The all important Residency “Match Day” is this week
Posted By RichC on March 15, 2011
This week is an important one for my daughter as she anxiously 
awaits her residency match for next year. For those unfamiliar with a medical student’s M4 (4th year), one of the big events prior to graduation is “Match Day.” This is the day when those graduating with an MD degree find out where they will be working as resident doctors for the next few years.
The process begins earlier in the academic year through a process of interviews with residency programs at hospitals around the nation (calendar). Both the hospital and the medical student “rank” each other as to their fit and the National Residency Matching Program tabulates the results with a “matching algorithm.” Those students who do match, are given notice on the Monday preceding Match Day (March 14 this year) … and will be notified as to where they matched on March 17th this year. It should be an interesting announcement ceremony. Those receiving their matching notification on Monday can breathe somewhat a sign of relief as at least have matched with a hospital and will not have to participate in “The scramble.”
If they have not secured a position through the Match, the locations of remaining unfilled residency positions are released to unmatched applicants the following day. These applicants are given the opportunity to contact the programs about the open positions. This is what is known as "The scramble." This frantic, loosely structured system forces soon-to-be medical school graduates to choose programs not on their original Match list. Occasionally and unfortunately, this sometimes requires students to choose entirely new specialties. The scramble is widely considered to be an unfavorable and highly stressful way of obtaining a residency position.
Fortunately Katelyn received notification that she matched – now we’ll wait until Thursday to find out just where she will be. Congratulations!
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