HOW TO DECLINE A PREMATCH OR "OUT OF MATCH" OFFER
How to say no to Prematches and yet not screw up your matching chances at that program?
It's one of those paradoxes of life - when something that you been wishing, sweating over and deliberating over for years comes along and suddenly you realize that you don't want it or it was not exactly what you wanted - strange thing this life, eh !
A lot of you will possibly find yourself doing a tight rope-walk when confron
ted by a decision to reject a Prematch offer from you a residency program that you are either not sure of taking up OR because you see bright chances at a much better program.
Now, this is a highly debatable tiopic, but many believe that declining a Prematch puts you at a disadvantage on that program's Rank order List, and I agree that I feel there may some degree of truth in that - coz technically if you don't accept, someone else after you may and reduce the total positions available for matching. But, you can always be tactful in your reason to decline and do a better damage control.
"I highly value your program and just recently I received a couple of more interview offers that I would like to attend. I hope you will understand that it may be too early for me to make a decision and I sincerely hope you will continue to consider me a strong candidate for your residency program"
After declining, give it some time and then you could work on keeping the good relations alive , like providing updates to your application, shooting an email with "more specific questions about the program", or even requesting a "second look" at the program, if you happen to decide to go to that program later on, to see if you could get the prematch offer again. etc.
One IMG resident from psychiatry told me how he handled declining his prematch offers - he politely denied accepting them like above and then, just before the middle of February, when program submit rank order lists, he wrote emails to ALL the 16 programs he had interviewed at, saying that he was ranking them at the top of the his list, (So that they know he is not given up on them). Diplomatic ? I don't wanna commit to advising this or its ethical concerns - it's your call ;-) But then knowing that lotsa program directors do the same too ..he he..i.e. tell every good candidate interviewed that they will rank them "high" and hope candidates will rank them likewise too.
What matters is - He matched comfortably....Ways of the world ..:-)
On the Legal side, do note that it is LEGAL for programs to offer Prematches to IMGs and for you to accept them - but not legal to force a candidate to accept it in anways or adverse modify their behaviour if declined.
Once again Prematches are double-edged weapons and you must as think carefully while declining as should while accepting it. Have discussed more about Prematches Here.
At this point, I feel it's pertinent to go over these words from the NRMP Site:
1. "Statements such as the following have been made by program directors to applicants who later did not match to those programs:
- "We plan to rank you very high on our list."
- "We hope to have the opportunity to work with you in the coming year."
Such statements are not binding and frequently are misinterpreted, and applicants should not rely on them when creating their rank order lists. "
2. "The Match Participation Agreement permits program directors and applicants to express a high degree of interest in each other but prohibits statements implying a commitment."
AND
3. "A program director asks an applicant how he/she intends to rank the program, and states that the program will rank the applicant only if the applicant agrees to rank the program first on the applicant's rank order list. Although the Match Participation Agreement does not prohibit either an applicant or a program from volunteering how one plans to rank the other, it is a violation of the Match Participation Agreement to request such information"
Read more on the NRMP Site Here
Search Keywords to this blog article:
- "psychiatry prematch"
It's one of those paradoxes of life - when something that you been wishing, sweating over and deliberating over for years comes along and suddenly you realize that you don't want it or it was not exactly what you wanted - strange thing this life, eh !
A lot of you will possibly find yourself doing a tight rope-walk when confron
ted by a decision to reject a Prematch offer from you a residency program that you are either not sure of taking up OR because you see bright chances at a much better program.Now, this is a highly debatable tiopic, but many believe that declining a Prematch puts you at a disadvantage on that program's Rank order List, and I agree that I feel there may some degree of truth in that - coz technically if you don't accept, someone else after you may and reduce the total positions available for matching. But, you can always be tactful in your reason to decline and do a better damage control.
"I highly value your program and just recently I received a couple of more interview offers that I would like to attend. I hope you will understand that it may be too early for me to make a decision and I sincerely hope you will continue to consider me a strong candidate for your residency program"
After declining, give it some time and then you could work on keeping the good relations alive , like providing updates to your application, shooting an email with "more specific questions about the program", or even requesting a "second look" at the program, if you happen to decide to go to that program later on, to see if you could get the prematch offer again. etc.
One IMG resident from psychiatry told me how he handled declining his prematch offers - he politely denied accepting them like above and then, just before the middle of February, when program submit rank order lists, he wrote emails to ALL the 16 programs he had interviewed at, saying that he was ranking them at the top of the his list, (So that they know he is not given up on them). Diplomatic ? I don't wanna commit to advising this or its ethical concerns - it's your call ;-) But then knowing that lotsa program directors do the same too ..he he..i.e. tell every good candidate interviewed that they will rank them "high" and hope candidates will rank them likewise too.
What matters is - He matched comfortably....Ways of the world ..:-)
On the Legal side, do note that it is LEGAL for programs to offer Prematches to IMGs and for you to accept them - but not legal to force a candidate to accept it in anways or adverse modify their behaviour if declined.
Once again Prematches are double-edged weapons and you must as think carefully while declining as should while accepting it. Have discussed more about Prematches Here.
At this point, I feel it's pertinent to go over these words from the NRMP Site:
1. "Statements such as the following have been made by program directors to applicants who later did not match to those programs:
- "We plan to rank you very high on our list."
- "We hope to have the opportunity to work with you in the coming year."
Such statements are not binding and frequently are misinterpreted, and applicants should not rely on them when creating their rank order lists. "
2. "The Match Participation Agreement permits program directors and applicants to express a high degree of interest in each other but prohibits statements implying a commitment."
AND
3. "A program director asks an applicant how he/she intends to rank the program, and states that the program will rank the applicant only if the applicant agrees to rank the program first on the applicant's rank order list. Although the Match Participation Agreement does not prohibit either an applicant or a program from volunteering how one plans to rank the other, it is a violation of the Match Participation Agreement to request such information"
Read more on the NRMP Site Here
Search Keywords to this blog article:
- "psychiatry prematch"
Labels: Prematches
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posted by Digitaldoc, MD at 11:49 PM
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