The Match - to answer everybody's FAQ about this year

There's a process of matching to a residency this year. We have explained it...a lot. If you wonder how doctors apply for residency (yes, all doctors must go through this process), here's how. Or if you've forgotten how it works and are too afraid to ask us again, here's how. Or if you just have never even known that such a thing occurred, but by golly, you're going to know now, here's how.

We are currently in the 4th year of med school. This is our life this year. It is one big ball of stress! I think this gif depicts us this fall:

I don't know how numbers are for other specialties, but we are applying to family medicine. For each program, there are, oh, 6-12 spots available for residents for next year. And on average, each program receives about 100-200 applications for those spots. Obviously, some of this is people just applying to every program, so it's not necessarily 200 people deeply interested in each of these programs, and there are lots of family med spots across the whole country. But it is a little daunting to see those numbers when you apply.

So without further ado, I give you...THE MATCH!!!

I'd like to add that you don't need to rank every place you interview at. If you hated the program, you can leave it out of your rank list and then there's no chance of you going there.

FYI - the match is NOT the same as audition rotations - those are your normal med school rotations (2 or 4 week chunks, usually) that you do at program where you hope to go instead of back at your med school core rotation site. You still have to apply to the programs you audition at, but they will usually (though not always) offer you an invitation if you audition there. It's just so you/them get to know each other. That's an audition rotation. It isn't an interview. It's just a rotation. Some specialties/programs value those higher than others.