THE SOAP 2013 Thread

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as i have said, i personally think the match should be eliminated. i personally dont think why doctors are the only one who has to go thru a federally funded residency program to get licensed. this as i said will likely not happen as everything now is $$$. hospitals want the government to pay so the hospitals dont have to pay. at least in nyc, most hospitals are in the red because of the defunct insurance pay out. it is a vicious cycle. you cannot attempt to fix the match alone without fixing other parts of the system. they are all interconnected somehow, called it the holistic view of our healthcare system if you will.

all my other buddies in law, business, PA, RN, pharmacy, engineers are able to practice their field straight out of school without going thru 'the match'

as i mentioned too, patients need to be educated about PA and NP. the problem also lies that there are so many patients and the waiting time is so long some patients just dont care who they see as long as they see someone. thus excerbating the demands of PA and NP. if the patients get educated on the quality and knowledge of PA/NP vs MD/DO, it may or may not be a difference maker.

i personally would never let a paralegal or legal aide handle my law cases before a judge, why would i ever expect someone with inferior knowledge and skills to take care of my health.
None of those other fields require a match because none of them require standardized training after school. They also don't have a limited number of jobs, all starting at the same time that need to be filled.

You are confounding issues.

The match does a very good job of placing medical students with the best amount of available knowledge in their most favored position, in a timely manner.

If you can propose a better system, please let me know.
 
Question: i tried to apply to this yrs match with an incomplete application (step 2ck and CS scores didnt come out until december, >24x on both) and am a non-us IMG, expected to graduate in may. It was not the smartest decision and now im hitting myself because even if i now re-apply this year with a 'complete' app and possible a step 3 I am afraid I won't get interviews from places I applied because its my second time around. Thoughts?

I would guess that they'd at least give you a second look with having a complete application this time around. With seeing so many applications, I would imagine that it could be a little hard to distinguish applications from year to year, unless they actually interviewed the person
 
whats the diff between neuro a, c and r?

A=advanced programs. Only the neurology years. You need to do a PGY1/prelim/intern year in IM(/TY?) elsewhere and would probably need to find one yourself.
C=Categorical position. Full package. You start July '13, the intern year is at the same hospital that the nuro program is located.
R=for people already in a residency program - changing specialties, or prelim interns looking for a July '13 start for neurology
 
yep exactly my point from my previous posts on how to fix this defunct system we called healthcare.

thanks for being supportive. wish i had you as an attending when i was going through this!

Thanks, but unfortunately my support isn't leading to any offers 🙂


One of the big issues is that the government limits the number of residency spots. We have a mismatch between the number of medical school graduates and the number of spots available because of this. With all the predictions of physician shortages, more medical schools won't help unless there are also more residency slots.

Agreed, which is why there is much debate and tension amongst the powers that be every time a new medical school is either proposed or erected.
 
None of those other fields require a match because none of them require standardized training after school. They also don't have a limited number of jobs, all starting at the same time that need to be filled.

You are confounding issues.

The match does a very good job of placing medical students with the best amount of available knowledge in their most favored position, in a timely manner.

If you can propose a better system, please let me know.

unfortunately i dont have a better system except to make it open such as a free market.
sure there are lawyers, engineers, mba who graduate school and cant find job as well if we make it wide open, but at least to me, the market is more fair and equal and based on merits, skills and experiences. while i know the match tries to replicate that, i personally think it is much like a lottery system to me.
i personally think it is confounding, but then again i never did well on my stats course in college.

i was lcuky enough to see how both side work from clinical side, admin, business, and even the technology side. there are too many gaps between each stakeholder. each one think they have the best solution for everything but in the end, it creates more gaps i think.

i wish i have all the answers, but heck even the great mighty president of the US has a cabinet and full of advisors to guide him and come up with solution. but what it takes is a person or group of people to have a vision of change first. hoping we all can work together and collaborate on a change. it is time doctors stand up for themselves and their profession.
 
