Forensic psychiatry switches to the match

[Trieb]

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It appears that forensic psychiatry fellowship programs have decided to use a matching system via ERAS for the upcoming fellowship application cycle:

Forensic psychiatry fellowship program directors of the Association of Directors of Forensic Psychiatry Fellowships (ADFPF) have chosen to use the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) in the 2025 forensic psychiatry fellow selection process for the 2026-2027 Academic Year. The key dates for the 2026-2027 Academic Year application process are:

• July 2, 2025 - Applicants may apply to forensic psychiatry fellowships via ERAS.
• July 16, 2025 - Forensic psychiatry fellowship programs begin to review applications on the ERAS platform.
• July 16, 2025 and after - Forensic psychiatry fellowship programs interview applicants via Thalamus (or other optional platforms).

Forensic psychiatry fellowship program directors have also chosen to use the National Residency Match Program (NRMP aka "The Match") in the 2025 forensic psychiatry fellow selection process for the 2026-2027 Academic Year. The key dates (tentative) for the 2026-2027 Academic Year Match are:

• August 6, 2025 - Match Registration opens.
• September 3, 2025 - Ranking opens.
• September 17, 2025 - Quota Change and Withdrawal deadline.
• October 8, 2025 - Rank Order List Certification deadline.
• October 22, 2025 - Match Day. Unfilled/Unmatched Lists available.

This is a big change from previous years, in which applicants would apparently receive time-limited ("exploding") offers that could be withdrawn if not immediately accepted. Sounds like this led to a lot of political jockeying and challenging decision-making for applicants.

As a future forensics applicant, this honestly comes as a relief, although there is no guarantee they will continue to use the match after this next cycle. I'm still sorting out how (or whether) this changes the optimal strategy for applicants. My impression from the AAPL conference last year was that a handful of personalities loom very large in the applicant selection process, so I'm imagining that a match might ease the pressure to network aggressively with those folks and try to get an early offer, but who knows. Any thoughts?

 

[comp1]

I'm not sure a more political match exists than forensic psych, so this is a very, very good thing. I don't have any advice, but wow, it's a good thing and I certainly hope they don't backtrack.