Countdown to the Match (PodCast), Episode 1: "Alphabet Soup, Who's Who, & Residency Interview Basics"

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Show Notes:

Intro Music:
Ryan Little “Get Up”

Opening:

Hey everybody this is Myers Hurt with another edition of “Countdown to Match Day,” the official podcast of the Match Gurus, and the only podcast aimed at helping applicants shine on interview day. Remember to send any questions you want answered on the show via twitter @theMatchGurus or snapchat thematchgurus and we will get your questions answered.
            In true countdown style, this season we’ll release one podcast each week for the 40 weeks leading up to Match Day 2017.  This is season 1 episode 1 - 40 weeks to go until Match Day 2017. Let’s jump into today’s topics of discussion.
 
The Alphabet Soup of Residency Applications:
 
ERAS - Electronic Residency Application Service - this is your application portal, and a service provided by the AAMC. You will be issued a token to register. Here is a good example of a YouTube tutorial for how to do that. For timeline, deadlines, and other reminders, follow ERAS on twitter @ERASinfo
 
NRMP - National Resident Matching Program - this is a third party organization that conducts the actual matching process. The R3 system - register, rank, results. Here is their calendar. Here is their checklist. Follow them on twitter @TheNRMP
 
FREIDA - Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database - list of all fellowship and residency programs published by the AMA, number of available spots, contact information, and other
 
ECFMG - Educational Commission of Foreign Medical Graduates - for international and foreign medical students applying to the US NRMP Match - you will go through them to get your token and upload documents. OASIS - Online Applicant Status and Information System
 
AAFP Strolling through the Match 2016 PDF
 
Who’s Who in the residency application process?
 
Chairperson: Head of an entire department - oversees medical student education, residency education, research, patient care, surgical simulation, finance, hiring and firing, and all other department-wide logistics.
Program Director: Head of the residency education slice of a department. This is who will be overseeing residency interviews, applications, and submitting the final rank list.
Program Coordinator: Administrative assistant to the residency department. Deals with new applicant communication, interview scheduling, current resident licensing, and even logistics for residency alumni.
 
Question of the Day:

Can you elaborate on the specific systems that residency programs use to evaluate residents?
 
Dr. Michael Olson’s answer: The academic aspect of evaluation will never go away, but more departments are interested in a holistic approach. Make sure your Step scores are competitive, be open, honest, and clear about gaps in education. Other evaluation method is social - from first email to relaxed moments with residents, to how you interact with the other applicants. 
 
Dr. Myers Hurt’s answer: Agree with the social and “EQ” components of evaluation. There is no standardized evaluation form, but there is often a form that your interviewers will complete with Likert scale (1-5) of certain qualities to help “objectify” subjective data, along with a “comment” section.
 
Please subscribe to catch each new episode as they are uploaded each week.  If you find the content valuable please take a bit of time to leave a review on iTunes to help get the word out to other med students looking for answers.  Also feel free to give us some feedback on what you think we could improve on.
 
Thank you to everyone for listening, remember to send you questions to us through our website at www.thematchgurus.com, twitter @theMatchGurus, or snapchat.
 
Closing Music:
Ryan Little “Get Up”