Unmatched

[medmedmed132]

It's 5 am, and I found out I didn't match about 12 hours ago. Many interviews to an extremely selective sub-specialty. Figured with the # of interviews and my CV that I would match. I'm no sure how to feel. Haven't slept.

The next year will either be: 1) a research year where I'm holed up in my parents basement, commuting to the local hospital or 2) SOAP-ing (2nd round match) to a specialty I don't want to be in.

It's scary. I feel so alone. My friends are all celebrating. They're about to take the next step. And I, am going backwards. 

My family is in a different town hours away and my gf is at a med school even further away. I'm so disappointed in myself, but mostly disappointed in having the ego to believe I could match to something so competitive. There are no grades or Step scores, so it's all CV and how the people you work with like you. And, that stings the most, because it feels like I clearly wasn't liked enough.

It sucks, because it's another year of uncertainty. No guarantee that this year off makes a difference. No guarantee I'll be happy in a secondary specialty in a city far away. Only guaranteed that over the next year, I'll be uncertain and unhappy.

I don't want to burden my friends while they celebrate. So if anyone here has any advice, I'd love to hear it. <3
 

[Pakoon]

I'm really sorry to hear this. It seems like you have the structure of what to do next, so the only thing that might help is reaching out and perhaps figuring out why you didn't match/ how far down you were ranked.

I've heard of stories where individuals were a rank off from being matched, with the program saying they'd love to have them, but it was just a super competitive year vs. Being ranked very low, in which case it may be better to Soap. 

[NoMatchNoProblem]

I reactivated my account just to address this post. 

To start, really sorry about your no match. It's a horrible feeling and I've been there. The hardest thing is watching your house of cards that you so carefully built come crashing down in an instant. All those years of hustle and it seems like it didn't pay off. The first few days are the hardest because your emotions are clouding your judgement. 

But it doesn't have to end there.

Every year, there are stories of people who rose from the ashes and ended up matching to the program they wanted the following year. Every year there are successful transfers from other residency programs into extremely competitive ones. The stories you hear on this forum are purely anecdotal and stats can vary greatly from one year to another. You are never getting the full picture of all of the underdog stories or the redemption stories that people will not publicly post. You are purely biased by what is available to you. 

In CaRMS, there is no guarantee that things are going to work out. The system is purely designed on luck. You can't control the year that you are put in, the candidates you are up against or even the person who receives your file and interviews you. All of these factors are completely out of your control. What you can control however, is how will you react to this failure. What are YOU going to do about it? 

Last year we were 10 unmatched from my cohort and we all matched into competitive specialties after taking a year off. We matched to our top choices in specialties such as ophthalmology, vascular surgery, internal medicine and orthopedics. 

From our experience, we realized that you have two basic choices after no matching:

You can either quit and settle OR

You can go on what movie advertisements refer to as a roaring rampage of revenge. You have the power to make this year off the greatest triumph of your entire pre-residency career. There are so many opportunities out there and contacts that you can make use of to learn and take your CV and experience to the next level. You have an entire year to make a difference and the sooner you get started, the better off you will be. 

I don't mean to attack you (no seriously, I am here to support you), but have you read some of the comments you wrote? See the 4 I quoted below:

5 hours ago, medmedmed132 said:

The next year will either be: 1) a research year where I'm holed up in my parents basement, commuting to the local hospital or 2) SOAP-ing (2nd round match) to a specialty I don't want to be in.

 

5 hours ago, medmedmed132 said:

And I, am going backwards. 

 

5 hours ago, medmedmed132 said:

And, that stings the most, because it feels like I clearly wasn't liked enough.

 

5 hours ago, medmedmed132 said:

Only guaranteed that over the next year, I'll be uncertain and unhappy.

You have to turn this mentality around because it will not get you anywhere.

It's time to do some self-reflection and ask yourself what could have gone wrong.

Did you have any red flags? Did you say something wrong during those interviews? Letters of reference not good enough? Research? Other experiences? 

Sometimes, there is no reason and it all comes down to luck, that is the reality. But learn from this, take a few days to process your feelings (trust me I understand) and then get back on your two feet and start devising your comeback plan. 

There are a trove of resources on this forum and other users (myself included) who would be willing to offer their story and help give you an idea of what you can do. Once again, there is no winning formula or guarantee of success in taking a no match year (a lot of uncertainty as you mentioned), but that is honestly the best part of the entire no match year. It all comes down to the level of risk that you are comfortable with. 

During my year off, I never felt so free or in control of my own destiny as I was calling every single shot and working every single day towards new opportunities that I didn't even get the chance to experience as a medical student. It rejuvenated me and gave me skills that helped me perform well during my first year of residency.

Looking back, I have absolutely zero regrets and if I had the chance, I'd do it again and again. 

I wish you all the best in this difficult decision. Feel free to reach out to me in a personal message if you wish. 

But please never let me catch you resorting to the victim mentality because this will never get you anywhere far. 

This reply comes from a good place and I simply wish to motivate you. 

You can do it. 

[medmedmed132]

8 minutes ago, NoMatchNoProblem said:

I reactivated my account just to address this post. 

