Options after failing to scramble

[tmh84]

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This question was brought up last year but I have a slightly different situation. I am currently an 4th year osteopathic medical student. I have matched into a osteopathic internship but I was informed very recently that I will not be able to participate in the match this year. I don't have any red flags in my application and had 15 interviews at some of the top PM&R programs. The reason for being kicked out of the match is that I will be graduating a week late because I had to take some time off during MS III. I will finish my internship on track with my intern class. I have already discussed my situation with all the programs that ranked me and its obviously too late for them to sign me outside of the match. I am hoping that some of them will have an open spot during the scramble but I highly doubt it as none of them have had to scramble in the recent past but i am keeping my fingers crossed. My internship is at a hospital with its own top notch PM&R residency program. So my question is

1) Should I scramble into the best available program or should apply again this year? I could in the meanwhile try to find an open PGY2 spot. My internship is great at giving time off for interviews so at least that is not a big concern.

2) In the mean while from now until September I plan on volunteering heavily. I will be working with the special Olympics, teaching ESL courses to recent immigrants, volunteering at a Rehab hospital. I have scheduled 2 electives in PM&R during my internship prior to October and I will try to get a couple of letters out of it.
---Is there anything else I can do that can help my chances?
I would love to be involved with a research project but I don't know where to start looking for one. If I apply again this year I will have a whole year to kill.
---Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could do during that year?
I am also considering completing a MS in human movement/exercise science/functional biomechanics or something related to the field.

Even though I am really bummed about the whole situation but I want to turn the whole thing around to my advantage. I am hoping to go onto sports or spine medicine and maybe this will give me a head start. Thanks

 

[Fin-Nor]

graduating a week late... is that even an issue for kicking you out of the match? im pretty sure your school isnt graduating it's class june 16 or afterwards, so why is this even an issue for only one week?

 

[tmh84]

"graduating a week late... is that even an issue for kicking you out of the match? im pretty sure your school isnt graduating it's class june 16 or afterwards, so why is this even an issue for only one week?"

Trust me thats exactly what I said. I finish my last rotation on July 7th and according to the NRMP you have to finish all your requirements by July 1st. And my schools graduation date is the second week of June and we are on rotations until the end of May. Hence I dont have a choice. 😡

 

[Shalom77]

I'm a little confused too why that would be the case for an advanced position - especially if you have already matched to an osteopathic internship that meets the requirements of the advanced programs you applied to - although it sounds like it only starts in September? Unless your school is not willing to verify your expected graduation - which I think does result in withdrawal.

In any case - it's hard to answer questions in the theoretical. It really depends on what the "best available program" is and whether it meets your training needs and any geographical restrictions that you might have. I'd think it would be worth scrambling to an acceptable program rather than go through all the uncertainty of a match/seeing which programs have positions that open up. You just need to figure out what's acceptable to you interms of your career goals.

Two you can both apply through ERAS for positions through the match and be on the lookout for open PGY 2 positions. You just need to find one before the rank order list deadline - so you can withdraw appropriately if you find a PGY2 position or are offered a pre-match.

If you want to go through the match and are interested in research - you might consider applying for a research fellowship position in PM&R although many of these may be two year positions. It depends in what you are interested. Northwestern has an Health Services Research Fellowship which is integrated with an NIDRR training grant.
http://www.medschool.northwestern.edu/ihs/education/fellows/index.html

UW has a Rehabilitation Sciences research postdoc fellowship:
http://depts.washington.edu/rehab/fellowship/rehabsci.html#post

Moss/Penn has a neurorehab research fellowship. There are undoubtedly others that I don't know about.

 

[tmh84]

Thanks Shalom77. That is very helpful. As for the match my school did not verify my graduation date as being before July 1st. I tried really hard to plead my case and must have talked to 5 people in NRMP but in vain. I would prefer to scramble into an " acceptable" program and not have to worry about the match again. I certainly don't want to scramble into one of the programs that seem to go unmatched every year. I feel like an extra year of research would be well worth it in the future. Any comments?

 

[Shalom77]

If you look at the programs that had an unfilled spot in the past 5 years - not all of them are "bad" programs. Even good programs can unexpectedly have an unfilled spot but it usually doesn't happen more than 1 year.

http://www.nrmp.org/data/programresults2003-2007.pdf

Personally I do think that a year of research, or obtaining a masters degree could be very advantageous for the future particularly if combined with the opportunity of training at a superior program. Even if you don't end up doing research as an attending - a year of research can still give you an improved ability to read and interpret the medical literature which can help your clinical skills. It might be helpful for fellowships as well.

I think all these judgments really depend on which programs have spots open in the scramble, which programs end up having an unexpected PGY2 spot, etc. No harm in playing it by ear to some extent as well.

