Congratulations !! I can’t believe I have been following you since that NYT article about the conception of your first daughter and now here you are… A soon to be medical graduate and pediatrician, mother of two. Exciting time !! I hope you will end up exactly where you want to be 😀
Congratulations on your match. I hope it leads to the fulfillment you so well deserve.
Not all US 4th year med school students are as lucky as you. I’m sitting here in my son’s apartment and the offers for the 3rd round of SOAP just finished going out. He still hasn’t gotten an offer. After the end of the 2nd round yesterday when the list of available slots was updated there were still 11 slots left that he was eligible for. There will be 2 more rounds today and there’s a slim chance he’ll get an offer, but since the last of the schools that responded back to his expressions of interest filled their open slots yesterday, in reality he’s most likely going to be one of a unfortunate growing group that our country has created.
In years past there were many college students who dreamed of being a doctor, but at graduation found they couldn’t get into medical school. It was a sad situation, but something people could recover from. They’d find some other job, maybe not as fulfilling, but hopefully something that would still interest them.
Its different now. There’s a new group of students being created who are in a totally different boat. In the last few years there’s become an imbalance between the number of residency slots available and the number of graduate medical students looking for placement. There’s not enough residency slots for the students entering MATCH, and to make it worse once SOAP starts there’s the additional flood of IMG’s who join the competition. Everyone entering MATCH’s eligibility has been certified. They made it all the way through an accredited medical school (they’re actually nearing completion of the last year) and passed all the required national tests. They now have hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loans, and they’ll be denied a chance to practice.
Oh yes people have many suggestions for increasing your chances at next year’s MATCH, but the majority of the possible alternatives for students to do while they wait for next year’s MATCH are just things that people who are bad at math would try. UNLESS OUR COUNTRY MAKES A CHANGE there’s will still be a shortage of residency slots next year, it’s a compounding problem and so the pool of graduate medical students without a residency will only be LARGER. Why would a program chose a student who’s already been passed over once when there’s a fresh batch to chose from? Somehow gaining some verifiable clinical experience could possibly counter whatever cloud hung over them at their first MATCH encounter, but those potential placements are far and few between.
There an old joke …. “What do you call the doctor who graduated at the bottom of his class?” ….. you STILL call him “Doctor”. Well not any more, now you call him “BANKRUPT!” and miserable with life.
Why should a medical student who passed all the national testing requisites be denied the opportunity to practice? Wake up America, this is an intolerable and unfair situation that MUST be fixed immediately.
Thanks for reading my rant. There’s still a few minutes before the next round of SOAP offers is released and I still have HOPE.
First off, thank you for your words of congratulations!
I am so sorry to hear about the frustration with SOAP (putting it very, very lightly). What a mess! I have my fingers crossed for your son and your whole family.
I agree, it’s a terribly flawed system. We need more physicians in the country. Period. I’m pleased that we’ve done a good job of creating new (reputable) medical schools and expanding some class sizes within reason. But we need to meet these changes with more resident positions.
And, as you said, med students who pass the boards should be able to continue on with their goal of being a physician. They should not be penalized so severely due to a broken system.
I very much hope everything works out. Best of luck, and thank you for your comment.
anna in med school 
Congratulations congratulations congratulations mazel tov!!!! Can’t wait to hear where you end up!
Thank you so so much!!!
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! Congratulations- I am so happy for you!!!!
Ahh! Thank you!
Congratulations !! I can’t believe I have been following you since that NYT article about the conception of your first daughter and now here you are… A soon to be medical graduate and pediatrician, mother of two. Exciting time !! I hope you will end up exactly where you want to be 😀
That is so kind of you!! Thank you for your note and your well wishes! Wow, it’s been a fun ride (which I know has only just begun), for sure!!
Many many many congratulations! I’m sooooo happy for you!
That’s so kind of you–I’m over-the-moon!
Congrats!! Very well deserved!!
Thank you 🙂 EEK!
So exciting! Congratulations!
Many, many thanks!!
MAZEL ALL THE TOVS!!!! I can’t wait to hear where you will be headed! XOXOX
hahaha!! Thank you so much!!!
How exciting!! Congratulations!!!
thank you so much!
Congratulations on your match. I hope it leads to the fulfillment you so well deserve.
Not all US 4th year med school students are as lucky as you. I’m sitting here in my son’s apartment and the offers for the 3rd round of SOAP just finished going out. He still hasn’t gotten an offer. After the end of the 2nd round yesterday when the list of available slots was updated there were still 11 slots left that he was eligible for. There will be 2 more rounds today and there’s a slim chance he’ll get an offer, but since the last of the schools that responded back to his expressions of interest filled their open slots yesterday, in reality he’s most likely going to be one of a unfortunate growing group that our country has created.
In years past there were many college students who dreamed of being a doctor, but at graduation found they couldn’t get into medical school. It was a sad situation, but something people could recover from. They’d find some other job, maybe not as fulfilling, but hopefully something that would still interest them.
Its different now. There’s a new group of students being created who are in a totally different boat. In the last few years there’s become an imbalance between the number of residency slots available and the number of graduate medical students looking for placement. There’s not enough residency slots for the students entering MATCH, and to make it worse once SOAP starts there’s the additional flood of IMG’s who join the competition. Everyone entering MATCH’s eligibility has been certified. They made it all the way through an accredited medical school (they’re actually nearing completion of the last year) and passed all the required national tests. They now have hundreds of thousands of dollars of student loans, and they’ll be denied a chance to practice.
Oh yes people have many suggestions for increasing your chances at next year’s MATCH, but the majority of the possible alternatives for students to do while they wait for next year’s MATCH are just things that people who are bad at math would try. UNLESS OUR COUNTRY MAKES A CHANGE there’s will still be a shortage of residency slots next year, it’s a compounding problem and so the pool of graduate medical students without a residency will only be LARGER. Why would a program chose a student who’s already been passed over once when there’s a fresh batch to chose from? Somehow gaining some verifiable clinical experience could possibly counter whatever cloud hung over them at their first MATCH encounter, but those potential placements are far and few between.
There an old joke …. “What do you call the doctor who graduated at the bottom of his class?” ….. you STILL call him “Doctor”. Well not any more, now you call him “BANKRUPT!” and miserable with life.
Why should a medical student who passed all the national testing requisites be denied the opportunity to practice? Wake up America, this is an intolerable and unfair situation that MUST be fixed immediately.
Thanks for reading my rant. There’s still a few minutes before the next round of SOAP offers is released and I still have HOPE.
Hello!
First off, thank you for your words of congratulations!
I am so sorry to hear about the frustration with SOAP (putting it very, very lightly). What a mess! I have my fingers crossed for your son and your whole family.
I agree, it’s a terribly flawed system. We need more physicians in the country. Period. I’m pleased that we’ve done a good job of creating new (reputable) medical schools and expanding some class sizes within reason. But we need to meet these changes with more resident positions.
And, as you said, med students who pass the boards should be able to continue on with their goal of being a physician. They should not be penalized so severely due to a broken system.
I very much hope everything works out. Best of luck, and thank you for your comment.
xo
a
Congratulations on this happy news!!
Thanks so much!!