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Last updated: October 22, 2026 · Written by the MatchPal Advising Team · Reviewed by Daniel Veyg, DO Quick answer: The best questions for a residency Program Director are specific to that program, impossible to answer from the website, and aimed at decisions only a PD actually makes: curriculum direction, program growth, and what’s changed […]

Last updated: October 19, 2026 · Written by the MatchPal Advising Team · Reviewed by Ian Rumball, MD Quick answer: The AAMC’s 2026 Graduation Questionnaire reports away rotations by intended specialty, and the honest headline is that the number varies less than the participation rate does. Among graduates who did at least one away, almost every

Last updated: October 15, 2026 · Written by the MatchPal Advising Team, reviewed by Dr. Violeta Foss, DO  Quick answer: Your COMLEX percentile tells you how your three-digit COMLEX Level 2-CE score compares to other osteopathic students who tested in the same cycle. The only official source is the NBOME’s own percentile conversion tool, and

Last updated: October 9, 2026 · Written by the MatchPal Advising Team, reviewed by Joseph Gofman, DO Quick answer: A residency interview day in the 2026-27 cycle can run anywhere from 15 minutes to 8 hours depending on the program. Most days follow the same shape: a pre-interview meet and greet, opening remarks from the

Last updated: 9/29/2026 · Written by the MatchPal Advising Team · Reviewed by Daniel Veyg, DO Quick answer: Programs get access to ERAS applications at 9:00 AM ET on September 23, 2026, and many send their first interview invitations within days. Reply within a few hours when you can, book the best available date first,

Last updated: September 21, 2026 · Written by the MatchPal Advising Team · Reviewed by Daniel Veyg, DO Quick answer: Most residency interviews in 2026 draw from the same core set of questions: “tell me about yourself,” “why this specialty,” “why this program,” a strength-and-weakness pair, one behavioral question, and “what questions do you have

Last updated: 8/31/2026· Written by the MatchPal Advising Team Quick answer: For years, applicants believed competitive specialties required 20 to 37 “research items,” a number that came from NRMP reporting the mean of combined abstracts, presentations, and publications. The 2026 Charting Outcomes reports changed two things: they report the median instead of the mean, and

Last updated: 8/26/2026 · Written by Daniel Veyg DO, resident physician and MatchPal advisor · Reviewed by the MatchPal Advising Team For two years, medical school rewarded one skill: sit in a quiet room and absorb an enormous volume of facts. Then you start clinical rotations, and the ground moves. The students who feel lost

Last updated: 8/21/2026 · Written by the MatchPal Advising Team Quick answer: The NRMP Couples Match lets two applicants link their rank order lists so the algorithm only matches them to pairs of programs they both accept. It costs more (the standard $85 registration plus a $45 couples fee per person, plus higher application volume