Match Results Show Resurgence

According to AAFP, the 2008 Match results show a resurgence in interest in Family Medicine.

Although helpful, the increase still falls short of estimated manpower needs for 2020.

The fill rate for FM was 91% this year, which explains what the Scramble pool liked like to me... more US grads unmatched than I expected.

Read the full story on the AAFP website here.

filled!

We have filled our incoming class for 2008!!

I'd like to thank the applicants who made the trek to Galveston to interview. We have selected our final candidate and as soon as I have a chance to notify each of those who interviewed, I will post our new class here. We had 830-some-odd applications through ERAS for our two positions, so it was an extremely competitive field. That is not counting the emailed applications, phone calls and attempted faxes that we received. True to our word, we screened only those applications submitted through ERAS. Unfortunately, many people did no research to know that we would not accept email applications and I found myself deleting massive amounts of email several times a day just to keep my email working.

The Scramble (or re-Match as some now like to call it) is always a challenge. It's a much higher stakes, higher stress level process for all involved than the regular interview season, and that's saying something.

My staff did a wonderful job answering the phones, often redirecting frustrated applicants to ERAS submission and offering helpful advice. They screened calls directed at me so that I was able to focus on the business at hand, which was screening applications, selecting and interviewing appropriate applicants and making tough decisions. I'd like to thank them as well. If you tried and weren't able to get through to me directly, please know that my staff did pass on all messages from faculty members and medical schools and all applications referrenced in those messages were personally screened by me.

I also need to thank the faculty and residents who participated in the selection, pre-screening and interview process. In particular my residents found Scramble stressful and I was proud of the way they handled it. We would not have been as successful as we were in selecting our final two members of the class without the residents' help.

We have a great group of residents here at UTMB-FMR, and I'm confident our incoming class will continue the tradition.

1 spot left

We have screened all applications submitted through ERAS for the Scramble. We have interviews scheduled with selected applicants today, tomorrow and Thursday. We have filled one position and have one remaining.

Because we require an in-person interview, there were several excellent applicants who are geographically challenged to get here in our timeframe. I am holding those applications for now and if we do not fill our remaining position with any of the applicants currently scheduled for interview, we will be contacting additional applicants to set up interviews.

Thank you all for your interest in our program, and I wish you the best of luck with the Scramble.

emails from applicants

Now that we are nearing the opening of ERAS, I am receiving once again too many emails per day from applicants requesting information about our program. I am not able to respond individually to the large of numbers of requests. Instead, I will refer you to the information posted here and here.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the emails I receive are from applicants who obviously have made no effort to review the available information on this blog and our website and I simply cannot sort through them all on a daily basis to identify the residents with individual concerns that require a personal approach.

Please review our basic information via the links above. Only if this does not answer your questions and you have a specific question, concern or situation that requires a personal response, then you may contact our recruiter, Mr. Louis Johnston who will help you.

We will NOT be able to provide anyone with specific USMLE score cutoffs or any additional information regarding our selection criteria as it varies slightly from year to year. Our basic requirements are posted in the links noted above. If you meet them, please apply through ERAS.

We are happy to respond to questions and individual needs, however we ask that you show us the respect of first reviewing our posted program and application information.

Best wishes for the upcoming interview season.

resource for IMGs

The Society for Teachers of Family Medicine has a new course to assist IMGs in preparing for Family Medicine Residency application and training programs. STFM programs are always high quality and I encourage all of our international medical graduates to consider attending this course.

If you do complete the course, please be sure to mention it in your ERAS application.

Interview Season for 2008 Match

We will begin our interview season for the 2008 Match on October 22. We anticipate finishing interviews by January 30. Interview days will be Mondays and Wednesdays.

ERAS open for Osteopathic applications

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR OUR OSTEOPATHIC APPLICANTS

We are currently accepting applications via ERAS from Osteopathic applicants. We will have two PGY-1 positions in the Osteopathic Match this year, which will be tracked positions in the Family Medicine Residency.

Due to changes at the AOA and ACOFP levels as well as that we are currently in the AOA/ACOFP application process for our PGY-2 and PGY-3, you may see some conflicting information in the posting of our positions for this year. As of now, we are approved for transitional internship, PGY-1. Concurrent with our application for years 2 and 3 of the FM Residency, we have applied to transfer our transitional positions to PGY-1 FM. At some point during this Match cycle, we anticipate approval of our application. Therefore, we will be seeking to fill our two positions this year with applicants who plan to complete the FM Residency.

Osteopathic students may also apply through the ACGME Match, however you will be applying for an ACGME position via that route, and NOT the dual certified AOA/ACGME positions.

Please call if you have any questions... 409.772.6245

We look forward to hosting you for your interview!

Info for applicants

Dear Applicant,

Thank you for your interest in our residency training program.

We have no open positions for 2007-08.

Our basic requirements for consideration for interview include:

• graduation from medical school within the past five years (not flexible).
• passage of USMLE I and II, including CSA (preferably on first attempt). Obviously, the better your scores, the stronger will be your application. Osteopathic students need not take USMLE. Similar expectations apply for the COMLEX exams.
• some U.S. clinical experience
• three letters of recommendation, at least two of which MUST be from family doctors

We accept applications only through ERAS. Please do not email me long attachments in an attempt to circumvent the process because I will not read them. If you meet our criteria outlined above, then apply through ERAS. This will ensure that your application is reviewed.

We will be participating in the Osteopathic Match this year. Osteopathic students may apply to our program through either or both Match processes, however you will only be guaranteed a dual-accredited slot by matching through the AOA Match.

We will begin our interview season for the class entering in 2008 in October 2007 and hope to conclude interviews by mid-February at the latest. We will begin screening applications immediately as they become available through ERAS. We will schedule interviews until we have interviewed sufficient candidates to fill our class, so you are encouraged to apply early.

Our program does sponsor J1 visas. Our program does NOT sponsor H-1 visas.
UTMB does NOT sponsor externships or observerships for persons who have already graduated from medical school.

Please see our Residency website for more detailed information regarding our program. For specific questions that may not be covered, please contact our recruiter, Mr. Louis Johnston. His contact information is listed on the webpage.

Lisa R. Nash, D.O.
Program Director
UTMB Family Medicine Residency