Match Day!

Students search for their Match envelopes
Photo taken from: whsc.emory.edu

Today the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) released their results. On “Match Day”, thousands of medical students across the country open envelopes at the exact same time and learn their fate—at least that of the next 3-5 years! According to an NRMP report, close to 47,000 students participated in the Match in 2011.

In medical school students spend four years studying the basic science material and rotating through clerkships in various medical specialties. Each clerkship serves to train the student, but also to allow the student to develop an idea of which medical specialty she will pursue. Will it be Pediatrics? Pathology? Perhaps Preventative Medicine?

Within the four years of medical school, students are required to pass Steps 1 and 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) in order to receive their degree. After graduation, novice physicians complete more extensive and hands-on clinical training program called “residency” that will transform them into full-fledged, autonomous doctors.

The difference between the NRMP and other application processes is that the applicant can only be matched to one residency program. This is a stark contrast to the college and even medical school application processes, in which an applicant can be accepted to multiple schools. The Match is like any other application process—on steroids!

Once decided on a medical specialty, medical students sometimes apply to fifteen programs or more! They travel all over the country to interview with program directors and medical faculty. They meet current residents in each program and explore the geographic area. Finally, medical students rank each program according to their preferences. However, residency programs also rank the applicants. Programs evaluate the applicant's academic record, USMLE scores, letters of recommendation, personal statement, professionalism and many other aspects of the student's application. Both parties submit their rank lists to the NRMP system which uses a mathematical algorithm to generate the best match possible. In an ideal scenario, a program’s very highly ranked candidate will also rank that particular program very high. Voilà! A match made in heaven!

However, creating a rank list is challenging for both applicants and programs. One of the most troubling points for applicants is coping with a lack of control over the process. Students are matched to one program and one program only. Beyond creating their rank list, students do not have control over where they will end up. The student may have preferred to match with a program in California but match to a program in Massachusetts. This can have a profound impact on the student's professional and personal life and loved ones.

A book entitled, “Match Day,” by Brian Eule, addresses this issue exceptionally well. Eule endured Match Day with his medical student-girlfriend. The non-fiction book tells the story of three medical students (including Eules girlfriend) and the way in which the Match impacted their lives; the book also brings in facts about the history and development of the match process. This book is useful for medical students and their loved ones, and anyone interested in learning more about Match Day.

After a 6-month hiatus, Match Day prompted me to write a post. I recently had my own “Match Year” as I learned which medical schools had accepted, rejected or waitlisted me for admission to their programs. This year has been one of celebration as I was accepted to several of my top-choice medical schools. However, I cannot help but think this is the quiet before the storm! In just four months, I will officially begin my transformation into a physician. In just four months, I will be studying for biochemistry and dissecting a cadaver. While this process began many years ago when I first decided to pursue medicine, August 2012 will mark the month in which school officially starts, and I am already thinking about Match Day 2016!