5 Surprising Things I Learned From the NRMP Residency Match

I matched let's go guys I'm going to be an ER doctor but today guys I wanted to talk about five surprising things that I learned going through this matching process so let's get into it hey what's going on guys welcome back to the channel if this is the first time we're meeting my name is Michael I am finishing up my fourth year medical school and as you guys just saw I matched into emergency medicine so I've been on a bit of a High lately I'm super excited for the program that essentially wanted me and now it's just crunch time uh lots of things are happening we are preparing to move to Michigan um so very exciting times so I wanted to talk about five things that I kind of realized going through this matching process and there are a lot of the questions that you guys may be having if you guys haven't gone through the match yet so the first thing that I realized is you're not always going to end up where you do your audition rot ations and I honestly don't know the statistic of how many people end up where they do an audition and when you guys go out and do your audition rotations you're going to realize that I feel like quite a few of the residents will say that they did a suby at that program so I'm sure this varies from specialty to Specialty I can only speak for emergency medicine but I think it's so important to understand the function and role of an audition rotation or a sub I did a full video on this um I'll link it down in the description so if you guys want to check that one out it'll be down there for you but when you guys are thinking about where to do your sub eyes you're probably thinking about where you actually want to do residency and there are pros and cons to doing your sub eyes at places that you want to go to the one pro is you get to actually see the facility they get to meet you meet them you see if it's a good fit for you so on and so forth but the one negative and it's a pretty big negative is if you go there and you don't do your absolute best you don't click with the other people it just doesn't feel quite right then it's almost a guarantee you're not going to end up there and honestly why would you want to go to a place where it doesn't feel right anyways but there is that flip side of you go there you crush a rotation it feels right and you end up matching there so there are pros and cons to doing your sub eyes and I talked more about that in my other video but I wanted to mention that it's okay if you don't match into a place where you do your sub and if this was a place that you actually enjoyed rotating at because at the end of the day the matching algorithm is there to put you where you're going to fit in the best where that program actually wants you in their program and you actually want to be in their program the second thing that I

learned was second looks matter yes second looks matter going out in person matters I didn't do an in-person interview at the program that I matched at but I did go do an informal second look I emailed the program coordinator the program director I was like Hey I want to come check out the program because I am very interested in the program they set it all up it was perfect I flew out there I met oneon-one with the program director he showed me around the hospital I mean it was like VIP service they gave me a gift bag I know some programs will take applicants out to lunch things like that so it's just more of a personal experience than talking to someone through a screen via zoom and if you go out and do a second look it automatically tells them that you are interested in their program enough to pay money to get on a flight to get a rental car to get a hotel to go and see their program and to meet them in person I 100% guarantee you guys that these second looks stick in their minds way more than your virtual interviews will so if you are interested in a program or a few programs make sure to go do a second look preferably before they submit their rank list because they will offer second looks after they submit their rank list and they do this because they don't want you to feel pressured to have to go and do a second look but you want them to know that you sacrificed money and time to go out and spend half of your day with them so biggest piece of advice go into a second

look the third thing that I learned going through this process is about signaling programs but before I talk about that I want to talk about today's sponsor of this video Janu scrubs and if you guys didn't notice I am wearing a fresh pair of Johnny scrubs this is seal blue so if you guys like this color go on to Johnny scrubs and use my discount code but honestly guys if you want to go to work feeling like you're in your pajamas still and that's the best way to describe Janu they're very soft they're stretchy they are very formfitting so they make you look good they have a variety of styles to kind of fit whatever you're looking for whether you like additional Pockets or something just plain and clean like I have on and just for size comparison I'm 6 feet tall about 170 lb and I'm wearing a medium in both the top and the bottoms the top I have on is the holes classic scrub top this is the scrub top that just has the one pocket in the front they do have other options where you can get the two front pockets or you can even get a pocket here on uh the side of your arm they also have other options where you can get actually a button down type of scrub you can get a scrub with a collar on it um so there really is something for everyone but I really like this scrub top I feel like it gives me really good movement um I don't feel like I'm restricted in any way but I feel like it still hugs my body nicely without being like super tight and it doesn't look boxy either so it's not super flowy or super loose um it's got kind of like that just right feel and as far as what the top is actually made of it is 76% polyester 18% rayon and 6% spandex so if that's important to you um that's kind of what it's made out of that's why it has that nice form fitted feel and that nice stretchiness to it without feeling like thin or scratchy so they are very soft now as far as the bottoms that I have on those are the road straight scrub pant and it's definitely one of the more classic style of scrub bottoms um I don't personally like a lot of pockets but this one's really nice it has one side pocket and then two back pockets they do have other options where you can get additional Pockets if that's something you're looking for now as far as the waist goes it does have a nice stretchy waistline with a drawstring to tie if you guys need that and even though this is one of their more classic style of scrub bottoms I would say it's a nice form fitted scrub bottom and what I mean by that is it's not necessarily tapered at the bottom but it's form fitted enough to where you don't really need that taper it's already fits your leg really well so if you're not someone that wants a jogger style then this is definitely a good option for you but Janu also offers a tapered scrub bottom so if you guys want to check out that one they do have that one as well so there you have it guys as a future ER doctor I definitely approve these scrubs I've worn them through many shifts in the ER already and I really can't fault them it feels really good wearing a nice set of Scrubs that looks good that feels good that gets me through my long shifts so if you guys are on the fence about getting a pair of johu Scrubs I would say go ahead and do it if you guys do decide to get a set for yourself or for someone else definitely use my discount code you'll save 20% off and if you guys are interested in learning a little bit more about Johnny scrubs and the other products that they offer I will be doing a video on their underscrubs on their vests on their jackets so definitely stay tuned for that video but let's get back into today's video all right guys

