The only thing certain about submitting a rank-order list as part of the residency Match process is that each prospective resident is going to feel at least some level of uncertainty. Getting comfortable with the ambiguity around a Match rank-order list can help students manage their anxiety and expectations in the run up to Match Day.
Chantal Young, PhD, counsels medical students through the residency-application process. In advance of the March 5 deadline for applicants in the 2025 Match to submit their rank-order list, she shared with the AMA the advice that she gives directly to medical students.
The AMA Road to Residency series provides medical students, international medical graduates and others with guidance on preparing for residency application, acing your residency interview, putting together your rank-order list and more.
Residency isn’t your final destination
Submitting a rank-order list, as a medical student, is likely the biggest career decision you have made to date. But other, more significant decisions are going to follow it. And no decision can’t be undone.
“The perspective should be that no choice is final, and you are doing the best you can with the information you have today to make an educated guess about what is going to bring you the most fulfillment,” Young said during a recording of the “Meet Your Match” podcast series, part of the “AMA Making the Rounds” podcast.
Dive deeper:
- What I wish I knew in medical school about Match rank-order lists
- Want to switch residency programs? 5 things you should know
- Match ranking advice: Trust your gut
Consider your personal values
How a program aligns with your life goals, not just your career goals, is an important part of finding the right fit in a residency program.
“Some of our students feel less willing to forgo their normal self-care,” said Young, director of medical student wellness at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.
When personal value come into the equation, for some students submitting rank-order lists “that could mean choosing less competitive residencies than they may have otherwise,” Young said.
Seek information
Residency program webpages and social media accounts are good resources for information, but nothing is better than hearing it from the source.
“We are encouraging more communication with our alums at various sites,” Young said. “Getting them to get over that hump and reach out for guidance. Ask those questions they don’t feel like they are getting the chance to ask during interviews: What’s this specialty like? What’s this site really like?”
Dive deeper:
- An intern’s rank-order list do’s and don’ts
- Which factors do applicants weigh most when picking residency programs?
- Meet Your Match: Composing a rank-order list
The perfect list is impossible
You’ll never feel completely satisfied with your rank-order list. Knowing that going in can make things easier.
“The truth about rank lists is there is no perfect rank,” Young said. “There are just different ways to prioritize competing pros and cons. So students shouldn’t feel like they are trying to find the perfect list. Rather, they are making a list for what their best guess is about what will make them happiest at the time they make the list.
If a student has their “goals and priorities and values straight and try to choose a site based on those—not what somebody else wants for you or what you think you should want, but what you actually deeply value—that’s the best any of us can do.”
Take a break
Between rank-order list submission and Match Day gives students a needed break. Young advises students to make the most of it.
“Once you press submit on that list, you are done,” Young said. “You get to release all sense of responsibility over this process. And for a small window of time, you actually get a break, like a true break from medical school where nothing is required of you. That is precious time. So, spend it worrying if you need to, but you might also start a journal, start a fitness routine that you want to carry into residency, go out and socialize, maybe explore the city that you live in that you might be leaving for residency.”
In advance of rank-order list submission, applicants may want to consult FREIDA™, the AMA’s comprehensive residency and fellowship database, which includes more than 13,000 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited residency programs and offers a streamlined user experience.