Excitement, anticipation, relief: Emotions abound on Match Day. With graduation not far away, many fourth-year medical students learn where they’ll complete the next stage of their training. On NRMP Match Day, The DO spoke with soon-to-be DOs, who shared the best advice they received about the Match process. Below are some of their comments.
Trust in the process. Know that it favors me. Wherever I end up, it’s not about the program. It’s about what I put into the program. However much effort I put into it is how much I’ll get out of it. At the end of the day, I’ll be a great doctor. —Rohan Mehta, OMS IV, matched into internal medicine at University of Chicago-Northshore
Be patient. Surround yourself with family and friends. It’s a long process. Do everything you can, but understand a lot of it is outside of your power. —Saherish Abbasi, OMS IV, matched into internal medicine at Franciscan St. James Health-Olympia Fields.
Apply broadly and do away rotations at places that you really are interested in. I did an away rotation at Boston University and other programs in Boston. I’m actually from the Midwest, so having a letter of recommendation from Boston was very important for people to even invite me to interviews. -Maanasa Bandla, OMS IV, matched into psychiatry at Boston University Medical Center
Make your rank order list from your heart. Everybody says don’t rank it in the way you think the programs are going to rank you. What programs did you get a good feel for? That’s how you should rank your programs. That’s how I did it and it worked out to my benefit. —Ryan Schmelter, OMS IV, matched into general surgery at Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines
For further reading:
More than 5,000 DO students and grads match in largest NRMP Match ever
It’s time to rethink what it means to be a DO