To start, really sorry about your no match. It's a horrible feeling and I've been there. The hardest thing is watching your house of cards that you so carefully built come crashing down in an instant. All those years of hustle and it seems like it didn't pay off. The first few days are the hardest because your emotions are clouding your judgement. 

But it doesn't have to end there.

Every year, there are stories of people who rose from the ashes and ended up matching to the program they wanted the following year. Every year there are successful transfers from other residency programs into extremely competitive ones. The stories you hear on this forum are purely anecdotal and stats can vary greatly from one year to another. You are never getting the full picture of all of the underdog stories or the redemption stories that people will not publicly post. You are purely biased by what is available to you. 

In CaRMS, there is no guarantee that things are going to work out. The system is purely designed on luck. You can't control the year that you are put in, the candidates you are up against or even the person who receives your file and interviews you. All of these factors are completely out of your control. What you can control however, is how will you react to this failure. What are YOU going to do about it? 

Last year we were 10 unmatched from my cohort and we all matched into competitive specialties after taking a year off. We matched to our top choices in specialties such as ophthalmology, vascular surgery, internal medicine and orthopedics. 

From our experience, we realized that you have two basic choices after no matching:

You can either quit and settle OR

You can go on what movie advertisements refer to as a roaring rampage of revenge. You have the power to make this year off the greatest triumph of your entire pre-residency career. There are so many opportunities out there and contacts that you can make use of to learn and take your CV and experience to the next level. You have an entire year to make a difference and the sooner you get started, the better off you will be. 

I don't mean to attack you (no seriously, I am here to support you), but have you read some of the comments you wrote? See the 4 I quoted below:

 

 

 

You have to turn this mentality around because it will not get you anywhere.

It's time to do some self-reflection and ask yourself what could have gone wrong.

Did you have any red flags? Did you say something wrong during those interviews? Letters of reference not good enough? Research? Other experiences? 

Sometimes, there is no reason and it all comes down to luck, that is the reality. But learn from this, take a few days to process your feelings (trust me I understand) and then get back on your two feet and start devising your comeback plan. 

There are a trove of resources on this forum and other users (myself included) who would be willing to offer their story and help give you an idea of what you can do. Once again, there is no winning formula or guarantee of success in taking a no match year (a lot of uncertainty as you mentioned), but that is honestly the best part of the entire no match year. It all comes down to the level of risk that you are comfortable with. 

During my year off, I never felt so free or in control of my own destiny as I was calling every single shot and working every single day towards new opportunities that I didn't even get the chance to experience as a medical student. It rejuvenated me and gave me skills that helped me perform well during my first year of residency.

Looking back, I have absolutely zero regrets and if I had the chance, I'd do it again and again. 

I wish you all the best in this difficult decision. Feel free to reach out to me in a personal message if you wish. 

But please never let me catch you resorting to the victim mentality because this will never get you anywhere far. 

This reply comes from a good place and I simply wish to motivate you. 

You can do it. 

Thank you. I'm crying reading this.

[Findanus]

You come across as the type of person who would rather not settle so I would advise that you don't. The pragmatic option would be to wiggle into a second round spot but it's clear from this post that you'd be miserable. Plus if you fall even harder next go around you can always just go into pathology. No call!

The only piece of advice I have to give you is to take the USMLEs and score highly in step 2. 

The Canadian system exists to serve itself and whether the match process is subjective or objective doesn't matter, as long as spots are filled. This is by design and is politically expedient. The system gets primary care doctors (on paper) without governments having to pay them more to attract students. 

I highly encourage you to prepare an application for the USA next year, concurrently with your other activities. It gives you an extra turn. Very valuable.

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

I signed in today for the first time in a very long while thinking of the match. I also didn't match in my year (the small program I applied to had an abnormally competitive year) and I ended up going through second iteration and matching to FM. 

I just want to say CaRMS is the worst and you can be a stellar candidate and still get unlucky. It says nothing about your worth as a person or skill as a physician, although I know that doesn't help emotionally right now. I remember not leaving my room for several days because it really hits your self worth. 

Most importantly, having supports around you right now is crucial. Your friends are celebrating, but they are also probably worried about you, and asking for some support can actually help ease their minds so they know they are doing something to help you, even if it's just something small. 

Another thing I want to stress, and this helped me as I started in a residency I wasn't sure that I wanted, is that medicine is just a job. Just like any job, there will be things you like and dislike in every specialty. Just like any job, it's important to find things outside of work to keep you balanced and fulfilled. You can choose to continue to pursue your current specialty, try the second round with the attempt to switch into your program, find a new program in the second round, or take a year off just to regroup/travel/enjoy a rest/pursue those other life-fulfilling things. 

As someone who matched to family medicine in the second round, it actually ended up working out very well for me, and looking back I am happy I didn't end up in the original program I had tried for. Of course, this isn't the path for everyone, but it is possible to find happiness in a different program. 

In the end, you will make the best choice you can in your situation, and whatever choice you make, you can make it work. 

Feel free to message if you need (but I may not be the best at replying!)