What's up with GS Prelim positions?

[ddjamb]

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Hi all,
I was going over the 2017 match results and I noticed that lot of programs had many unmatched GS prelim positions. Some of the programs had 10 positions available and ZERO matched. My question is this: Do programs bother to rank applicants for Prelim year or do they just wait to fill them during SOAP? what's the consensus?

 

[siliso]

They could be ranking everyone who applied and still match no one, if all their applicants matched to something they ranked higher. Or if their applicants were unattractive enough then leaving some unranked and banking on the SOAP could be preferable for the program. Especially so if they won’t suffer much from unfilled spots. It sounds like an indicator of a pretty undesirable program in any case. Yow.

 

[asdfangina]

I know Baylor prelim surgery fills their spots only during the SOAP so I’d imagine those that go completely unfilled do the same thing.

 

[rokshana]

They could be ranking everyone who applied and still match no one, if all their applicants matched to something they ranked higher. Or if their applicants were unattractive enough then leaving some unranked and banking on the SOAP could be preferable for the program. Especially so if they won’t suffer much from unfilled spots. It sounds like an indicator of a pretty undesirable program in any case. Yow.

eh...lots of places would rather fill the prelim from the SOAP...they get a better candidate that way...think unmatched Urology, ENT, Ortho, etc vs the applicant that is at best trying for a prelim GS spot...in this case not necessarily an indicator of a an undesirable program.

 

[siliso]

All I’m saying is, none of those unmatched folks... desired to go there or they would have applied to start with. Don’t doubt that they’re better than the candidates who did apply if there were any.