 

[ampaphb]

graduating a week late... is that even an issue for kicking you out of the match? im pretty sure your school isnt graduating it's class june 16 or afterwards, so why is this even an issue for only one week?

If your school's graduation date is the second week in June, and you don't finish your clerkships till July 7, you are graduating more than three weeks late, not one, fyi (minimum of 23 days, by my calculations)

Rather than waiting till the scramble, I would be in touch with EVERY PD and Department chair in advance of the match, via email and phone, to make them aware of your situation, and have all of your documentation in hand PRIOR to the day of the scramble. To say the scramble process is chaotic would be kind - anything you can do to put your name and situation on the top of their lists would be terribly important to do IN ADVANCE.

Also, any phone calls that could be made on your behalf should be lined up now, and if possible, made before the process begins, again, to give you a running start.

 

[KJKZO]

If your school's graduation date is the second week in June, and you don't finish your clerkships till July 7, you are graduating more than three weeks late, not one, fyi (minimum of 23 days, by my calculations)

Rather than waiting till the scramble, I would be in touch with EVERY PD and Department chair in advance of the match, via email and phone, to make them aware of your situation, and have all of your documentation in hand PRIOR to the day of the scramble. To say the scramble process is chaotic would be kind - anything you can do to put your name and situation on the top of their lists would be terribly important to do IN ADVANCE.

Also, any phone calls that could be made on your behalf should be lined up now, and if possible, made before the process begins, again, to give you a running start.

Just a question about your comment..... I may be scrambling for a prelim spot, and I have someone to call for me but I am worried about violating the match rules!? If someone makes a call for me on Monday after I find out match/unmatch, i was under the impression that it is a violation of the match. Anyone have an idea if this is true, and more importantly, is it one of those rules that is always broken?

 

[ampaphb]

Just a question about your comment..... I may be scrambling for a prelim spot, and I have someone to call for me but I am worried about violating the match rules!? If someone makes a call for me on Monday after I find out match/unmatch, i was under the impression that it is a violation of the match. Anyone have an idea if this is true, and more importantly, is it one of those rules that is always broken?

The OP is no longer in the match, having not met it's terms regarding graduation. As a result, as the NRMP have excluded him/her from their process, he/she is no longer subject to their rules. I do not see how you can violate the rules of a process you have been excluded from participating in in the first place.


Anyone participating in the match remains bound by all the rules they agreed to when they signed up, however.

 

[HCE]

The OP is no longer in the match, having not met it's terms regarding graduation. As a result, as the NRMP have excluded him/her from their process, he/she is no longer subject to their rules. I do not see how you can violate the rules of a process you have been excluded from participating in in the first place.


Anyone participating in the match remains bound by all the rules they agreed to when they signed up, however.

I agree...of course, since OP is not in the match, I assume he can't scramble either. So then, post July 7th, is he not an independent applicant, and thus can contact anyone and everyone about any open position?

 

[tmh84]

The following is from the email I received from NRMP

"Although you were withdrawn from the 2008 Main Residency Match, you will be able to access unfilled program information.

Under the Match Participation Agreement signed by all applicants, it is a Match violation to begin contacting programs prior to noon on Tuesday of Match Week, March 18th, when the "Scramble" begins. If the NRMP receives evidence that an applicant has violated this rule, an investigation will be initiated and sanctions may be applied as outlined in the NRMP's Violations Policy, which can be found on the NRMP web site at http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/policies/violations.html"

Maybe it is a rule that is always broken but I don't want to risk being reported and not being able to participate in the match next year if needed.

 

[ampaphb]

The following is from the email I received from NRMP

"Although you were withdrawn from the 2008 Main Residency Match, you will be able to access unfilled program information.

Under the Match Participation Agreement signed by all applicants, it is a Match violation to begin contacting programs prior to noon on Tuesday of Match Week, March 18th, when the "Scramble" begins. If the NRMP receives evidence that an applicant has violated this rule, an investigation will be initiated and sanctions may be applied as outlined in the NRMP's Violations Policy, which can be found on the NRMP web site at http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/policies/violations.html"

Maybe it is a rule that is always broken but I don't want to risk being reported and not being able to participate in the match next year if needed.

Though it seems ridiculous, I called the director of the NRMP, and she advised that, despite your having been withdrawn, you remain a "registered participant". As such, despite not being able to participate (that is the oddity to me - a participant who can not participate), you are still able to access the unmatched programs at noon on the day of the scramble. As such, you remain bound by the rules of the match.

I specifically asked her if there was any way you could entirely withdraw in order to contact the programs early, but it seems that once you have registered, you can not unregister.

Sorry for the incorrect initial impression - it sees illogical, inconsistent, and quite frankly unenforceable, but since the risk of running afoul of their regs is huge, I would not be in touch with programs until noon tomorrow.