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Date

08/23/2021

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What is the Residency Match?

Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch...so that I may get into a residency of my choice!

The Residency “Match” is the most crucial component of postgraduate medical school education. US medical students, as wells as nearly 12,000 international medical students (IMGs), wait in anticipation for the most important day of their life: to get a residency match of their dreams and to inevitably obtain their board-certified medical license.

Matching is an involved process along with algorithms and preferences of residencies to find you the right fit, managed by the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) and National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) in the USA.

Residency programs get an innumerable amount of applications, up to 5000 to 6000 in some east coast residency programs for 22 positions or fewer! Getting your match is dependent on how well you do in the interview, your USMLE scores on Step 1 and Step 2, your clinical rotations (3 months minimum hands-on for IMGs), Dean’s Letter (MSPE), LORs, even publications if you have any. Some Program Directors push published applicants up to the top 5 percent of their applicants, so research is not a waste of time. By the way, Residents Medical provides many of these requirements by setting up Visa research fellowships, hands-on clinical rotations for med students and graduate med students, Interview prep, and USMLE help, which are all crucial packaging for a residency applicant.

Interviews, for example, allow you to present yourself in a more personal way instead of just by the books. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, interviews went virtual which saved both programs and students lots of time and money in airfare and hotels. However, some medical schools may continue to keep the interviews online even today because many Program Directors seem quite happy with the residents they virtually interviewed last year and hired this year.

September 15th marks the beginning of residency program applications. Applications can be submitted through ERAS and should include the following, all of which Residents Medical excels at providing for their candidates at residency programs all over the country:

  • ERAS application
  • Medical School Transcript
  • Dean’s Letter
  • USMLE transcript
  • Personal statement
  • Letters of recommendation
  • A picture
  • ECFMG (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates) status report, additional if you’re an FMG
  • PTAL (Postgraduate Training Authorization Letter), additional if you’re an FMG

After submitting your documentation and having those personal interviews, students will rank their preferred residency programs, while the program directors and the “committee” of attendings, assistant programs directors, and yes, current “residents,” do their ranking of which students they want to hire as a trainee for three to five years.

The number game is what gets the ball rolling for your perfect match. A computer algorithm is what churns the numbers of the residency programs that you ranked in your favor and the what the program directors ranked you as and based on this ordering, the software can find the best residency match for you! The Monday of the third week of March is when medical students will be notified where they got in, and even if you students don’t get in through the program, don’t sweat it! There are alternatives in joining a residency through SOAP (Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program). But realize SOAP is really designed for US grads who take nearly 85% of the slots when the dust settles. There is also an option to submitting your ERAS application (PDF version) to “out of match” programs which is the bastion for IMGs looking for residency.

Here at Residents Medical we are most willing to help you find the residency program that you want with many “out of Match” opportunities, which wonderfully may translate to “pre-Match” contracts in November and December months before the Match.

Contact us to have our staff assist and answer your questions about the residency Match process.

Book an evaluation

Our residency and fellowship specialist counselors are MDs and have decades of experience guiding and mentoring medical students and graduates on their path to becoming residents and fellows in the U.S.

Discuss your candidacy with us today in a complementary, one-on-one live session, and see how we can help you land your dream residency or fellowship.

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What is the Residency Match?

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Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90025

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Book a complementary evaluation with one of our residency specialist counselors and find out how we can help you achieve your dream residency or fellowship

Book Now

Education

AHIMA Clinical Document Specialist Certification

Externships

USMLE 1-on-1 Tutoring

CITI Research Certification

Preparatory

Life Coaching

ERAS Bundle Pro

ERAS Bundle Starter

Speech Pathology

Interview Preparation

Placement

House Physician

In-Patient Rotations

Research to Residency

Clinical to Residency

Programs

RM Platinum Program

RM Gold Program

RM Silver Program

About Us

  • Our Guiding Principles
  • Meet the Team
  • Blog
  • Press
  • Careers at Residents Medical
  • Residency Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • Accreditation

310.444.9700

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