2010 Residency Scramble Schedule

Having to go through the scramble with sadness of not landing a match is understandably depressing, frustrating and can get confusing. It has been an expensive and a patient journey for almost all of you, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I wish you all good luck and hopefully this blog makes the scramble easier to understand...Thankfully, starting 2012, the barbaric mad-rush scramble will be replaced by a "managed scramble", the details of which are yet to emerge, but will mostly be like a second match process...





Here's how the 2010 Match scramble timetable plays out:

1. Scramble Start: March 16th 11:30 AM EST (New York Time) with release of Unfilled programs list

2. Scramble continues through working hours for March 17th + March 18th

3. Scramble Ends: March 18th 12:00 PM EST.

On March 18th, 1pm EST, all matched candidates get to know where they matched. Though programs may continue to accept people for unfilled positions after the official scramble time, there usually are hardly any positions left for IMGs per se, after those 48 hours, in fact most of them will get filled the first day itself !

I have already graphically outlined the scramble process here

Quick summary of rules for 2010 scramble:
- You can apply to a maximum of 30 programs via ERAS with no cost
- In addition to the 30 programs, you can also apply to 15 programs that that you have already applied for the match season ( I don't get this because if you have applied before, they should already have your application ! )
- You can participate in the scramble only if you had registered with the NRMP match system
- You can apply via ERAS only if you had already applied to at least one program before March 9 2010