Residency Matching Program

Positions beginning in 2010 in postgraduate year one (PGY1) or postgraduate year two (PGY2) pharmacy residency programs are offered to applicants through the ASHP Resident Matching Program (the "Match"). The Match provides an orderly process to help applicants obtain positions in residency programs of their choice, and to help programs obtain applicants of their choice. Similar matching programs are in use in many other professions, including medicine, dentistry, psychology and law.

With the Match, applicants must still apply directly to programs they are interested in, and applicants and programs interview and evaluate each other independently of the Match. However, no offers are made by programs during the interview period. Applicants and programs can evaluate each other fully before the programs must decide on their preferences for applicants, and before applicants must decide on their preferences for programs. After all interviews are completed, each applicant submits a Rank Order List on which the applicant lists the desired programs, in numerical order of the applicant's preference (first choice, second choice, etc.). Similarly, each program submits a Rank Order List on which the program lists the desirable applicants, in order of the program's preference. Each program also indicates the number of positions the program has available.

The Match then places individuals into positions based entirely on the preferences stated in the Rank Order Lists. The result of the Match is that each applicant is placed with the most preferred program on the applicant's Rank Order List that ranks the applicant and does not fill all its positions with more preferred applicants. Similarly, each program is matched with the most preferred applicants on its list, up to the number of positions available, who rank the program and who do not receive positions at programs they prefer.

Since all offers, acceptances, rejections and final placements occur simultaneously, the Match is an effective and fair means of implementing a standardized acceptance date. It allows programs and applicants to evaluate each other fully before determining preferences, thus alleviating the pressures to make premature decisions based on incomplete information. Furthermore, the Match alleviates many common adverse situations from the recruitment process, such as applicants hoarding multiple offers, and applicants or programs reneging on a prior acceptance in order to accept a more preferred program or applicant that has subsequently become available. Also, a program can be assured that it will not be matched with more applicants than it has available positions.

More Information about the Match can be found at the National Matching Service, Inc. website: http://www.natmatch.com/ashprmp/.