I would guess that they'd at least give you a second look with having a complete application this time around. With seeing so many applications, I would imagine that it could be a little hard to distinguish applications from year to year, unless they actually interviewed the person

thats the issue i faced, by the time it was complete I only had 1 IV and was recieving emails saying they've finished their IV periods
 
unfortunately i dont have a better system except to make it open such as a free market.
sure there are lawyers, engineers, mba who graduate school and cant find job as well if we make it wide open, but at least to me, the market is more fair and equal and based on merits, skills and experiences. while i know the match tries to replicate that, i personally think it is much like a lottery system to me.
i personally think it is confounding, but then again i never did well on my stats course in college.

i was lcuky enough to see how both side work from clinical side, admin, business, and even the technology side. there are too many gaps between each stakeholder. each one think they have the best solution for everything but in the end, it creates more gaps i think.

i wish i have all the answers, but heck even the great mighty president of the US has a cabinet and full of advisors to guide him and come up with solution. but what it takes is a person or group of people to have a vision of change first. hoping we all can work together and collaborate on a change. it is time doctors stand up for themselves and their profession.
How would this free market work medicine work? Absolute free for all? No board scores or standards? No certification of training? No residency required? You belabor PA and NP for their lack of training, but this is what a true free market for doctors would look like.

Instead of the match would you apply individually to each place using their own application, they interview and offer positions on their own timeline?

Imagine what a worse system that would be. Ask some residents in non match fellowships how much it sucks to have to decide to take a guaranteed slot offered to you first, or gamble for the 5 other programs you are waiting to hear from.
 
if you are an AMG, and still have no luck I would ask your deans office for a hardcopy of everything
1. LORs
2. transcript
3 MSPE

if you IMG/FMG, i think you need to thru OASIS to see if they can mail you back a copy of your application.

there may be off cycle spots, usually in the winter months as some people switch, quit, or resign. if the start cycle of a residency is before 2/1 it is done by sending your application to the program directly, if it is after 2/1, then you will have to go thru ERAS again
 
if you are an AMG, and still have no luck I would ask your deans office for a hardcopy of everything
1. LORs
2. transcript
3 MSPE

if you IMG/FMG, i think you need to thru OASIS to see if they can mail you back a copy of your application.

there may be off cycle spots, usually in the winter months as some people switch, quit, or resign. if the start cycle of a residency is before 2/1 it is done by sending your application to the program directly, if it is after 2/1, then you will have to go thru ERAS again

do our LOR's stay in the system or do we have to re-get them?
 
How would this free market work medicine work? Absolute free for all? No board scores or standards? No certification of training? No residency required? You belabor PA and NP for their lack of training, but this is what a true free market for doctors would look like.

Instead of the match would you apply individually to each place using their own application, they interview and offer positions on their own timeline?

Imagine what a worse system that would be. Ask some residents in non match fellowships how much it sucks to have to decide to take a guaranteed slot offered to you first, or gamble for the 5 other programs you are waiting to hear from.

Please stop derailing the forum... not useful information at all.

Did anyone hear back at 12?
 
How would this free market work medicine work? Absolute free for all? No board scores or standards? No certification of training? No residency required? You belabor PA and NP for their lack of training, but this is what a true free market for doctors would look like.

Instead of the match would you apply individually to each place using their own application, they interview and offer positions on their own timeline?

Imagine what a worse system that would be. Ask some residents in non match fellowships how much it sucks to have to decide to take a guaranteed slot offered to you first, or gamble for the 5 other programs you are waiting to hear from.

never said to abandon the certification and tests and training. that still needs to be there.
what i am trying to say is by eliminating the match, there will be no limited amount of spots.and each person apply and the hospital pick what they best fit, such as a normal employer seeking an employee. that is my personal choice. and yes it may create problems, but like i said i wish i have all the answers.

all i see now is the matched resident sees the match as the best system, for likely obvious reasons because one has a job and a residency. but one who did not match, are cast away and labelled "bad usmle scores" "red flags", etc and no compassion and help are offered after they too were your friends and colleagues through med school. most of these people such as myself are left out. life happens, tragedy happens, sometime we are force to take gaps between stuff, but once we do, it is a "red flag". the friends and colleagues we made in med school are happy and off with their training. it is kind of sad and sadistic in my opinion for what we called ourselves doctors.

by opening up, at least in my mind it may create more of a fair system. heck i may be way wrong on my delusional thinking, but i at least admit our system is messed up. to a matched resident, you may not think so.

look i am not here to create any divisions. just trying to help others as i have gone thru it twice, and it isnt fun. also trying to share my opinions on what i have learned personally about our healthcare system since that is part of my job as a consultant, wish i have all the solutions but like i said, we all work together in healthcare, we all need each other and call consults. if you think there are better fixes to our healthcare and the match, i am all yours, as long as it gets started and fixed, i careless who does it and where the solutions came from
 
do our LOR's stay in the system or do we have to re-get them?

