. Many people opt for "less prestigious" programs in whatever field often for things such as location, family and what not. While sometimes fun to look at they really don't tell you anything important. Sometimes it can be better to look at the strength of the home program for whatever field you are interested in. That can give you some good info.

Eg. If you are interested in NS and you see that your school has a great NS program then that can mean good exposure, home rotations, good letters, connections etc.

 

[NickNaylor]

Hello all!

I was looking at University of Miami's match list for the past 5 years and it seemed like they not only had a lot of people enter competitive specialties, but also the programs and hospitals I saw tended to look more well-known among all specialties.

I don't have much experience comparing match lists, so could someone who knows more about what they're talking about chime in? Does Miami have an impressive match list or am I just misinterpreting it?

Moreover, how does one try to gain useful knowledge from a match list?

Do not look at match lists unless you know every student's individual rank list, why they chose the institutions they wanted to go to, and where on their list they ultimately matched. Independent of those things, match lists can't give you much useful information.

For example, I matched at my #1, but the program is not a "power" program (though it's regionally a great program) because going to a "power" program wasn't important to me. I didn't even apply to programs in the northeast, so if you're looking for a Harvard/Yale/whatever-affiliated program next to my name you won't find it because my wife had no interest in going to the northeast. Looking at the list, you may not be impressed with the institution next to my name, yet I matched at my #1. I would consider that a success. Without that information, though, you have no idea if I was a terrible applicant or where I ended up on my rank list in order to end up at a relatively "non-prestigious" program. I also chose what is quite possibly the least competitive field in medicine; not because I had to, but because it's what I wanted to do with my life. How are you going to differentiate a guy (not me) that's AOA, got a 250+ on step 1, and was in general an outstanding medical student yet wanted to go into family medicine or pediatrics or psychiatry from the poor student who really had no options in terms of what they could apply into? You can't.

This is the difficulty of interpreting match lists.

 

[Law2Doc]

To echo everyone else, you can glean less than you think from a match list for many reasons.
(1) you only see what people got, not what they wanted or could get. If everyone gets their first choice that's better than everyone getting their tenth choice but the list looking objectively more prestigious. I.e. if a bunch of the top people choose IM or peds, that doesn't mean they couldn't have gotten Derm or ortho.
(2) you don't really know what are the better programs in each specialty. It's not the same list in every field. Even the most prestigious hospital is weak in one or two things. And in some fields there are places you might not have heard of that are actually regarded as quite prestigious. As a premed you can't know this. Even in med school you won't know the hierarchy in every specialty. A lot of this comes down to sitting down with mentors during 3rd year. Similarly there are some very prestigious named programs with bad reputations for malignancy that should be nobodies first choice. How are you as premed going to know, just seeing the name on paper?
(3) people coming out of med school are influenced by a lot of things in life, might be geographically impacted, family/spouse impacted, etc. it's not like college where the goal is merely to focus in on the most prestigious thing they can get. People aren't 20 anymore. So what you think is a poor choice might be something a person was thrilled worked out so well on match day.

So looking at match lists as a premed are pretty much a waste of time. Worse than that they are often misleading because they are being based on assumptions that if made in a vacuum are more likely than not to be false. We get that you are grasping for things that will help you make a smarter decision, but unfortunately those who are further along will generally tell you this isn't your holy grail.