Thread: Matching?

Hey Mitch i hear all these things about matching after med school. Can you explain to me exactly how matching works. I mean how does it work step by step, do we select certain hospitals and then the school tries to match us with these schools, or do the hospitals select you? Thanks.

Originally Posted by Texan

Hey Mitch i hear all these things about matching after med school. Can you explain to me exactly how matching works. I mean how does it work step by step, do we select certain hospitals and then the school tries to match us with these schools, or do the hospitals select you? Thanks.

Texan:

This topic is definitely more appropriate for the match forum (where I believe a brief explanation already exists), but I will give you the gen overview. Please add any other questions like this to the match forum.

The schools really have nothing to do with the match. Rather, there is a U.S. national agency which regulates most US residencies. The simple explanation is that an applicant fills out all their info (CV, LOR, personal statements, transcipts, USMLE scores, etc.) to and then selects the programs (specialty and locations) where they would like to request an interview from. Some of them ask the applicant to interview. Based on a # of factors, the residency program will "rank" all the appicants which they interviewed on a set date and hand them in. The applicants will also "rank" the programs they visited in the order that they want. Theoretically, if the applicant and the residency program both choose each other as the top ranked choice, a computer should end up with a "match" and this will determine where the applicant will go.

Of course there is much more to it then my simple explanation, but you get the idea. Good luck.

Thanks a bunch.