Any advice regarding a pre-match offer?

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Any advice regarding a pre-match offer?

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5 Posts

Ananta

01/18/04 - 03:14 AM

Hello, Everyone.

I would like to ask for your advice regarding a decision that I cannot easily make by myself. I am very sure that many of you will have an opinion about it (maybe based on their own past experience) and will help me with a piece of advice.

I have been offered a resident position with one of the few programs that I interviewed with so far. This should be good news, and in a way I am happy that this happened. However, this program is not exactly the first on my "list", and the other thing is that I haven't seen half of my programs yet. My concern is that if I take this offer, not giving a chance to the programs that I haven't visited yet, I will make a big mistake.

That program's coordinator notified me that I was offered a pre-match contract with them, and that the offer was valid until the last day of the month. Nevertheless, I am supposed to have my last interview in early February, therefore apparently there is no way I could see all programs before that deadline. On the other hand, they told me that should I choose not to accept the pre-match offer, they would still rank my name highly on their final ROL... Would you consider this action as a plausible one?

The bottom line is, what would you (did you) do if (when) you were in this situation? would you reply that you cannot make a commitment before interviewing with all programs? Would you fear that they would take this answer as a definitive NO and consequently erase your name from their ROL? Would you consider that you have to take the chance, and avoid any risky behavior?

I understand that this is a kind of decision that one has to make by themselves. Yet, I don't have too much insight here and any comments from you will be tremendously helpful and very appreciated.

Yours sincerely,
Ananta.

lisa

01/18/04 - 01:53 PM

Look on the nrmp site for the quota of your program, this is probably last year's quota but you could have an idea if they keep many positions for the match.

I was offered a prematch by a program that I liked and I didn't take it cause it wasn't my first choice and my first choice goes through the match so I told them I prefer the match. I found out the hospital that gave me prematch usually offers a lot of prematches and just 1 position for the match....so I don't have chances there anymore. It's risky but I still hope to match to my first position.

Calculate your risk and how much you are willing to risk :!:

01/18/04 - 05:20 PM

You could try this:

Explain to them how you feel. If they are telling you the truth and do actually intend to rank you highly then you are fine. But if you interview with other places and find the one who is offering a pre-Match to be best, then contact them: tell them they are top of your list, and they will realize that by having you top of their list, you will Macth their in spite of not signing a pre-Match contract.

bbb
IM Program Coordinator
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Topics: 33
Posts: 5,069

01/19/04 - 09:23 AM

"Ananta" wrote:
The bottom line is, what would you (did you) do if (when) you were in this situation? would you reply that you cannot make a commitment before interviewing with all programs? Would you fear that they would take this answer as a definitive NO and consequently erase your name from their ROL? Would you consider that you have to take the chance, and avoid any risky behavior?

Tell the program coordinator that you will not have finished your interviews by that time and ask her if you decline the pre-match offer if you will still be considered for the match. Let her know that your waffling decision isn't because you don't like their program, you just need to complete your interviews.

Being a program coordinator, I would prefer the honesty from a candidate that my program is considering. It shouldn't count against you!

Good luck with your decision.

___________________
bbb - trying to combine common sense and humour into realistic answers, but not going to guess on anyone's chances of getting into a position....

Ananta

02/01/04 - 01:01 PM

Thank you so much for sharing your opinions with me. Your advice is definitely helpful, and I am very grateful for that.
Yours,
Ananta Terras

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