yes! it does matter how high you rank a program- go and look at the example on nrmp- they make a point of showing how one person ranked a place they liked lower because they thought that the ones they ranked higher would rank him higher too- and he would hve gotten his preferred place IF he had ranked the program higher like he wanted!

listen to the advice given in Iserson's-- he says rank in the order of YOUR preference- and then you will know that you matched the best possible program for you.

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GI Elective [x]....Wards []
Wards [] ............Night Float []
MICU [] .............Wards []
Wards [] ............CCU []
Elective!![]......... PGY 1 1/2 []
VACATION!!!! [] .Move Complete[]

That's not the impression I get from the NRMP website. If the computer has to go down that far (#15) for whatever reason (in his case, #1 - #14 don't rank him) and the program is "full", it'll kick out someone ranked lower on Program N's ROL irregardless of what each candidate ranked the program.

i don't get this... i thought it didn't matter what number you ranked the program as long as they ranked you higher than the other person. plus there is no way of knowing how a program is going to rank you just based on interviews.

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Yadira

Just pre-matched for Internal Medicine at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ! So glad to be out of the Match. Anyone else pre-match yet? Any at Maricopa?

Best of Luck to all

well, now that the interview season is over, i have a question for you all... how many of you sent thank you letters after the interview? I sent letters for my first 3 interviews, but after that I got lazy and wasn't too happy with my original thank you letters.

The letters sounded like I was pandering to them. I actually saw a few examples online and then emulated them, adding tidbits from the interview. But my other 10 interviews i totally spaced it.

And what are your opinions on sending thank you letters via email?

Thanks for the match info. I went through the match last year and still don't understand it.

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PGY-2 Pediatrics
SGU class of 2007

No, if they ranked him #1, he trumps ANY OTHER CANDIDATE for a spot in their match list, even if he ranked them dead last, as long as he hasn't matched anywhere else that he listed above this particular place. That means someone else will get kicked off the list to make room for him.

It doesn't matter except that if you rank other places higher, you may match at one of those places rather than the program that ranked you highly. That's why you should rank them in your actual order of preference, because, as you say, you don't know exactly where a program will rank you.

There was a big debate about his a while ago. I guess sending letters via email is better than not sending them at all. I'm sure you can come up with a simple thank you that doesn't sound pandering.

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