You have to get new LOR's for ERAS later this year. But I think that you can use your old LORs if you are applying for an off cycle position

That's the one thing I hate about this too. I'll have to ask people again to write a letter, and since I'll probably be adding another specialty, then I'll have to go ask a couple of doctors for a letter, when I haven't worked with them almost 3 years
 
do our LOR's stay in the system or do we have to re-get them?

if you AMG, your deans office should have it.

if you are IMG/FMG, it stays with OASIS , however as i remember it, if you waived your right to see the LOR, i think OASIS will NOT return the LOR to you.

this will leave you in a bind, as the only other option is to perhaps to ask your LOR write for another copy and hoping he/she has one saved up somewhere.

you can always request transcripts, mspe, and usmle scores from your school and OASIS that usually isnt the problem, the problem is to get those LORs you waived to see.
 
Did anyone use their final 5 yet?

I tried, but I couldn't, but this was about 30 minutes ago though. I didn't even come up with 5 programs to even apply to that actually have spots left. This is way fewer than last year SOAP.
 
I submitted my last 5. Don't know if it was right or wrong but I figured I'd submit them all now bc I can see anything really being left later.
 
I submitted my last 5. Don't know if it was right or wrong but I figured I'd submit them all now bc I can see anything really being left later.

Couldn't have been wrong with that. There's hardly anything left. I did my final five and logged out of MyEras and NRMP for the last time, I think.

Feeling like an absolute idiot for having undertaken this painful journey that led to nothing, not to mention what all it snatched away.
 
Couldn't have been wrong with that. There's hardly anything left. I did my final five and logged out of MyEras and NRMP for the last time, I think.

Feeling like an absolute idiot for having undertaken this painful journey that led to nothing, not to mention what all it snatched away.

if it makes you feel better, i went thru this twice, and was with the traditional scramble, not this SOAP which is still bad but at least it is a bit more organized chaos.
 
hey guys. I matched. granted I had seriously 4 people with great credentials that were on my side to call and email the program. I don't want to say where or what specialty till friday. I know the specialty doesn't matter, but I am so shocked, that I'm being uber careful. Sorry, just keep checking NRMP to make sure it isn't a dream. haha.

To everyone else, hang in there. I know there is nothing I can say to make you all feel better. What I can say is that this is simply a sucky situation.....plain and simple. I had a back up plan and have even been working on my CV on the side over the past few days. Re-evaluate what you can do to make your application better next year.

I know this is spiteful, but after making my application better, for next years match, if offered an interview, I had planned on rejecting interviews to the 2 programs that pretty much lied to me. I know that's bad, but it made me angry that these particular programs were so nice and thoughtful, but didn't rank me at all. I hate passive aggressive behavior and that's exactly what they did.

Anyway, just do the best you can, and keep trying 🙂
 
hey guys. I matched. granted I had seriously 4 people with great credentials that were on my side to call and email the program. I don't want to say where or what specialty till friday. I know the specialty doesn't matter, but I am so shocked, that I'm being uber careful. Sorry, just keep checking NRMP to make sure it isn't a dream. haha.

To everyone else, hang in there. I know there is nothing I can say to make you all feel better. What I can say is that this is simply a sucky situation.....plain and simple. I had a back up plan and have even been working on my CV on the side over the past few days. Re-evaluate what you can do to make your application better next year.

I know this is spiteful, but after making my application better, for next years match, if offered an interview, I had planned on rejecting interviews to the 2 programs that pretty much lied to me. I know that's bad, but it made me angry that these particular programs were so nice and thoughtful, but didn't rank me at all. I hate passive aggressive behavior and that's exactly what they did.

