Ranking Question

[John90210]

Hi Guys,

Here is my question: Say I want to rank program "A" #1 and program "B" #2. I am very confident that program "B" will rank me high. I am NOT confident that "A" will rank me high. Will it hurt my chances of getting into program B if I rank them lower? That is, will "B" get filled up by others who rank them higher? This may sound like a confusing question, but you guys may know what I am getting at. Please reply if you have any ideas.

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[coop]

the match algorithm is in favor of the applicant, thus you should rank in order of YOUR preferance no matter what. It works such that if you rank A #1 then if A ranked you in it's top 10 (say they have 10 slots) then you match there, end of story. If not, you look at your #2, in this case, program B. If B ranked you in their top 10 (again, assuming 10 slots) then you will match at no worse than program B. If a slot later opens up at program A and they get to the point on their list where they ranked you, then you can be bumped back up to matching at program A. If this does not happen then you will match at program B. Your ability to match at B will not be inhibited by others ranking it #1.

 

[anesthesia33]

This is a very important point. Don?t concern yourself with how competitive a program is. This is why people say the match favors the applicant. Let's say you rank 5 programs and the fifth program ranks you in their first tier (i.e. if they have 3 slots, they rank you in the top 3). If you don't rank in programs 1 through 4, you will rank at program 5. Another words if a program ranks you at the top and that program is reached on your list, that's where you are going. Rank according to where you want to go. You won't be penalized for this.