scramble?

[white daisy]

i am a 4th year med student in canada. still haven't taken step 1 but getting ready to do so. i am originally from calif. and am thinking about going back. can i just scramble to try to get a spot in CA (family med)? would it be a good idea?

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[Renovar]

Originally posted by white daisy
i am a 4th year med student in canada. still haven't taken step 1 but getting ready to do so. i am originally from calif. and am thinking about going back. can i just scramble to try to get a spot in CA (family med)? would it be a good idea?

Maybe, and given the family med's non-competitive nature you may be able to do so. Family med in Canada, especially in urban area, may actually be competitive, while in the US, most people have their choice as to where they want to go. I would take step 1 fast and apply ERAS and NRMP, just a bit later. You can always scramble if you want.

 

[Winged Scapula]

The "scramble" is only open to people who have registered with the NRMP and have failed to match. Therefore, you'd better get on the ball and take Step 1 soon if you really want to match this year.

After the scramble is over, there may still be some positions open which would be available to those who didn't participate in the match, but these would be chicken scratchings, at best.

I can understand not wanting to wait out a year, but by not getting things done in a manner timely enough to participate in the match you are severely limiting your residency choices by having to scramble. Most of the best spots will be taken, especially in California (ie, there may not be any spots to scramble into) - are you willing to take this chance?

 

[Apollyon]

Originally posted by Kimberli Cox
The "scramble" is only open to people who have registered with the NRMP and have failed to match.

If you want to be one step above nothing, you can register with the NRMP, and wait exclusively for the scramble. If you don't rank anyone, there's no match for you; every year there are people (almost exclusively FMG's, if I recall correctly) that are in the match ONLY for the scramble.

But, again, that's a BIG chance. BIG.

 

[smrad]

hi,

Let me get this straight.Everyone who wants to SCRAMBLE must participate in the MATCH and not end up matching(deliberately or otherwise..am I correct).Plz confirm.
Also everyone who gets in residency post match doesn't need to participate in match ,is that so???I mean the vacancies which are left even after the post match scramble.Do confirm..
Regards

 

[Winged Scapula]

Originally posted by smrad
hi,

Let me get this straight.Everyone who wants to SCRAMBLE must participate in the MATCH and not end up matching(deliberately or otherwise..am I correct).Plz confirm.
Also everyone who gets in residency post match doesn't need to participate in match ,is that so???I mean the vacancies which are left even after the post match scramble.Do confirm..
Regards

The scramble is a discrete time period set aside after the formal NRMP match for match participants who didn't find a spot to locate one. If you wish to have these positions and information about them available to you, you must register for the match and not match (whether deliberate or not). Many programs will not consider applications during the scramble period from those not registered with the NRMP.

After the discrete time period known as the scramble is over, there will still be some positions left. These are open to anyone, those who registered with NRMP and still failed to find a position in the scramble and those who never registered.

Hope this helps.

 

[soreed]

hey,

can someone explain more about scramble process?

so you don't match, then you get to see all available slots or just ones in areas you applied for?

if you scramble, how are students picked by schools? if you never applied there, do you go out for interview or just submit an app? are schools generally picky or first come first serve

 

[ckent]

Originally posted by soreed
hey,

can someone explain more about scramble process?

so you don't match, then you get to see all available slots or just ones in areas you applied for?

if you scramble, how are students picked by schools? if you never applied there, do you go out for interview or just submit an app? are schools generally picky or first come first serve

The scramble works like this:
Students who do not match are told a few days in advance of match day. Generally, they are paged to their office of student affairs by the dean as the scramble is urgent business. There, you get a phone, a fax, and a list of unfilled programs. You can apply to any specialty in these unfilled programs (ie if you didn't match in psychiatry, you could theoretically match in ortho during the scramble if you want to do ortho and there are empty spots). Starting at a certain time, you are supposed to call and fax your CV, dean's letter, and LOR's to all of the programs that you want to apply for. Some programs will talk with you on the phone, some will just look at your papers; it's often helpful to get people (your prof's, your dean) to call on your behalf as well. There is generally no time to interview unless the program that you are interested in is at your school I suppose. The decisions are made very quickly (that's why it's such a frantic process), so it pays to call/fax early. This is just what I've heard, it sounds like a terrifying process, even though the outcome can sometimes be rewarding. You should always do your best to avoid the scramble if at all possible, as the risk to benefit ratio and the stress that you will have to endure makes having to scramble a bad thing IMO.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Originally posted by soreed
hey,

can someone explain more about scramble process?

so you don't match, then you get to see all available slots or just ones in areas you applied for?

if you scramble, how are students picked by schools? if you never applied there, do you go out for interview or just submit an app? are schools generally picky or first come first serve

Ckent has done a good job of explaining the scramble so I haven't much to add except for your last query. The amount of "pickiness" depends on the program, and how much they want to fill the spot. For example, we did not fill a couple of years ago - according to the Residency Coordinator, she got HUNDREDS of faxes, phone calls, emails etc. Many of them from FMGs, many from people who appeared to be applying wily-nily to any open spot (ie, had originally applied to IM and now were applying for Surgery) and many from people with abysmal scores, CVs, etc. So it wasn't first come, first serve but people they'd already interviewed but whom hadn't matched did receive the most attention, especially if the interview was favorable but they just hadn't been ranked that highly. And that's what happened - we picked up someone who we'd interviewed during the regular season.

I suppose if a program was desparate they might be less picky but in general, I'm told that previous interviewees get first look, followed by any other interesting apps. Almost always done over the phone - I've only rarely heard of people going out for an interview (and that's usually done on the applicants request).

 

[supercut]

This last match cycle, several of my classmated failed to match and later went through the scramble. They scrambled into slots at programs where they had interviewed, but not matched. Those programs had ranked them, but wound up filling all the categorical (surgery) slots from names listed higher than my friends. So they easily got slots at these places, in large part because they had already interviewed at these places and were known to the PD.

I'd say you'd have a much more difficult time scrambling if you hadn't particpated in the interview process.

Realize that there are only some specialties that have slots left after the match and scramble. Those are the places that no one wants to go to...not even the desparate scramblers.