At 10 a.m. (EST) on Monday of Match Week, residency candidates who participated in the Main Residency Match® through NRMP® will fall into one of three categories, which determines whether you will participate in the Post-Match SOAP: Fully Matched – You have received a position that will give you full training for licensure (usually a Categorical position or Preliminary/Advanced combination) Partially Matched – You have received a position that will only partially complete your training for licensure (usually a Preliminary or Advanced position) Unmatched – You have not received any residency p ..read more

If you are a residency re-applicant, understanding why previous attempts were not successful is imperative. There is no sense in trying the same thing over and over again, especially if it didn’t work the first time. Luckily, there ARE ways to improve and optimize both your application and your application strategy. Some potential weaknesses that may have occurred during your application season are: Poorly written Personal Statement Many residency applicants are surprised to hear that the Personal Statement has the power to make or break their chances with program interview selection committe ..read more

While applying to US medical residency programs, you may run into certain specialties and programs that offer more than one “track” or length of training. Below, we’ll help you understand how Residency Program Training Tracks work. So, understanding the difference in medical residency tracks is very relevant when you are researching different medical specialties. As you’ll see, some require different lengths of training and combinations of tracks in order to qualify for licensure. For example, Internal Medicine typically requires 3 years of training while Neurosurgery may require up to 7 years ..read more

Your choice of specialty is likely driven by your interest and passion for a specific field. However, it’s important to consider the average physician pay and hours as well. In fact, this information may very well be the missing piece you need to decide on your future career path. Knowing the “big picture” of what your career offers in terms of salary and time commitment is important. Below, we’ve gathered this data for 17 popular specialties. Average Physician Pay and Hours by Specialty Specialty Average Annual Physician Salary Average Hours Worked Per Week Neurosurgery $634,500 58.2 O ..read more

Imagine, you’ve found the perfect Internal Medicine residency program and a fantastic Family Medicine residency program– but both are in the same hospital. Residency programs that share a hospital with other medical specialties are called Opposed Programs, while residency programs that are the only medical specialty in the hospital are Unopposed Programs. You feel torn. Should you just choose one? Or, can you get away with applying to both? Would getting caught hurt your chances with one or both? No matter how much you love both programs, applying to more than one specialty within a single hos ..read more

Not Matching into a medical residency program is a difficult experience for any residency candidate. However, after you’ve had time to reflect on your past season, it’s essential to move forward and start thinking about what to do between now and when the next application season opens. But, it can be hard to know what are the next steps to take. The first step you can take is to sign up for any off-cycle vacancy services. Make sure you have your application materials available to send at a moment’s notice. The second step is to prepare to strengthen your application in any way possible. The mo ..read more

Every year, after filling out applications and completing residency interviews, the next step in the residency application process is to create and certify your Rank Order List (ROL) through NRMP®. This is a very important step towards participating in the Main Residency Match® in March. Rank Order Lists are created and certified by both residency programs and residency candidates. The goal is to find the best fit for all parties involved. Residency programs create a list of candidates they interviewed over the course of the interview season that they would like to see on their roster. At the ..read more

The medical residency interview season is about to break for the holiday season. After the holidays, programs can still conduct interviews, but many programs will want to have their interviews all wrapped up for the opening of Rank Order List creation in January. Now is a good time to begin reflecting on your season, and start making hard decisions based on the number of interviews you have (or have not) received. Depending on how well you perceive your residency application season to be going, you may want to start learning about the Post-Match Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program® (SOAP ..read more

Walking out of a residency interview can be filled with mixed emotions. You may feel confident you presented yourself well and made a connection with the program and the Program Director. Or, you may feel as though you could’ve put yourself out there more or answered a question differently. Even if a Program Director looks you in the eyes and says,”We look forward to working with you next year,” or “We will be sure to rank you highly,” it’s hard to know if you have a real chance to rank in the program you interviewed with. To help answer some questions and help you make more well informed Rank ..read more

If you are a residency re-applicant, understanding why previous attempts were not successful is imperative. There is no sense in trying the same thing over and over again, especially if it didn’t work the first time. Luckily, there ARE ways to improve and optimize both your application and your application strategy. Some potential weaknesses that may have occurred during your application season are: Poorly written Personal Statement Many residency applicants are surprised to hear that the Personal Statement has the power to make or break their chances with program interview selection committe ..read more