NRMP match question

[florida]

I am a DO student who is applying to both catagorical and advanced anesthesia programs. If I match into an advanced program, I am planning on scrambling into one of the many, many unfilled DO interships. My question is: if I match into a gas program starting in the PGY-2 year, will I receive an email from the NRMP 48hrs before the match stating I am unmatched for the PGY-1 position? And, will I have to secure a DO intership before the scramble is over (and transmit this info to NRMP). Otherwise, will the NRMP assume I never secured a PGY-1 and somehow make me ineligible for the advanced program?

Any DOs out there with similiar experiences or any MD students who are matching advanced programs without ranking any PGY-1 programs?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[drjdiz]

I can answer your first question. If you do not match into a prelim program you will get an email from NRMP saying that you did match for the advanced program and it will also mention that you did not match for a prelim program. I asked this question of NRMP directly and that is what they said.

As far as your 2nd question, I am not sure. I will be calling them soon to find out if you have to get a position during the scramble period. They told me that if you do not match for a prelim program you will have to scramble with a prelim program but I am not sure what the timetable for do that is.

Good luck.

 

[TonyV]

I never thought of this - and it's a real important question so I called nrmp this morning.

They said that your advanced spot will stand no matter what and you do not need to report to nrmp by March 18th to keep your advanced position.

It is up to you at that point to secure a pgy-1 spot before july.

If you want to confirm this the nrmp #(202) 828-0566 from 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM Eastern time. It might be a good idea to call yourself also just to make sure.

 

[DireWolf]

I think another way of asking this question is: what if I only applied to advanced anesthesia positions (PGY-2 through PGY-4) banking on the fact that I would scramble into a prelim, transitional, etc. year?

And I think the answer is that you still keep your advanced position as long as you find a prelim, transitional, etc. year by July 1st. Calling NRMP is always necessary to confirm though.

 

[walla]

will they let you know where your advanced spot is (even location wise) so that you can try to scramble in the same city or region?

 

[florida]

Thanks.

 

[TonyV]

from what I heard I don't think they will tell you where your advanced spot is until the 18th.

 

[Test Boy]

I have a theoretical question: say if Applicant A ranks a program#1 and Applicant B ranks the same program #5. The program however ranks Applicant A #40 while ranking Applicant B #15. Who would get the spot at that program?

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Originally posted by Test Boy
I have a theoretical question: say if Applicant A ranks a program#1 and Applicant B ranks the same program #5. The program however ranks Applicant A #40 while ranking Applicant B #15. Who would get the spot at that program?

If the program goes down to 15 spots, then Applicant B matches if Applicant B has NOT matched at his/her top 4 choices.

 

[zero]

florida,

I talked to our clinical education advisor on friday and he said he remembers the situation you described happening in the past. And to the best of his recolection the NRMP will go ahead and tell the student on the 15th (the first day of the match) where they matched for their advanced spot so they would be able to scramble into a spot at the best location for them. I hope this is the case, because I have the feeling I may be in this situation. I will try to call the NRMP and confirm this tomorrow.

 

[NaeBlis]

Originally posted by Test Boy
I have a theoretical question: say if Applicant A ranks a program#1 and Applicant B ranks the same program #5. The program however ranks Applicant A #40 while ranking Applicant B #15. Who would get the spot at that program?

If applicant B does not match to any of the first 4 places he ranked, he will get the spot. That is why you are encouraged to rank programs in order of true preference, there is no need to rank a saftey program high, you won't lose that spot no matter how low you rank them.

 

[Test Boy]

Thanks for all the replies! So it seems like Applicant B would get the spot if he didn't get his top 4 choices. I mean, shouldn't Applicant A who ranked it higher get the spot even if the program ranked other applicants higher? I thought the match would work in favor of the applicant, not the program. Can someone comment on that? Thanks!

 

[NaeBlis]

Originally posted by Test Boy
Thanks for all the replies! So it seems like Applicant B would get the spot if he didn't get his top 4 choices. I mean, shouldn't Applicant A who ranked it higher get the spot even if the program ranked other applicants higher? I thought the match would work in favor of the applicant, not the program. Can someone comment on that? Thanks!

It is working in the favor of the applicant, in favor of applicant B. Applicant B was able to rank all his dream programs first with out losing his spot at a safety. When they say it works in the applicants favor they mean that you won't be forced to rank less favorable programs higher than more favorable ones. If the spot went to applicant A, then it would favor the residencies more, people would be forced to rank safteys higher, and those programs would get better residents than they would otherwise. So, the match does favor the applicant, but it does help you against more desirable applicants.

 

[drjdiz]

I spoke with an NRMP representative today who confirmed that if you do not match in a prelim program that they will tell you on March 15 what city you matched in for the anesthesia program. I think you have to call them to get this info though.

This is so that you can scramble into a prelim in the same geographic area. It did not sound like that they would be more specific than the city for those of you who have applied to several programs in the same city.

Good luck to all!