Delay the NRMP Match?

In the March 2004 issue of the GME E-letter, Paul Rockey, MD, wrote: "For each US medical student, the Match provides time to decide on a specialty, evaluate available training opportunities, compete fairly for the top programs, and make a smooth transition from medical school to residency."

Reader Richard J. Macchia, MD, FACS, of SUNY Downstate Medical School (Brooklyn), had the following response:

"While what you say has truth to it, the Match forces students to make a decision re their career choices that is still too early. The most difficult thing for most students is to determine a career path. The necessity of laying out one's electives for the fourth year halfway through the third year is not in keeping with your conclusion re the Match. I support the Match, but it should be delayed for 1 more year."

We asked readers of the E-letter, "What do you think about the Match? Could it be improved, or is it fine as is?" Responses included the following:

If anything I would like to see the Match earlier and have the AOA match and NRMP match run together.

Keep it the way it is. Further delay would make visa issues for IMGs impossible to deal with!

I don't understand the suggestion to delay the Match for a year! That would move the match to a post-graduation event. What are the students doing for their internship? How do they obtain an internship? Is a "universal" or "standard" internship for all medical students being proposed?

Additionally, moving the Match back to later in the spring does not allow the student adequate time to plan their move, find housing in their new situation, etc. Leave the Match where it is! Allow a broader experience in the junior year so that the student at least has some exposure to the various choices for a career.

Please, please, please move the Match date at least 6-8 weeks earlier. This will allow IMGs to get their visa work done so they can begin on time, especially if the ruling regarding prematching takes effect. I could never figure out why, with the exponential growth in computing speed, this couldn't be accomplished. Why couldn't NRMP ask for the submission of lists by January 20 and have the results 2 weeks later?

I do not think the Match should be delayed. The timing is fine as it is. Those who are undecided at Match time should take more time (that is, delay their Match). But this extra time should not be forced on everyone else.

The problem with the Match has been that people are trying to "play the system." There are directors who promise "you are on my list," and then the candidate is not. Directors should not lie or should be forbidden from telling/saying "you are on my list." They can say "you are not on my list," so that those that have no hope can concentrate on other locations. There should be punishment and public humiliation for those that lie.