I was told by an Associate PD that the PDs see their match list on Monday. Is this true? If so, do PDs ever contact newly matched applicationts before Friday?
Question about match week
- Thread starter machomed
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I believe they find out 1 day before we do, and it's a NRMP violation for them to contact us prior to 1:00 PM EST on Friday. The Monday thing is probably finding out if they did/didn't fill.
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I think that's right. As I remember, PDs find out early in the week if they filled, then get the list a day before students do, but aren't supposed to say anything until the match results are formally revealed to the students.
I just read what I typed, and the thought 'man, what a stupid system' passed through my mind ever so briefly...
I just read what I typed, and the thought 'man, what a stupid system' passed through my mind ever so briefly...
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'Stupid system' does not even scratch the surface how ******ed this process is. Totally glad I'll get to do it again for fellowships
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You are correct.
We find out the same time you do whether we filled or not. We do not know whom we have filled with, just that we filled.
We then find out on Thursday PM whom we matched. I personally don't think this is necessary, as I wouldn't mind waiting until Friday, and I see no point to it. I guess it allows programs to generate an email / list of new matches that they can then send out / post at 1PM, but if we got the list at 1PM, it would literally take 5 minutes to cut and paste it into an email.
'Stupid system' does not even scratch the surface how ******ed this process is. Totally glad I'll get to do it again for fellowships
Comments like this appear every year around this time. What exactly do you think would be a better system? Because from my standpoint and experience, this system is about as fair as it gets -- but I am totally open to new ideas.
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I'm guessing that many negative comments about the system stem from the stress and anxiety of going through this entire process and less so because people have a lot of constructive opinions about it. Not that people don't have valid criticisms about it, mind you.
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I actually think this process is much less stressful than the one for applying to medical school. No hanging on for programs that never bother to get back to you, no waiting lists, zero bs. Everybody finds out the same day, at the same time, and it's set in stone. It's actually wonderful.
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I agree.
The only change I'd make is to shorten the timeline. The NRMP gets a lot of money for an algorithmically simple process, they could easily cut a few weeks out. And the interview/application season could easily be a few weeks shorter, rather than going from Sept 15-Feb 20.
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Ignoring all the reasonable explanations for why it takes the amount of time it does, trust me, I know it feels like forever, but it's really not that long. This time next year you'll be sitting here reading these exact same threads from current M3s thinking "holy s**t, it's just 3 weeks, why are you all such whiners?".
Maybe for you (and it certainly would have been for me) but not for everybody. I think if you tried to compact it much more it would cause a lot of people problems trying to squeeze everything (like audition rotations and SubI's to get LORs, prelim and advanced interviews, backup specialty interviews for the ROADies, enough IVs to feel comfortable, etc) in.
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All of those "reasonable reasons" are things easily automatable. At least the ones listed on the NRMP website are. Yes, that includes quality control measures, you should be able to algorithmically see if the results make any sense. Unless you're one of those that thinks the NRMP is sitting around manually producing 60,000 reports to send to programs/applicants/whatever.
Cutting a couple weeks off the front end would give people more time to do audition rotations and SubIs, especially for us poor saps who are stuck on the traditional "start M4 in July" route, compared to the lucky ones who got to start their electives and whatnot as early as April. Keep the dean's letter date as Oct 1 and move the rest of the application forward to then, giving an extra few weeks for people to take the steps, finish up letters, etc without feeling like they're at any sort of disadvantage. Doesn't matter to a lot of programs who don't start reading apps till then anyway.
Very little interviewing is done in February, so you could cut a couple weeks off the back end without any difficulty too. No one is reasonably doing much to reorganize their list in February they couldn't have done in the days after their last interview in mid-late January. Myself included, even though I made changes up to the day prior to it being due. I'd have just made those same changes earlier.
Do both of those and you end up with an app cycle of something like Oct 1-Feb 1, with 3 full months beforehand for people to get some 4th year stuff done. Make the match a few weeks after that (if you really feel it needs that long) and you end up giving people an extra month to be post-match M4s without any real difficulty caused by schedule changes.
I generally agree that the match process is well done (however, I highly doubt that you need 4 weeks to determine that the match is correctly done. Computers are pretty smart.)
However, one area that really bothers me is post-interview correspondence.
Programs should be banned from contacting applicants to 'kiss the ring'. This disrupts the purity of the match process.
However, one area that really bothers me is post-interview correspondence.
Programs should be banned from contacting applicants to 'kiss the ring'. This disrupts the purity of the match process.
There were a couple of programs who told me how they felt (ranked to match, really impressed, etc) but also said that I dont have to respond since post interview correspondence does not in any way affect their rank list, and that they wanted to maintain the purity of the match process. It was refreshing.
I wonder why NRMP does not tell the results till Friday, waiting 4 more days? Is it to keep secret which program did not fill before SOAP? If yes, it's just an image issue, not sure why it's so important, but at least it makes some sense. Unlike the 4 weeks of manual verification BS...
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Mostly it's to let your classmates who didn't match and have to SOAP save a little face on Match Day.
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This. I'll never understand the self-entitled yearning for instant gratification over the whole residency application process, from the anxiety surrounding interview offerings to post-interview communication to simply waiting. Is not patience a virtue?
Unless you been through the match or are currently experiencing it, it seems a short-sighted for you to make that comment. And if you have gone through the match already, perhaps you have forgotten the unnecessary waiting that happens between rank list submission and match day. For those that have matched, nothing will change in terms of the algorithm of the process between today and Friday. Why is there a delay?
I also don't know how this is considered "self-entitled." Medical students pay to submit their ERAS applications, pay to fly around to interview, and pay to rank/submit their residency list. Almost everyone is in debt. I think the time, money and effort spent in medical school to work for minimum wage in residency more than justifies our "yearning for instant gratification" for the match process.
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Those are all legit concerns of medical students for sure. Just don't know how that translates to assuming there's an unnecessary wait, and in turn whining. Who are med students to assume that the 3 week wait is unnecessarily unfair? Too much faith in computers?
I just think there's whining out of proportion to pain, hence the callousness. And yes, I'm awaiting results on Friday.
I just think there's whining out of proportion to pain, hence the callousness. And yes, I'm awaiting results on Friday.
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I believe you don't have much understanding in algorithms. It's not the same as "faith in computers". The matching algorithm is simple, it's proven and the software implementing it is well tested for many years. I can assure you, there is no need to verify its results. In addition, the result of the match are DEFINED as the results of that algorithm.
Do you know that cooling rods of a nuclear reactor near you or an airplane you fly on is mostly controlled by software much more complex than the matching algorithm. Would you trust more if a power plant operator would read the screen, displaying the state of the nuclear core, and push buttons to pull/insert the rods?
Do you know that cooling rods of a nuclear reactor near you or an airplane you fly on is mostly controlled by software much more complex than the matching algorithm. Would you trust more if a power plant operator would read the screen, displaying the state of the nuclear core, and push buttons to pull/insert the rods?
