Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About
the Match*
(*But Were Afraid to Ask)
Or, the World According
to JoMo, the Program Director
Jon B. Morris, M.D.
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
The Ernest F. Rosato - William Maul Measey Professor in Surgical
Education
Letters of Recommendation
MSPE Crafted by OSA
JoMo Meetings – Reality Therapy
April
Class
Meeting #1
May
June
Class
Meeting #2
July
Aug.
Sept.
Interview
Workshop
Class Meeting
Oct.
MSPE
Released
Oct. 1
The Process (April-Nov. 2015)
Nov.
Interviews
Advocacy Call
October
November
December
January
February
Rank List Deadline
(Applicants &
Programs)
March
Match Day
The Process (Nov. – March 2016)
Anatomy of the MSPE
• Identifying Information
• Unique Characteristics (Two 125 word paragraphs)
• Academic History (matriculation, graduation, combined degree, repeat/remediate,
adverse actions, gaps, leaves of absence)
• Academic Progress (the “cut and paste”)
• Preclinical Basic Science
• Core Clinical
• Electives
• Combined Degree Summary
• MD/PhD Summary
• Masters Degree Summary
• Summary Paragraph
• Bottom Line
MSPE Bottom Line Distribution
Class of
2012
Class of
2013
Class of
2014
Class of
2015
Top of the Class
6%
5%
9%
7%
Outstanding
31%
38%
55%
53%
Excellent-Outstanding
33%
22%
-
3%
Excellent
27%
32%
34%
34%
Very Good to Excellent
3%
3%
2%
2%
Very Good
-
-
-
-
Good
-
-
-
1%
AOA


Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society
Criteria/Selection







1/6th of Class Eligible
Academics
Research
Extra Curricular
Selection Process
Students Notified by Sept. 1 (ERAS)
Will be Mentioned in MSPE
JoMo’s Rules



Everything is Discoverable
Nothing is Off the Record
Everything Gets Back to the Program
Director
High Contact Areas:
Applicants and Programs






Phone
Conversations
Email
Receptions
Tours
Interviews
The Interview – The Basics

Are You a Human Being?

Did You Do Your Homework?
Post-Interview Strategy:
Rules of Engagement

PD/Applicants may volunteer
information but cannot coerce or
pressure each other.
Required Reading
Manipulation and the Match
By Carl Erik Fisher, M.D.
JAMA, September 23/30, 2009 – Vol. 302. No. 12
The Goal of Coercion


PDs – want to convince all applicants
that they are takes.
Applicants – want to convince all
programs they are coming.
The Tools of Coercion




Letters
Email
Phone Calls
Second Visits
The Language of Coercion
Applicants:




I loved your program.
I will be ranking you highly.
You are at the top of my list.
I would be honored and thrilled to train at your
program.
The Language of Coercion
Program Directors




How are your other interviews going?
If you want to match with us, let us know.
How seriously are you considering our program?
Why would you want to come to our program?
Rising on a Rank Order List



Be a Superstar
Passive Osmotic Ascent
Advocacy Call
Rank Order List Strategy: Getting to the Top
Ranked to Match
10
20
Take Group
(3 cycles)
30
40
50
Bubble
60
70
80
DNR
• Assume a program takes 10 categorical residents.
• Assume the program interviews 100 applicants.
• The advocacy call has its greatest impact on the bubble group.
90
100
Why Would a PD Respond
to an Advocacy Call?



