Thoughts on the death of the pre-match?

[maladdy85]

So it is official. After the 2012 match year there is no such thing as a pre-match . As a Caribbean student this is highly concerning to me since historically about 30% of my school's grads got their residencies that way. Is this move an attempt to shut internationally trained doctors out of entering the US healthcare system? Thoughts?

[rokshana]

no, more of a way of closing a loophole that existed because when the match was 1st started, there were not a large number of independent applicants... the whole point of the match was to eliminate the pressure of accepting a spot when offered.

and NOW you feel its official?

[Burr93]

This doesn't eliminate the number of spots available to IMG's at all. Off the top of my head there are around 16,000 AMG's (the vast majority matching) and 23,000+ PGY-1 spots. So whether or not there are prematches, there are still gonna be the same number of IMG applicants for the remaining 7000ish spots.

All this pre-match rule does is make the process different, and in my opinion more fair. Also, it stops weak programs from poaching strong IMG applicants who fear the worst, not matching. I almost entered a prematch conversation at a far weaker community program than the university I ultimately ended up matching at, because of fear of not matching at all. I however, told the PD of the university program that a program wanted to discuss prematch. He told me it was an institutional policy to not prematch this year, and generally condemned the process as poaching strong candidates and encouraged me to remain in the match. I am sure glad I went through the match process as I ended up at the far stronger university program which also was in my number one choice city. So if you are a reasonably strong candidate (good scores, LOR's, PS, work/research/volunteer experience and first time passes on boards) I think you are at an advantage with programs taking a greater number of positions into the Match.

[devildoc8404]

I agree with the above.

The demise of pre-matching does not diminish the number of programs available for the I/FMG set, it only rearranges the process through which those programs will be available. The thing that will diminish the number of programs available for I/FMGs will be the gradual increase of USMGs, which is predicted by the AAMC to reach a ration of 1-to-1 (graduates to internships) by ±2016. THAT is what will put the squeeze on I/FMGs... and the squeeze will be significant.

Not having pre-match is inconvenient, but it is not ultimately a barrier to a successful match. If/when we see a 1-to-1 ratio of USMGs-to-PG1 positions, that will indeed become a barrier to a successful match for a great many I/FMGs

[maladdy85]

Thanks for the responses. There was a little bit of a doom and gloom feeling to the announcement when it was given to us on campus. Good to know this change is not all that detrimental to IMGs.

[jonmonkey]

Contrary to many held beliefs....the pre-match is not entirely dead. I am interviewing at a program in early Jan. that still pre-matches. Programs either have to go entriely through the match or entirely with pre-match offers. Still they are few and far between but are still available.