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Chapter 11-End of Year 4 of Medical School

Match Day

They day has finally come.  Let’s break down the week of the Match (usually in mid-March.)  On the Monday of the Match, applicants who Don’t match, will be notified, usually through your dean’s office, but your match status will also be available online at 12pm.  Match status online, will not list anything about specific programs, only match on un-matched..  On the following Tuesday at 12pm, a list will become available with all of the programs that have not filled their spots, and then the “scramble” begins.  In most medical schools, the student affairs office will receive all information regarding match status, contacting you on that Monday if you are unmatched, and using their experience, help you to get through the scramble.  Therefore, for all applicants who may be out of their school’s state around that time (many are often surprised not to match), make sure that your student affairs office has a current telephone number to contact you on that Monday morning, just in case.  Otherwise, most schools will have some type of festivities scheduled for match day.  Enjoy the day, even if you don’t get into your top choice.  Your match usually ends up being a good one when examining the results retrospectively later on.

The Scramble Period

The time between 12pm on Tuesday to 12pm on Thursday is considered the scramble period, at which time the scramble version of ERAS will be in operation (ERAS will be down from 11am to 12pm on that Tuesday to facilitate the transfer to the Scramble version).  For those who are notified on Monday that they did not match, this time will be critical, but all is certainly not lost, especially for many specialties who year after year have empty spots during this time.  The first thing to do, if your student affairs office has yet to contact you, is to contact them.  They will be your greatest resource to help with decisions, and gather and distribute supplemental application materials.  Next step is to print out your Application, CV, and Personal Statement to have in case you are required to fax them over to programs during the scramble.

Before you contact any schools, it is often advised that you prepare your list of programs, and all of your required application materials.  You are further advised to go down your list in most desirable programs to least, because it is possible that you will be asked to commit to a spot immediately over the phone (but usually after receiving your application again).  Contact the programs and find out if they prefer to receive your application materials via ERAS, Fax, or E-mail.  During the scramble period, you will be able to transmit your ERAS application to a maximum of 30 programs, for FREE (you cannot transmit to additional programs even if you wanted to pay.)  USMLE transcript request will also be processed for free if you already paid your USMLE transcript fees (during your normal ERAS application.)  The scramble period will end at 12 noon on Thursday, afterwards, additional transmitting of application materials through ERAS will require additional fees.  If you were not able to find a residency position during the match, then your next resource will be another AAMC service called "FindAResident" available online.  This program brings programs trying to fill positions together with applicants searching for positions.  www.aamc.org/students/findaresident

Just keep in mind, you are not alone if you did not match, and it doesn’t necessary mean you are a terrible person.  Residencies get more and more competitive every year, and if you failed to match, as much as you evaluate your self for shortcomings, evaluate your advisors as perhaps you were not prepped and guided well.  Also, during this time, your student affairs office will be your best friend.

Completing all of your requirements

Make sure you don’t get into a situation where you can not graduate, and start residency.  It is very easy to overlook some minor detail/requirements during your fourth year where during pre-match you are stressing about the Match, and post-match you are kicking back thinking you can coast the rest of the way through.  Many schools have different requirements about Step I and II of the boards, and obviously you need to pass them both to start residency (in most cases).  Also, make sure you have completed all of your core clerkships, and required elective time.  Some medical schools also require additional competencies in advanced levels to be met.  The best person to speak with will be the Student Affairs director at your medical school.  It wouldn’t be a bad idea to poke your head in sometime in January to make sure you are heading on the right track to graduating.

Additional Electives

When preparing my schedule for the tail end of my fourth year, during my third year, I thought, “I want to take an ICU month, a Radiology month, a Cardiothoracic month, and 2 weeks of Anesthesiology.”  I thought this would prepare me to be a star come the start of internship.   Grant it, this was after completing 8 week clerkship, three, one-month sub-Internships and a 3-week preceptorship elective in surgery.  When I was going over this schedule with my older brothers, they told me, don’t try to replicate your residency at the end of 4th year.  Better put, this will be a unique time for you because you will be awaiting the match, and at this point need only to complete your requirements to graduate and start your residency.  Furthermore, residency will be very demanding, and you will loose time to dedicate to things other than medicine that make you smile.  Plan this time carefully.  FIRST PRIORITY, MEET ALL OF YOUR REQUIREMENTS TO GRADUATE!  Secondly, if you feel you are very deficient in an area, take an elective in it.  Third, if there are other aspects of medicine that interest you, but that you know you will not be seeing much of during your residency, now is probably your last opportunity to get in depth exposure to it.  Last, but not least, TRAVEL, and have some fun, you earned it, and the time after MATCH feels great.

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