Anyway, just do the best you can, and keep trying 🙂

congrats. did you just get the offer at 12pm? obviously you had a call since you had people calling and advocating for you. well best of luck with your match. being 0/40 and probably 0/45 after 2pm (i'm waiting cuz if im gonna waste 5 more apps id rather at least know that the spots aren't filled yet) but i've for pretty much given up any hope. congrats again.
 
hey guys. I matched. granted I had seriously 4 people with great credentials that were on my side to call and email the program. I don't want to say where or what specialty till friday. I know the specialty doesn't matter, but I am so shocked, that I'm being uber careful. Sorry, just keep checking NRMP to make sure it isn't a dream. haha.

To everyone else, hang in there. I know there is nothing I can say to make you all feel better. What I can say is that this is simply a sucky situation.....plain and simple. I had a back up plan and have even been working on my CV on the side over the past few days. Re-evaluate what you can do to make your application better next year.

I know this is spiteful, but after making my application better, for next years match, if offered an interview, I had planned on rejecting interviews to the 2 programs that pretty much lied to me. I know that's bad, but it made me angry that these particular programs were so nice and thoughtful, but didn't rank me at all. I hate passive aggressive behavior and that's exactly what they did.

Anyway, just do the best you can, and keep trying 🙂

Was it in Path? Congrats btw. i am happy for you..
 
hey guys. I matched. granted I had seriously 4 people with great credentials that were on my side to call and email the program. I don't want to say where or what specialty till friday. I know the specialty doesn't matter, but I am so shocked, that I'm being uber careful. Sorry, just keep checking NRMP to make sure it isn't a dream. haha.

I'm guessing you got into the specialty of your choice and its one of the last if not last open positions from the updated list 🙂 (I have no knowledge of anything other than the initial list, I do remember what specialty you were applying for and it doesn't seem like one where someone would start applying for prelim surgery afterwards.)

I think same thing happened for me Wednesday morning. If you have doctors with academic and research credentials willing to hammer the PD after a program contacts you, it makes a difference. I was able to talk to the PD after accepting and we spent most of the conversation talking about his conversations with my advocates. Mine were able to get ahold of the program right after they interviewed me. Wouldn't be suprised if your advocates couldn't get him/her on the phone untill later because of the hectic schedule he must have been under and their own job responsibilities.

I'm sure some people will think its unfair but its like referrals or LORs, something every job asks for. WIth the limited time in this process, several doctors willing to vouch for you is evidence that you'll be a resident that will be well-liked in the program, not cause trouble, etc. given the PD can't meet you in person or spend more than 15-30 minutes with you on the phone.

Congratulations.
 
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the updated list should be available at 1pm right
 
Hey guys, just wanted to update that I had two prelim surgery offers this morning at 9 AM. I had 3 phone interviews total since the start of SOAP and received offers from 2/3. I had my advising dean and program directors make phone calls for me after I was interviewed. I know this is a stressful time for everyone but I wish you all the best!
 
Question: i tried to apply to this yrs match with an incomplete application (step 2ck and CS scores didnt come out until december, >24x on both) and am a non-us IMG, expected to graduate in may. It was not the smartest decision and now im hitting myself because even if i now re-apply this year with a 'complete' app and possible a step 3 I am afraid I won't get interviews from places I applied because its my second time around. Thoughts?

Programs can't really tell if you've applied last year. So, I don't think it matters. The only difference is that you'll be one more year away from your graduation date -- some programs will care about this, and some won't. Since you'll still be within 2 years of graduation, very few will be concerned.

since some were offering their 0.02 on how to improve "the system"...i offer mine...

when SOAPing/applying..i think there should be an option to waive a portion of salary...at this point im willing to waive over 50%!! 50 pack of ramen noodles only $10 at costco...b/w that and taking food from patient trays during the day, food expenses are covered.

This is not allowed. Not to mention that it would create a "reverse auction" of applicants willing to forgo salary.
 
Joined SDN in 2007 for information, back again this year after not matching 🙁

Like others I haven't heard diddly since the SOAP process began. I'm going into peds, and compared to last year the stats for this year were abysmal. Sadly this looks like a trend that will continue next year when I reapply.
 
