Residency Applicants, Thinking about How to Create your Rank Order List? Check out this Easy Advice.

For those of you who are starting to craft your Match rank order list, please make sure you follow this simple strategy: Rank your first choice first, your second second, your third third, etc.

In other words, your most successful approach is to create your list in order of your real preferences. Although the Match algorithm is mathematically quite complicated, because the process always begins with an attempt to match an applicant to the program most preferred on the applicant’s list, you do not want to try to “game” the system. For example, I’ve had applicants tell me that they plan to rank a less preferred institution higher because that program has more residency slots. That’s a no-no. The applicant will actually be harming him/herself with that strategy.

Two weeks ago I posted a short NRMP video that explains the Match algorithm. Here it is again. Here’s also a less-than-one-minute Guru on the Go© video “NRMP Ranking to Avoid a Spanking” to emphasize your optimal strategy.

The Main Demographic Factor Associated with Decreased Satisfaction for Physician Work-life Balance is Female Gender

Wow. When I read that fact in a recent piece on time management by Dr. Sandra Scott Simons in Emergency Medicine News, I was a bit taken aback. It's not surprising once you really think about it, but at first, it's a slap in the face. 

In her article, Dr. Simons' discussion of the pitfalls of distractions is particularly resonant for me. If you haven't already, make sure to familiarize yourself with the concept of Deep Work by Cal Newport. (He has a book, a podcast, you can also find many interviews of him online.)

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself: How to Create a Match Rank Order List

As you look toward the NRMP Match rank order list deadline on March 1, you'll want to avoid simple missteps. Improving written materials and interview skills is critical, but all of that work can go to waste if applicants do not understand basic strategies for the Match. Way back in November 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 still relevant today.

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

• Declining to rank all programs at which they interviewed or not ranking all programs they would be willing to attend.
• Not attending all interviews, thus failing to capitalize on every opportunity to market themselves. (I suspect this error is less common now with the advent of virtual interviews.)
• Misunderstanding the Match and, thus, 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 a video 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.

Match Schedule 2022-3

Here are some important upcoming dates for those applying for the Match:

January

Jan. 31, 2023: The registration deadline for the NRMP Match is at 11:59 pm EST on this date. After this time, applicants will incur a $50 late fee. (The process is expensive enough; no need to pay more.)

February

Feb. 1, 2023: Rank order list entry opens at 12 pm EST. 

March

March 1, 2023: Rank order list deadline. Candidates must have their rank order lists certified by 9 pm EST.

March 13, 2023: NRMP Match Week starts. SOAP applicants can begin preparing applications in the ERAS® system.

March 16, 2023: SOAP rounds 1-4.

March 17, 2023: NRMP Match Day.  Match results are available at 12 pm EST.

Over the course of this month and next, I'll be blogging with tips on how to create your best Match list. 

“Unhappy is He Who Depends on Success to be Happy" - Alex Dias Ribeiro, Former Formula 1 Race Car Driver

Age-related professional decline is the last thing many doctors want to think about. Those who have just finished years of arduous training can't imagine that they have only 15 years until they will deteriorate (statistically true), and those of us in middle age don't want to think about our impending, cognitive retreat from medicine. And yet, this fantastic piece in the Atlantic "Your Professional Decline is Coming (Much) Sooner than You Think" by Arthur C. Brooks is a fascinating, well written article about happiness, gifted and accomplished people, and personal relevance with multiple interesting celebrity examples. Brooks also proposes some quasi-solutions (or at least some work-arounds). I strongly recommend this compelling piece for physicians of all ages and stages.