I can answer that... our program is NOT in the match....
WHY? - many programs are not in it, even the programs in it often "make many exceptions"
every year, some people withdraw from interviews... they were accepted into match programs... there is no punishment
every year residents do not honor the match.... they change their minds... there is no punishment, even with a signed contract.
some match programs put pressure on students anyway... you rank us one - we will rank you one.
and i can go on...
we try to balance our program from different schools... we try to take some students that can really benefit from the residency. When in the match we got 5 out of 6 from one school... we would have perfered a "weaker" student to better balance the program. It was nearly impossible to rank a student with low class standings for fear of having all 6.
Now with 10 residents... we are still out of the match... we accept early to allow students to decide and withdraw from match to keep everything ethical.
The dental match is not like the medical match.
until there is a better way to blend our program - different schools, different class rankings, cultural diversity... the match is not for us.