Programs can't really tell if you've applied last year. So, I don't think it matters. The only difference is that you'll be one more year away from your graduation date -- some programs will care about this, and some won't. Since you'll still be within 2 years of graduation, very few will be concerned.



This is not allowed. Not to mention that it would create a "reverse auction" of applicants willing to forgo salary.

Some programs don't even have time to read your app before deciding whether or not to interview you. I know the interview i had with the program that I accepted the offer from, he did not know I was graduating this year (thought I graduated already and was doing research based on my app.) There were a couple other points that led me to believe the only thing he really knew was that I got honors in anesthesiology, my step scores were 200-209, my school is decent, and what activities I listed for the past year.

Its why I didn't think the program was interested me.
 
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@ vectorsum what are you doing now-research or consulting
 
I am currently doing research. I didn't really consider consulting last year because I didn't know about them.
 
Aight I would really like to talk with you...can I call you
 
None of those other fields require a match because none of them require standardized training after school. They also don't have a limited number of jobs, all starting at the same time that need to be filled.

You are confounding issues.

The match does a very good job of placing medical students with the best amount of available knowledge in their most favored position, in a timely manner.

If you can propose a better system, please let me know.

My final thoughts for a better system then I'm done with this thread: Very simple, if NPs and PAs can practice right after their limited training why can't MDs. At least in primary care, there should be a government instituted freeze in hiring of PAs or NPs until ALL qualified medical school graduates are hired. Save the GME funding for specialty residencies and give the primary care JOBS to the MDs who want to stay in primary care! If the doctor shortage is as critical as they say it is then NO MORE RESIDENCY FOR PRIMARY CARE and save the match for those that want to become speciality docs! Very simple, very do-able. Its a win-win situtation for many; QUALITY in primary care INCREASES due to the influx of REAL MDs, with no primary care residencies GME FUNDING INCREASES to all other specialty residencies, finally, the govt and economy win because medical graduates with $200,000+ in student debt will have a way to pay back their private and GOVT loans!
 
Programs can't really tell if you've applied last year. So, I don't think it matters. The only difference is that you'll be one more year away from your graduation date -- some programs will care about this, and some won't. Since you'll still be within 2 years of graduation, very few will be concerned.

I hope so, because I would be applying with a complete app about 4 months after graduation...
 
My final thoughts for a better system then I'm done with this thread: Very simple, if NPs and PAs can practice right after their limited training why can't MDs. At least in primary care, there should be a government instituted freeze in hiring of PAs or NPs until ALL qualified medical school graduates are hired. Save the GME funding for specialty residencies and give the primary care JOBS to the MDs who want to stay in primary care! If the doctor shortage is as critical as they say it is then NO MORE RESIDENCY FOR PRIMARY CARE and save the match for those that want to become speciality docs! Very simple, very do-able. Its a win-win situtation for many; QUALITY in primary care INCREASES due to the influx of REAL MDs, with no primary care residencies GME FUNDING INCREASES to all other specialty residencies, finally, the govt and economy win because medical graduates with $200,000+ in student debt will have a way to pay back their private and GOVT loans!

well said. like your method better. see we can all work together and come up with a solution.
there have to be a way, there are always a better way. if the world always what they have now is the best possible ways, we may still be in the dark ages.
 
Just submitted 5 final apps. The last act of a desperate man. Congrats to all those lucky enough to snag a SOAP spot. To the rest, I sincerely hope none of us have to go through this again. Im sure a lot of you, like me, have shut off from the world since monday. I know personally I have talked to no one except 1 very close friend, my girlfriend (constantly), and my parents. I know Im gonna try to put this out of my mind, eat a decent meal for once, and try to have some faith that the universe doesnt hate me and I will move on from this.

I hope that didnt sound too dramatic, but I havent exactly been myself recently.
 
I agree with the last 2 posts..it is what it is at this point....
 
Just submitted 5 final apps. The last act of a desperate man. Congrats to all those lucky enough to snag a SOAP spot. To the rest, I sincerely hope none of us have to go through this again. Im sure a lot of you, like me, have shut off from the world since monday. I know personally I have talked to no one except 1 very close friend, my girlfriend (constantly), and my parents. I know Im gonna try to put this out of my mind, eat a decent meal for once, and try to have some faith that the universe doesnt hate me and I will move on from this.

