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
Professor of Surgery
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. 2014)
Nov.
Interviews
Advocacy Call
October
November
December
January
February
Rank List Deadline
(Applicants &
Programs)
March
Match Day
The Process (Nov. – March 2015)
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
2011
Class of
2012
Class of
2013
Class of
2014
Top of the Class
4%
6%
5%
9%
Outstanding
29%
31%
38%
55%
Excellent-Outstanding
25%
33%
22%
-
Excellent
37%
27%
32%
34%
Very Good to Excellent
3%
3%
3%
2%
Very Good
2%
-
-
-
Good
-
-
-
-
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
2013
160
2014
171
157
164
149/157 = 94%
157/164 = 96%
Specialty Match Data
Specialty
Anesthesiology
Dermatology
Emergency Medicine
Family Medicine
Internal Medicine
Medicine/Dermatology
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
% of Students
Students
Matching
Surgery & Surgical
# of
% of Students
Specialties
Students
Matching
4
7
17
2
32
1
3
8
2.4
4.3
10.4
1.2
19.5
0.6
1.8
4.9
10
13
6
7.9
3
9
8
3
14
1
4
4
7
11
3
1.8
5.5
4.9
1.8
8.5
0.6
2.4
2.4
4.3
6.7
1.8
Total
Family Medicine
Internal Medicine
Pediatrics
2
32
14
1.2
19.5
8.5
164
99.7%
Total
48
29.20%
General Surgery
Neurosurgery
Ophthalmology
11
3
13
6.7
1.8
7.9
Oral Maxillo Facial
Surgery
Orthopaedic Surgery
Otolaryngology
Plastic Surgery
Urology
3
9
8
1
3
1.8
5.5
4.9
0.6
1.8
51
30%
Primary Care
# of
% of Students
Students
Matching
Matching at Penn, 2014
Number of
Students
% of Students Matching
Total
42
26%
HUP
35
22%
CHOP
5
3%
Scheie
2
1%
Penn Hospital
0
0%
Matches at Other Premier Institutions: Class of 2014
Institution
Harvard
•
Brigham & Women’s Hospital
•
Children’s Hospital Boston
•
Massachusetts's General Hospital
# of Students Matched
26 Total
(9)
(3)
(14)
University of California San Francisco (UCSF)
12
New York University
9
Weill Cornell Medical Center
6
Barnes Jewish/Washington University
4
Johns Hopkins
4
Columbia University Medical Center
4
University of Michigan
4
University of Washington
4
University of California Los Angeles
2
University of Texas Southwestern
2
University of Virginia
2
Stanford
1
University of Chicago
1
University of Miami Bascom Palmer
1
University of Pittsburgh
1
University of Texas MD Anderson
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, 2014!
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, 2014
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
• Next class meeting – late May
• MyERAS opens; students may begin working on application –
Mid- April
• ERAS Opens to Programs – Sept. 15th