so let's talk about the signaling so when you apply for residency you're going to get seven what they're called signals they're an extra way for you guys to express your interest to seven different programs just letting them know that you have a high interest in their program now the one thing that surprised me about signaling is I actually only got four interview inters from the seven signals that I sent out and one of those was actually a sub ey so I really only got three interviews from my seven signals that I put out there and honestly I had to go back and look at which programs I ended up signaling but when I just looked back today I actually realized that I signaled the program where I actually matched so I don't know what that tells you guys I wasn't able to find a lot of information on the percentage of people that match into a program that they ended up signaling but take it from me I matched into a program that I signaled so as of right now I'm a big believer in the signaling thing um so make sure to Signal programs that you are really interested in getting an interview at and hopefully eventually matching into and I will say that I spoke to my other friend who is going into emergency medicine and he also matched into a program that he signaled but he's a little bit of an outlier because he also did um an audition rot with them so he auditioned there he signaled them and he matched there so um it's still a little unclear of how strongly the signaling correlates to you matching into a program the fourth thing that I really

noticed and I talked to a bunch of other people who felt the same way about this is you'll end up getting interviews from your so-called reach programs more often than your safety programs which I thought was really weird um I definitely appli to both kind of safety programs as well as really good programs and I feel like I got more interviews from the better programs than I did from maybe the less desirable programs which kind of shocked me and I think the biggest shocker is I actually matched at one of those programs I would say that the program that I matched at is one of the best emergency medicine residency programs in the country and I was able to match into that but I couldn't get an interview at like an HCA type of place I think that's kind of mind-boggling so if you're worried about applying to your so-called reach programs don't worry just apply to them you have nothing to lose but I think you guys are going to be pleasantly surprised when you start getting interviews from these places all right

the fifth thing that I thought was super surprising about the matching process was how incredibly stressful it is um I don't get stressed out a lot and that's probably good since I'm going into emergency medicine but there's nothing to really prepare you for this amount of stress I mean it's really setting you up for the rest of your career and it doesn't matter how many interviews you do places you're ranking you could be ranking 30 different programs and it's still going to be extremely stressful even though the chances of you matching are almost 100% when you rank that many programs like for example I was applying to emergency medicine a very I guess unpopular specialty at the time and if you haven't heard yet emergency medicine is back we are super popular it's going to be super competitive probably in the next year or two um so stay tuned for a video on that but yeah emergency medicine not everyone's favorite specialty right now and I'll just tell you guys you know I applied to 71 programs kind of Overkill I got 15 interviews and I ranked 13 programs now my school put out a statistic that said if you're going into emergency medicine and you rank nine or more programs then you have a 95% chance of matching so I ranked 13 so I was like cool like I'm going to match somewhere it's just a matter of where little did I know I was still going to be extremely stressed out during match week if you guys didn't see my match week video I'll put it down in the description go check that out but it was extremely stressful even though on that Monday when you find out if you match not where you match but if I knew it was going to say that I matched like I felt really confident I was going into a specialty that wasn't very popular um I had really good interviews I had a really good feeling that I was going to match and I was still stressed out of my mind I lost a ton of sleep I kept waking up at like 2:00 in the morning and couldn't fall back asleep just cuz I was thinking about the match and then come Monday I matched and I was super pumped but then I had to wait to find out where I was going to match and I thought that Monday was going to be the worst of the two days but come Friday that is super stressful it's nerve-wracking yes you know if you matched or Not by that point um and hopefully you did and so if you did then all you're waiting for is to know where you matched and it's an incredible experience but is so stressful waiting for that email to come through and if you guys want to see my reaction go check out my match Day video so guys those are the five things that I thought were super surprising going through this matching process if you've gone through this process already and have something to add drop it down in the comments below and if you guys are in the market for an awesome brand new set of Scrubs whether you're a new med student whether you're already in med school and just want a nice new pair of Scrubs or whether you want celebrate your new residency match with a new pair of Scrubs whatever the case may be John new scrubs is going to hook it up for you guys 20% off if you guys use my discount code but yeah that's pretty much it guys uh hopefully you enjoyed the video give it a like subscribe to the channel and I'll see you guys in my next one