I hope that didnt sound too dramatic, but I havent exactly been myself recently.
you made me laugh- this is exactly what me and my husband have done! we are disconnected from the universe and haven't eaten more than 1 real meal since Monday.
 
Just submitted 5 final apps. The last act of a desperate man. Congrats to all those lucky enough to snag a SOAP spot. To the rest, I sincerely hope none of us have to go through this again. Im sure a lot of you, like me, have shut off from the world since monday. I know personally I have talked to no one except 1 very close friend, my girlfriend (constantly), and my parents. I know Im gonna try to put this out of my mind, eat a decent meal for once, and try to have some faith that the universe doesnt hate me and I will move on from this.

I hope that didnt sound too dramatic, but I havent exactly been myself recently.
Thank you for putting into words what both my parents, bf and I have felt as well. This has been a rough week but it is comforting to know that I"ll finish in April and the next applications are sent out in just 5 months. Enough time to better our resume and come back stronger. I know this doesn't lessen the pain for anyone reading this but just remember, 6 months! Thats it.
 
of all my apps sent out (all 45 at this point)..now only 6 programs still have openings...however only 2 have been downloaded...meaning, 3PM will be a wash with only two active apps..and perhaps tomm if the remaining 4 not yet downloaded fill up, come 5PM.
 
first of all AMGs should have priority no matter what. for the most part these are left over spots, often in primary care.

this isn't about FMGs or IMGs being inferior in skills or intellect - that is obviously untrue with many passing the step1/2 with flying colors. there are many well qualified if not overqualified applicants who will be outstanding doctors

this is simply about protection of a country's citizens. the US market should not be obligated to be a globalized one. no other country offers such provisions for US grads. DO grads also have a huge advantage to apply in the allo match whereas AMGs are not allowed to. and finally, this is a scramble. i think there is a terrible disservice done to an AMG if he or she is unable to obtain a position esp without any red flags.


so you think just because someone was together enough in UG and got into a US med school somehow qualifies them forever more (even if they turn out to be a medicore med student or used poor judgement come interview season) to have an up on someone who may have not had it together in UG, found themselves and proved they changed and were a rockstar in the foreign med school that took them in?

and if your point is "protecting" the US citizen, then what about the US citizen that went to a foreign med school and did well? does their (and or their parents) tax dollars count?

and while ya'll are struggling( and i feel for you, helped friends in the scamble the yr i graduated and it was the worst thing ever), realize that those SOAP spots do preferentially go to AMGs (you just may not be the AMG the spot went to...), the SOAP is not advantageous to the the unmatched foreign grad, citizen or not...there are just too many applicants for too few spots..in the main match as well as the SOAP.

I do agree with you about the DO issue though...frankly, if one chooses to go the DO route, why should they then be able to take an allopathic spot...if anything the preference should go to the allopathic applicant and then the osteopathic applicant ...but it is the way it is...

hopefully with the merging of the accreditation bodies, maybe all those unfilled DO spots will become available to MD students...
 
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Please stop derailing the forum... not useful information at all.

Did anyone hear back at 12?

My apologies. I wish you all the best in finding a spot. This will be my final post in this thread as to not further derail. If anyone has interest in continuing, make a new thread to debate the merits of the match.

never said to abandon the certification and tests and training. that still needs to be there.
what i am trying to say is by eliminating the match, there will be no limited amount of spots.and each person apply and the hospital pick what they best fit, such as a normal employer seeking an employee. that is my personal choice. and yes it may create problems, but like i said i wish i have all the answers.
I don't understand what point you are trying to make. The match isn't magic. There are always limited number of spots for residency, for jobs at companies etc. Companies don't have unlimited jobs, nor do residency programs. The match process is really not much different than the job search.

Medicine:
Submit central application to prospective employers -> Interview -> Hospital picks who they think fits best -> Ranks applicants accordingly and ends up all at once with the top X candidates they could get that fill their openings.

