for those of you who have gone through the match process....

so i posted a introduction thread here a few months ago, then went on the interview trail for the past two months with my radiology med4. so hello again!

anyway, i just finished graduate school in Dec. so i was able to go to most of his interviews with him (well, he interviewed, i shopped). now he is trying to put together a rank list (15 radiology, 4 transition years), and i think it's more stressful for me than for him! since i was able to explore the areas more than he was, he naturally wants my opinion because we like having plenty of options for things to do (he will be able to have more of a life than most other specialities). it was quite an adventure, especially with all the wacky storms over the past two months.

i guess my question is how much influence did you all have on the rank list? any tips on having these types of discussions? :anyolne: i don't want to seem too pushy or uninterested..finding that balance seems kind of difficult!

Laura

[madeintaiwan]

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

Rank lists are always difficult. We sat down over a bottle of wine multiple times and discussed the pros and cons of each program. We did our rank list based on a mixture of things-- mainly region and quality of life at the program. There were a few programs that got put to the bottom despite being "awesome" programs with an awesome hospital, lower COL, and high pay simply because I hated the city and there were some programs that got put to the bottom because their health insurance was too much. It really depends on your priorities. We had two children (one in school) so I am sure our priorities were a lot different than someone without children or children in school.

[Meenah]

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

Each of you make two lists, one list is to rank each city, the next rank each program. Compare the lists and you may be surprised. If you have no common choices, then bring out the wine!!!!!

[Michele]

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

I didn't read the other responses, but had to chime in. I got some say in the rank list but not much.....I wasn't part of the interview process, though either.

What I wanted to say is that no matter where you rank or how you feel or how they feel about you, be prepared to match low on your list.

[SuzySunshine]

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

DH had the most control over the list but I did get to veto a program from the very beginning b/c I told him I couldn't live there for 7 years.

We talked about all of his programs, he had made great notes while he interviewed and then we agreed on the list. Granted, I was pretty flexible but we made the final list together. The only exception were a few programs he REALLY didn't want to go to so one was ranked last and one wasn't ranked at all.

Good luck!

[spotty_dog]

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

I did a lot of research into the mundane details like program pay and vacation, city COL and weather, etc. He decided where to interview, and for the most part he made the rank list. He had a spreadsheet ranking and weighing by different factors, with location weighing extra heavily, and my preferences came into play there.

We really went around and around a bit with the top 2-3. And we ranked well below those (despite astronomical grades and board scores and AOA membership and bla bla bla.) So I agree with Michele, don't get too caught up on the list; the Match Gods will play havoc with your emotions, if you do.

(And, I'll mention again the disclaimer -- it's amazing how sometimes you get what you need over what you want. We ranked this program lowish because we weren't keen to live in Phoenix. But it has turned out to be a perfect fit and an amazing educational experience for DH, and we're quite enjoying our sojourn in the Desert Southwest!)

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

DITTO!!!

For us it was all about the family and if we could see ourselves settling somewhere for the long term. So given that, we didn't even rank programs that were in places we couldn't see ourselves living.

This was the same for us, I went with Davita's approach, wine and lots of hashing out pros and cons. It was a hand in hand rank list, we were totally in it together. This really felt like our decision. Though... with the match sometimes after all that mental stress you still end up somewhere you didn't think you would. Stress about it in moderation, and wine is a really good idea IMO GL

[DCJenn]

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

He ranked them, as I was just the girlfriend at the time. However, I hit the gym a LOT in case he got his first choice (Hawaii)

Jenn

[HouseofWool]

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

For those who have done the research on COL, salaries, health insurance costs, school systems etc, any suggestions on where to start looking for some of that?

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

For those who have done the research on COL, salaries, health insurance costs, school systems etc, any suggestions on where to start looking for some of that?

COL you can google it and some good sites will pop up. But look up housing prices, taxes (holy cow some places are extremely high!), length of commute as gas money can suck up the money super fast, oh and find out what hospitals they have to cover too!, insurance prices (auto in some places are really high), those are some off the top of my head

Salaries and Health Insurance at some places will be very easy to get, and will tell it on their website. Other places it's under lock and key and you have to ask someone to dish out the info. DH did NOT like to do this, so some places we remained somewhat informed but not totally enlightened. And word of caution some of the salaries posted are old, so check out what year they are from.

eta: I was on this site a TON, very helpful but again some of the stuff posted is wrong, but you can find the programs for the most part, though some snobby places won't give freida their info

http://www.ama-assn.org/vapp/freida/srch/

http://www.greatschools.com is a fab resource on schools

[spotty_dog]

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

FREIDA for salary stuff, supplemented by program websites most of which tell you their health benefits, etc. and also some give you a projection of salary increases for each coming year.

bestplaces.net for the down and dirty on cities, including Starbucks density: very important!!

[Vishenka69]

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

Didn't we have some residency review thread with the city reviewed as well? I distinctly remember filling one out.

I made it easy for DH, I said I'm not moving from NYC, so he only interviewed in the tri-state area and two programs in DC. We then ranked the anesthesia programs based on their reputation (teaching, hours, housing, etc.), for transitional he ranked those to be known as laid back first.

You should definitely voice your opinion if you really dislike or prefer a certain city, but it's hard to weight in on the merits of the program.

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

Each of you make two lists, one list is to rank each city, the next rank each program. Compare the lists and you may be surprised. If you have no common choices, then bring out the wine!!!!!

I think this is a fantastic idea! We may have to do this next weekend...

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

I did a lot of research into the mundane details like program pay and vacation, city COL and weather, etc. He decided where to interview, and for the most part he made the rank list. He had a spreadsheet ranking and weighing by different factors, with location weighing extra heavily, and my preferences came into play there.

We really went around and around a bit with the top 2-3. And we ranked well below those (despite astronomical grades and board scores and AOA membership and bla bla bla.) So I agree with Michele, don't get too caught up on the list; the Match Gods will play havoc with your emotions, if you do.

I did all that research too..I even had folders for each hospital/location for him to go over the night before interviews...with 20 total interviews, it's really easy to get confused. He is also overly organized, I should suggest the spreadsheet ranking list to him...though I'd be afraid he'd spend the next three weeks coming up with some high-tech program!

And we're prepared to match low--only one program will not be ranked because it seemed like a miserable place that may make you comtemplate suicide after a few months...we're just hoping top 5 I just hope the match gods put us somewhere desireable! Program pay is becoming more of a factor than I orginally thought it would, we were shocked at how low it can be even for really expensive cities (like chicago).

[alison]

Re: for those of you who have gone through the match process....

Dh was talking to his mentor about fellowships, and he said not to stress out about location or program, because "your wife will make the final decision anyway." :>

ETA: because Alison posted about Chicago. The pay in Chicago is low, low, low, and comparable to cities with lower COL. It's not as expensive as NYC here, but it's almost impossible to live even somewhat comfortably without my pay check.