PD is a human being
PDs want applicants that want their
program
The selection process is not infallible
Why Some Don’t Match
•
•
•
•
Applied to inadequate number of programs
Disconnect between academic record and career choice
Interview Performance
Bad luck
The Golden Rule of ROL
Creation
• Only rank programs where you would be willing to train.
Do not rank any program that you do not wish to attend.
Penn Med
Residency Match Data
Total graduates
Total residency
placements
Matching at
University
Program
2014
171
2015
167
164
165
157/164 = 96%
158/167 = 95%
Specialty Match Data
Specialty
Anesthesiology
Dermatology
Emergency Medicine
Family Medicine
Internal Medicine
Medicine/Dermatology
Medicine-Pediatrics
Neurological Surgery
Neurology
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Ophthalmology
Oral Maxillo Facial Surgery
Orthopaedic Surgery
Otolaryngology
Pathology
Pediatrics
Plastic Surgery
Psychiatry
Radiation Oncology
Radiology-Diagnostic
Surgery
Urology
Total
# of
Students
% of
Students
Matching
9
6
11
4
52
1
3
3
4
7
8
3
5
7
4
14
6
2
2
1
13
0
5.4
3.6
6.6
2.4
31.5
0.6
1.8
1.8
2.4
4.2
4.8
1.8
3
4.2
2.4
8.5
3.6
1.2
1.2
0.6
7.8
0
165
99.4
Surgery & Surgical
Specialties
General Surgery
Neurosurgery
Ophthalmology
Oral Maxillo Facial
Surgery
Orthopaedic Surgery
Otolaryngology
Plastic Surgery
Urology
Primary Care
44
27
13
3
8
7.8
1.8
4.8
3
5
7
6
0
1.8
3
4.2
3.6
0
# of
% of Students
Students
Matching
Family Medicine
Internal Medicine
Pediatrics
4
52
14
2.4
31.5
8.5
Total
70
42.40%
Matching at Penn, 2015
Number of
Students
% of Students Matching
Total
41
25%
HUP
31
20%
CHOP
7
4%
Scheie
3
2%
Matches at Other Premier Institutions: Class of 2015
Institution
Harvard
•
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
•
Massachusetts's General Hospital
•
Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary
# of Students Matched
17 Total
(9)
(7)
(1)
University of California San Francisco (UCSF)
11
Johns Hopkins
7
Northwestern
7
Icahn SOM at Mount Sinai
6
Columbia University Medical Center
5
Yale New Haven Hospital
5
University of California Los Angeles
4
Baylor College
3
University of Washington
3
Weill Cornell Medical Center
3
University of Michigan
2
Duke University
2
NYU School of Medicine
2
Stanford
2
Vanderbilt University
2
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
2
Barnes Jewish/Washington University
1
University of Miami Bascom Palmer
1
What You Need to Do
• Meet with JoMo before Sept. 1st
•
•
•
•
•
Tuesdays and Friday mornings
Call 215-898-7190, or email osa@mail.med.upenn.edu
YOU MUST MAKE AN APPOINTMENT BEFORE MAY 15, 2015!
No JoMo = No MSPE
Remember Early Match Programs - Ophthalmology, Urology
• Unique Characteristics Paragraphs
• Submit to OSA by June 1st
Unique Characteristics
Paragraphs
• Due to osa@mail.med.upenn.edu by June 1, 2015
These paragraphs should be no more than 250 words total. An additional paragraph may be
added for time spent doing a year out. Each paragraph is to be written in the third person. See
the Student Portal for samples.
Paragraph 1:
•
The introduction is a succinct chronology of a student’s entry and progress through medical school. Pre-matriculation academic, social
or employment background characteristics may be included.
Paragraph should include:
•
•
•
•
•
College, degree date, major, minor
Advanced Degrees
Membership in honors societies, graduation honors, significant extra-curricular activities
If you did not enter med school immediately after graduation, describe your activities
Paragraph 2:
Paragraph should include:
•
•
•
Employment, extra-curricular activities (e.g. triathlon, raised quintuplets, etc..), committees, class officer
Fellowships, awards, accomplishments
If you took a year off, please include your activities
What You Need to Do
• Personal Statement
• Solicit Letters of Recommendation to be uploaded by writers
• Next class meeting – late May
• MyERAS opens; students may begin working on application –
May
• ERAS Opens to Programs – Sept. 15th
Letters of
Recommendation
From ERAS:
ERAS opens in May 2015. At this point, you will add LoR Authors in your
MyERAS Application and only after that, your LoR Authors will be able to upload
their letters for you. In order to do this, each of your LoR Authors will need to set
up an account and upload their letters using the information you will provide to
them (unique link and instructions) once you have access to your application in
May.
Taking a year out? Ask for letter now and let the writer know the new process. They
may hold the letter until 2017 season opens and upload it then, or send it to
OSA@mail.med.upenn.edu and it will be sent back to them to upload when you
apply.