The Rank Order List Deadline Is Imminently Approaching: Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

This is an important reminder that Wednesday (February 21) at 9am EST is the rank order list certification deadline. I'd recommend submitting today or tomorrow morning to be safe. Waiting until the last minute and making impulsive changes to your list is not a great idea.

Please make sure to avoid simple missteps in creating your rank order list. Improving written materials and interview skills is important, but all of that work can go to waste if applicants do not understand basic strategies for the Match. In November or 2015 the NRMP published an article called, "Understanding the Interview and Ranking Behaviors of Unmatched International Medical Students and Graduates in the 2013 Main Residency Match" in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education. The data is especially important for IMGs who represented the majority of unmatched candidates.

Sadly, the authors found that some applicants made strategic errors including the below:

- Not attending all interviews, thus failing to capitalize on every opportunity to market themselves.

- Declining to rank all programs at which they interviewed or not ranking all programs they would be willing to attend.

- Misunderstanding the Match and ranking programs at which applicants did not interview.

- Failing to rank programs based on true preferences or ranking programs based on the perceived likelihood of matching.

It kills me to read about these mistakes :(. Here is an explanation of the Match algorithm. If you do not understand how the Match works, it is absolutely critical that you learn about it to avoid destructive errors.