What is a good matchlist?

[bakedlay]

i know what a matchlist is, but what makes it "good"?

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[skhichi]

well, i guess it just depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking at a school to see your chances of getting a primary care residency in the state or region where you live then that's going to be different than if you're looking to get a neuro residency at Johns Hopkins. In that case a good matchlist is a school that consistently has its students match at competitive residencies at big names schools across the country.

 

[Jason110]

In the past (like 2 or 3 years ago), many schools would advertise how many of their students matched in one of their top three choices. I don't think the NRMP (National Residency Matching Program) release that info to the schools anymore. But anyway, that statistic was misleading. Many schools would say X % of their students matched in their top three. What they don't tell you is how competitive those top three programs were.

Nowadays, some schools will give you the entire list of where their students matched. That's the best way to judge a school.

Jason

 

[VienneseWaltz]

In the past (like 2 or 3 years ago), many schools would advertise how many of their students matched in one of their top three choices. I don't think the NRMP (National Residency Matching Program) release that info to the schools anymore. But anyway, that statistic was misleading. Many schools would say X % of their students matched in their top three. What they don't tell you is how competitive those top three programs were.

Nowadays, some schools will give you the entire list of where their students matched. That's the best way to judge a school.

Jason

Jason's right--the statistics are pretty misleading. While it sounds great when a school says 90% of their class gets one of their top 3, you have to consider that something like 85% of all match participants get one of the their top 3. And "top 3" means the programs you actually ranked, ie, programs where you interviewed. If you applied to 20 programs, got interviews at your bottom 5, and matched into your "first-ranked" program, you're really getting your 16th choice.

It's hard for someone at the pre-med level to analyze a match list beyond how many people matched into a particular specialty. You won't necessarily recognize the names of prestigious programs, and some programs that might sound prestigious (due to the reputation of the school) might not be so great in a particular specialty.

 

[jlee9531]

a good match list is one that matches a lot of students into a field you are definitely interested in...primary care ones, or specialties...

i like to keep it simple like that.

but lets say you arent sure what field you are interested in, then just look for one that has a nice mix...

i dunno. you mostly control where you end up. you are the one that has to work for the grades and the one that has to study for the boards. sure some schools do a better job than others in preparing you, but in the end you gotta do most of the work.

so just because a school as a killer match list with lots of hard to get specialities...doesn't mean you will get into one of those...just means the class before you worked their asses off.

but if you get into one of those schools, then you will prolly have a similar mindset as the students in the past.

i have rambled enough now.

 

[bakedlay]

cool...thanks y'all

 

[davedavedave]

Jason's right--the statistics are pretty misleading. While it sounds great when a school says 90% of their class gets one of their top 3, you have to consider that something like 85% of all match participants get one of the their top 3. And "top 3" means the programs you actually ranked, ie, programs where you interviewed. If you applied to 20 programs, got interviews at your bottom 5, and matched into your "first-ranked" program, you're really getting your 16th choice.

It's hard for someone at the pre-med level to analyze a match list beyond how many people matched into a particular specialty. You won't necessarily recognize the names of prestigious programs, and some programs that might sound prestigious (due to the reputation of the school) might not be so great in a particular specialty.

do u think the residency director's score on usnews report is a good indicator of the strength of a school's matches? ....one stat i find odd is that nyu has a decent res dir score (3.5) but has an extrememly low "match at top 3" %

 

[fullefect1]

10 neurosurgery, 10 Derm.