A
ana
I just got an email regarding this new AAMC service. This is the way it works: it functions as a post-match clearing house for programs with spots to fill and for unmatched applicants. Pior to the ERAS/NRMP match, you pay $30 to post your resume/ERAS application/other inf. AFTER match day, this fee more than doubles to $75. My understanding is that there is no refund if you do not use their services to scramble.
This is very interesting to me for many reasons. I do feel that it may be very useful for applicants to have the process centralized. I watched some people scramble, and it seems all very haphazard and stressful. There are a few things that bother me:
1. I don't like the idea of paying a different price for using their services postmatch day. It's as if you are being asked to buy insurance. Most applicants I know are pretty anxious and paranoid about not matching anyway -- I can see how many of them would have paid $30 "just to be sure" and then find out they did not need it. It's just not that much money in the long run, but it all adds up, you know?
2. Lots of IMGs who have gotten fine positions did so because they were on the ball contacting programs and being able to "sell" themselves over the telephone. Would this service tend to make scrambling even more of a numbers game?
3. Doesn't this seem like another match program except it doesn't have the built in pro-applicant protection the NRMP supposedly has built into the program against undue pressure and coercion from programs?
What do people think of this? By the way, you can get to the site, but since you have to pay to see any information, it is not very useful:
www.aamc.org/findaresident
Also, if I have misunderstood how this program works in any way, I would appreciate having it cleared up.
Ana
This is very interesting to me for many reasons. I do feel that it may be very useful for applicants to have the process centralized. I watched some people scramble, and it seems all very haphazard and stressful. There are a few things that bother me:
1. I don't like the idea of paying a different price for using their services postmatch day. It's as if you are being asked to buy insurance. Most applicants I know are pretty anxious and paranoid about not matching anyway -- I can see how many of them would have paid $30 "just to be sure" and then find out they did not need it. It's just not that much money in the long run, but it all adds up, you know?
2. Lots of IMGs who have gotten fine positions did so because they were on the ball contacting programs and being able to "sell" themselves over the telephone. Would this service tend to make scrambling even more of a numbers game?
3. Doesn't this seem like another match program except it doesn't have the built in pro-applicant protection the NRMP supposedly has built into the program against undue pressure and coercion from programs?
What do people think of this? By the way, you can get to the site, but since you have to pay to see any information, it is not very useful:
www.aamc.org/findaresident
Also, if I have misunderstood how this program works in any way, I would appreciate having it cleared up.
Ana
