Ranking Programs: Medical Student Strategies.

<bold>Background: </bold>Selecting a training program is one of the most challenging choices an applicant to the Match has to make.<bold>Discussion: </bold>To make an informed decision, applicants should do a comprehensive research and carefully plan their upcoming steps. Factors that might influence the applicants' decision include geography, program reputation, specific areas of academic focus, subspecialty interests, university-versus community-based training, length of training and interest in combined programs. Such information can be gathered from published material, websites, and personal advice (from faculty, residents and advisors). This process is time-consuming and stressful.<bold>Conclusion: </bold>Therefore, in this article we elaborate on the above to facilitate this process for applicants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]