Both Match A Resident and Residency Explorer offer powerful tools to aid medical residency applicants. After reading this article, we hope to highlight why using BOTH Match A Resident and Residency Explorer may be to the benefit of residency applicants. 

 

 

What Does Match A Resident Offer that Residency Explorer Does Not?

 

1. Customized Residency Lists 

Our goal at Match A Resident is to save you the time of having to figure out which programs you are compatible with or not. Every program found on your Customized Residency List is a program you qualify for based on program minimum requirements. Customized Lists also come with Compatibility Scores for each program – helping applicants quickly find the very best programs for them with ease.

Watch: Finding the Very Best Residency Programs for You – YouTube

 

2. Live Guidance and Coaching 

Each year at Match A Resident, we spend hundreds of hours on the phone and via email providing personalized, in-depth, and comprehensive counseling and coaching – FOR FREE. You don’t even have to be an active member. We believe in helping applicants through every step of the journey – no matter what. If we can provide valuable feedback and support, we will.

 

3. IMG Friendly Focus

Another main difference between Match A Resident and Residency Explorer is that here at MAR, we focus primarily on IMGs (although we serve many USMGs as well!). Founded by an IMG in 2004, Match A Resident has been dedicated to making the process of applying to residency in the USA more easily navigable and successful for IMGs. Each year, we put out dozens of new resources and tools to help all residency candidates, but especially IMGs. Our Customized Lists also have IMG Friendliness ratings for each program, which is calculated into Compatibility Scores as well.

 

4. Annually Updated Minimum Requirements

While most resources providing minimum requirements for residency programs rely on a passive approach (ie – copying information from websites, FREIDA, or waiting on programs to hopefully send back current, accurate, and up to date information in a survey) we believe that only the most proactive approach is enough to meet the need. That is why we spend 8-10 weeks each and every single year updating our entire database by contacting programs directly – updating criteria via in-person phone calls and cross-checking with email verifications as well.

This allows us to obtain complete and comprehensive data for each program. Our professional Update Team can discern between preferences, flexible cutoffs, and requirements, whereas other resources cannot or do not specify these extremely important nuances of minimum requirements.

Moreover, we provide courtesy verifications and dynamic updates of programs throughout the application season, should their requirements undergo changes after we have completed our main update. 

 

What Does Residency Explorer Offer that Match A Resident Does Not?

There is no denying that Residency Explorer provides a vast quantity of data. Through the partnership of several official organizations, Residency Explorer has produced an interface rich in information. It includes data regarding Matched applicants and their relevant applicant statistics, including USMLE Scores, and the number of Work, Research and Volunteer Experiences found in their ERAS Applications. 

Additionally, Residency Explorer offers explicit information about the programs themselves. There may be details about the hospital, pay, vacation time, and more. Clearly, there is value to this information as well. 

 

How Do Match A Resident and Residency Explorer Work in Harmony?

According to Residency Explorer: “It is intended to help you explore and research programs and develop a list of programs for further investigation. We encourage you to consult with a trusted advisor or mentor in the residency application process.”

We advocate that Match A Resident is that trusted mentor. With Lists Customized to you, updated minimum requirements, Compatibility Scores, and Interview-Link data (showing you which programs interviewed candidates like you before), plus extensive member Interview Experiences and live guidance and support, we have demonstrated our efficacy and willingness to help applicants directly for nearly two decades. 

 

How to Use Both Match A Resident and Residency Explorer 

1. Begin by accessing your Customized Residency List with Match A Resident. You can organize by Compatibility Score, State, Interview Link, and more. 
2. If you want to know more about certain programs, you can seek additional information and data via Residency Explorer. 
3. You can record important details that you find in the Notes section for any program on your Customized List
4. Be sure to Bookmark the programs in your Customized List that you feel would be the best choices for you! 
5. Once the interviews start rolling in, use Match A Resident’s Interview Manager tool, catch up on all the latest Interview Feedback, and later on, use Rank Assist to help you analyze your Rank Order List choices. 
6. And, of course, give us a call at Match A Resident if you have specific questions about the application process, how to optimize your application, or to address ANY other concerns you may have. 

 

Going Beyond the Data – Optimizing Your Application Content, Strategy, and Delivery

We are also dedicated to providing affordable, yet extremely effective tools and services to aid applicants to maximize their Match chances. Beyond Customized Residency Lists, we also offer:

• Application Editing & Optimization | Residency Experts 
• Residency Personal Statement Editing & Writing Services | Residency Statement 
• As mentioned, we additionally provide invaluable counseling for the application process
• Plus! We are getting ready to make professional Interview Prep Services available to our members as well

Now Do You See the Difference Between Match A Resident and Residency Explorer? 

Again, we hope that this article helps highlights the ways Match A Resident and Residency Explorer compliment one another.

We do not believe it is “us vs. them”. Truly, both services are seeking to help residency applicants navigate the complexities and challenges of the Match process. 

We encourage you to be realistic with the tools you feel would best serve your needs. As ever, we are here to help address any concerns you may have. 

Contact us at (858)-221-8510 or email support@matcharesident.com to get in touch! We would love to support your efforts today.