Residency Match Success

How to get a great residency position

You have worked for several years to get you to where you are now. All of the hard work is beginning to pay off. Preparing for the next stage of your career is imperative.

By now, most students know what field they will choose to pursue. It is important to investigate how competitive each residency will be. Although there are certain patterns that persist with residency competition, it is important to realize that the demand varies for many fields in medicine. It is important to understand your competition. How many spots are available? How many applied in previous years? Check the NRMP website statistics that are listed each year.

Although residency program directors would prefer to have medical students who are in the top of their classes from the top 5 medical schools in the U.S., there are many students who present from the opposite end of the spectrum who are equally successful.

There are techniques that you can use to give you an advantage over students who, otherewise, may be more competetive. Obviously, having good scores is very helpful. However, residency directors often overlook this information for other attractive features.

1. Research experience

2. Elective rotations at key hospitals

3. Get published

4. Make connections

5. Be very aggressive

6. Match before the Match

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