ROL Strategy Question

[DrWuStar]

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I'm pretty much finished interviewing, and starting to think about my ROL. Two programs I interviewed at are significantly more competitive than the rest. One of those I loved, and think I'm going to rank #1. The other I have reservations about because the residents seem to feel kind of overworked and unhappy. I'm thinking about ranking this program #4, after 2 somewhat less competitive, but awesome programs.

My question is whether it is reasonable to rank a highly competitive program below a few less competitive programs. That's the order I think I prefer them, but it seems like if I didn't match at my #2 or #3, there would be almost no chance that I would match at the highly competitive #4. I liked the program enough to rank it, but it seems like if I rank it lower on the list, it would be almost the same as not ranking it at all, since it seems unlikely I would match there given that many brilliant people will probably rank it #1. So is it even worth it? Any thoughts or advice appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Shalom77]

You should rank programs in the order that you prefer them. Don't rank programs that you don't want to go to. If it happens that a more competitive program is your #4, it's fine to rank it as such. You may not be likely to match there but there's no harm in ranking it.

Even if many brilliant people rank it #1 what also matters is where the program ranks you in comparison. If you happen not to match at your first 3 choices and #4 has ranked you higher than the many brilliant people ranking it #1 (and high enough to match) you will still match there over those people even if it is your #4. 🙂

 

[Doc Samson]

Right. Your ranking of a program doesn't have any influence on their ranking of you. Rank your programs solely based on where you want to be.

 

[jeeb75]

Rank in the order of preference of where you would want to go. Here is a link to NRMP site match algorithm page. http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/about_res/algorithms.html