Opinion
For a couple facing the match, a couple of services spells trouble
LETTER — Posted April 28, 2008
Regarding "Resident Match breaks records for applicants and couples" (Article, April 7): As a recent medical school graduate who matched as a couple, I was excited to see the high number of couples this year. The article explains the difficulties that couples face in deciding specialties and navigating the interview process. What the article does not mention is the added difficulties couples experience when their specialty choices require one person to use the San Francisco Match while the other uses the Electronic Residency Application Service.
As a couple who went through such a situation, we see that it would be extremely helpful if this type of match were coordinated, and it also would save dozens of interviews (my wife and I had about 40 interviews between us). Do we really need a separate San Francisco Match for the small number of programs it serves? In addition, does it make sense for some San Francisco Match applicants also to have to use ERAS for a preliminary year?
Jeff Smith, MD, Seven Hills, Ohio
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/04/28/edlt0428.htm.
