Congrats to all of those who Matched last week! And kudos for those of you who managed to make it through this year’s difficult SOAP.
During SOAP (Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program) last week, the server crashed, leaving many applicants and programs confused and scrambling (no pun intended). The 2019 Match Week and SOAP schedule was, therefore, revised such that all SOAP offer rounds were postponed and limited to Thursday, March 14.
At the time of this writing, it’s unclear what happened. Rumors are that the volume of participants was greater than in past years, leaving ERAS/AAMC unprepared. This might be the case with the opening of many new medical schools and a continued, relative dearth in the number of residency spots available. Read this article for a controversial – but interesting – take on why.
We’ll probably have to wait for this year’s Match numbers for any answers.