Normal Business:
Submit multiple applications to prospective employers -> Interview -> Company picks who they think fits best -> Ranks applicants and offers them jobs sequentially until they fill their job openings.


The only thing the match does different is streamlines the submission of applications by creating a centralized and standardized form, and it expedites the process of filling the job openings with applicants as it removes the waiting period for the applicant to decide to take the job. IT CHANGES NOTHING ABOUT SELECTION OF APPLICANTS.

all i see now is the matched resident sees the match as the best system, for likely obvious reasons because one has a job and a residency. but one who did not match, are cast away and labelled "bad usmle scores" "red flags", etc and no compassion and help are offered after they too were your friends and colleagues through med school. most of these people such as myself are left out. life happens, tragedy happens, sometime we are force to take gaps between stuff, but once we do, it is a "red flag". the friends and colleagues we made in med school are happy and off with their training. it is kind of sad and sadistic in my opinion for what we called ourselves doctors.
Again, the match does not exacerbate red flags or poor candidates anymore than a normal system would. In fact, it allows for people to move along and make plans faster rather than delaying lost hope as a normal business would.
To again illustrate:

Medicine:
You receive interviews, match day comes, you find out you don't match at a standardized time in 3 months before positions begin.

Normal Business:
You receive interviews, they start to offer their jobs to preferred candidates. If you have red flags, you'd more often than not be closer to the bottom. They would keep sending job offers until their amount of jobs were all taken. Meanwhile, you are waiting around for an offer for potentially months and in the end, STILL NOT HAVE AN OFFER.

by opening up, at least in my mind it may create more of a fair system. heck i may be way wrong on my delusional thinking, but i at least admit our system is messed up. to a matched resident, you may not think so.

look i am not here to create any divisions. just trying to help others as i have gone thru it twice, and it isnt fun. also trying to share my opinions on what i have learned personally about our healthcare system since that is part of my job as a consultant, wish i have all the solutions but like i said, we all work together in healthcare, we all need each other and call consults. if you think there are better fixes to our healthcare and the match, i am all yours, as long as it gets started and fixed, i careless who does it and where the solutions came from
The match works for the vast amount of people. The small minority of those who it doesn't work for, will inherently blame the system. You are suggesting making it worse for 90+% of the people, based on your own personal bias rather than objectivity about the pros of the match system as above.

My final thoughts for a better system then I'm done with this thread: Very simple, if NPs and PAs can practice right after their limited training why can't MDs.
Because our training model requires residency training. You want to tout the knowledge and better quality that an MD has, yet you want to abandon the model.

At least in primary care, there should be a government instituted freeze in hiring of PAs or NPs until ALL qualified medical school graduates are hired. Save the GME funding for specialty residencies and give the primary care JOBS to the MDs who want to stay in primary care! If the doctor shortage is as critical as they say it is then NO MORE RESIDENCY FOR PRIMARY CARE and save the match for those that want to become speciality docs! Very simple, very do-able. Its a win-win situtation for many;
I think we're going to disagree on the definition of qualified.
Its actually insulting to Primary Care doctors that you think you can do their job after only completing medical school. It is a 3 year residency for a reason. Who loses? The patients who get poor care from untrained doctors.

QUALITY in primary care INCREASES due to the influx of REAL MDs, with no primary care residencies GME FUNDING INCREASES to all other specialty residencies, finally, the govt and economy win because medical graduates with $200,000+ in student debt will have a way to pay back their private and GOVT loans!
Quality in primary care would decrease overall. You would have a marginal # of doctors in primary care, but they would be insufficiently trained.
The government will get its 200k regardless. There aren't ways to discharge the debt through bankruptcy.
 
Stop derailing this thread into some political debate and have some consideration for the candidates who haven't gotten offers yet and come here to commiserate and get info on what's going on with their peers participating in this process.
 
8 mins and im calling it a year.

same here...im sure im empathizing with you when i say how ridiculously depressed, disheartened, disappointed, and heartbroken this has made me..

i can blame "the system", my own program, etc; but at the end of the day, i can only really blame myself for a subpar application and the only way to recover is to improve it. how this will happen remains to be determined; honest self-criticism will start the process over, correctly

im happy for all my friends who matched/SOAPed...
 
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