The Computer Match Process

Each year, the majority of senior students, and many others, participate in the matching process offered by the National Resident matching Program (NRMP). This is the computerized and confidential system of ranking and matching residents and residencies first introduced in 1952. Those are the dry facts. The practical description of the match is that it is a system that can hook up candidates and residencies in such a way that neither party has control, but both receive the most desirable outcome possible. In the case of a tie, the student’s wishes are given preference. That said, it is still important that you have some sense of exactly what happens in the month between the time that you file your Rank Order List and the greatly anticipated “match day.”