Match Day Question...

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Canadian Premed

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As my name states, I'm still a pre-med... anyway doesn't matter. My question is how does Match Day work, do you select three and the program tries to combine your USMLE's, grades, medical school you go to, and compares you to other students going for the same residency, and then chooses if you fit in one of the available spots?

If that's the case then does that mean the medical school you go to matters, since it's gonna give you a better chance? Or is it only grades or honors, or w/e and USMLE's that matter??


What if you don't get matched and then miss the posts in the scramble, what happens then?


Enlighten me...

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You apply to a bunch of programs within a specialty, only some of those programs grant you an interview (based on your stats/letters just like getting a medschool interview). You fly yourself about the country and interview. You make a list that ranks the programs that you interviewed at and the residency directors make a list ranking the applicants that they interviewed. A computer program figures out how to best distribute the medstudents based on who wants them and where they want to go and tells the residency which ranked applicant they get and tells the medstudent which ranked program they get. If you aren't ranked high enough by any of your ranked programs you may not be matched at all, in which case you scramble for open spots.
 
Also: A few days before Match day- you are told by ERAS if you matched to any of your choices or not (On Match day you find out where you matched). Students who find out that they did not match scramble for open spots in the following days- forwarding resumes, making phone calls, etc.. etc.. (Students are given information about programs that have not filled their open spots so in the scramble, medical students across the world will "scramble" to fill these spots up). If you are still not matched, I believe many students apply for research fellowships and whatnot (Many students who applied to really competitive specialties are often those that have to scramble (or students who applied to specialties but do not have the stats to back it up)). These research fellowships tend to be in areas (especialy for derm applicants) that pertain to their field so that they are more competitive in the next go.
 
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(Many students who applied to really competitive specialties are often those that have to scramble (or students who applied to specialties but do not have the stats to back it up)). These research fellowships tend to be in areas (especialy for derm applicants) that pertain to their field so that they are more competitive in the next go.

I heard that some of the competitive specialties have early matches so that if you don't match anywhere in that specialty, you can still try for others. I heard something about this in neuorosurg... not sure if I understood it correctly though.
 
Urology and Ophtho have their own matches. I'm not sure about ORL. Neurology used to, but I heard that they were joining NRMP. For match outcomes in the NRMP, see:

http://www.nrmp.org/matchoutcomes.pdf

Plastics and ortho are included in that booklet, so they must not have their own matches.
 
I heard that some of the competitive specialties have early matches so that if you don't match anywhere in that specialty, you can still try for others. I heard something about this in neuorosurg... not sure if I understood it correctly though.
That might be a good idea if it is true. Do those other "backup" specialties know about this though? I believe I read somewhere that said that it might be a poor idea to apply for more than one specialty on the tenet that you are not dedicated to that particular field of practice. Not sure though...
 
That might be a good idea if it is true. Do those other "backup" specialties know about this though? I believe I read somewhere that said that it might be a poor idea to apply for more than one specialty on the tenet that you are not dedicated to that particular field of practice. Not sure though...

you're right that it doesn't show great dedication, and I'm not sure if the "back up" specialities know. I'm speaking in the context of nsg because that's the field I've read the most about, but with 40% of the people who apply to a nsg residency not matching, it wouldn't be practical just to leave them out to dry. I would hope there's a more reasonable way to find jobs for those who didn't match.
 
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