Things to look for in a schools' match list?

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I understand that match lists can be deceiving in that people who went to less competitive residencies might have been due to personal reasons etc. and people who went to competitive residencies might not have gone to their top choice, but are there certain things that are important in assessing a med school in match lists?

 

[WedgeDawg]

In the past 3-5 years, has the school matched anyone into the specialties you might be considering.

 

[dadaddadaBATMAN]

I understand that match lists can be deceiving in that people who went to less competitive residencies might have been due to personal reasons etc. and people who went to competitive residencies might not have gone to their top choice, but are there certain things that are important in assessing a med school in match lists?

Overall they are fairly useless, because your individual performance will matter a lot more than class performance.

Just check it for red flags:
No surgical specialists or very few of them
Large number of unmatched students
No people in your desired specialty

 

[ChrisMack390]

I just figure if the school matches at least a couple of people per year into really tough fields and/or big name competitive hospitals, it is going to be good enough that I won't be inhibited at all. I wouldn't look much beyond that.

 

[CliveStaples]

I would be much more concerned with a school being an affiliated that has a residency in what you might be considering. This is less about the match list and more about making connections and having good mentorship. This tends to go hand-in-hand with the match list, however. The school hasn't sent anybody into ophthalmology in 4 years? Probably doesn't have an affiliated ophthalmology program.

 

[Favoritefarm]

Match lists are garbage. I have never seen one that says if its a categorical or preliminary spot. You can make your match list look excellent by matching 10 of your students at UCSF general surgery but as prelim spots without actually saying they are prelim spots. The issue is incoming MS1s dont know that matching prelim at a top spot is not impressive and in fact most of those spots go unfilled.

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[MrChance2]

Don't look at the one student who went to Yale or Hopkins and assume it is at all representative of the school, it means nothing. There are going to be standouts anywhere. I'd look at where the average students seem to go. Any US School is going to have a high match rate. You can look at attrition though. If the freshman class is 250 then 210/212 match that's not a great sign. It's a bit tough to determine because class sizes grow though.

 

[SpacemanSpifff]

I understand that match lists can be deceiving in that people who went to less competitive residencies might have been due to personal reasons etc. and people who went to competitive residencies might not have gone to their top choice, but are there certain things that are important in assessing a med school in match lists?

As many posters have stated, the utility of a school's match list is limited. Even looking for "where the average student ends up" is unlikely to be useful, not only because you have no idea who the average ones are, but also because some institutions that premeds have never thought of as prestigious have very high powered programs (i.e. Iowa for ortho, Indiana or Cincinnati for EM...).

 

[PL198]

I would be much more concerned with a school being an affiliated that has a residency in what you might be considering. This is less about the match list and more about making connections and having good mentorship. This tends to go hand-in-hand with the match list, however. The school hasn't sent anybody into ophthalmology in 4 years? Probably doesn't have an affiliated ophthalmology program.

No one has any idea what they're gonna go into as an undergrad applying to med school.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Don't even try. I can barely interpret the quality of a match list for the specialty of my choice as a fourth year.

 

[mvenus929]

About the only thing useful is trends over time, and regional stats... if you're moving from California to NY and want to go back to California, you should see if so,done from the school you are looking at has made their way back. If you're going to a state school and might want to look elsewhere, see if people leave the state for residency. There is going to be a regional bias, but if no one from your school has ever matched into a program two states away, you are unlikely to be successful. If, however, you want to stay in NYC or Boston or whatever, seeing people successfully matching in those local programs will also mean the road will be less bumpy for you.