Chiro Match Overview

Introduction

The Chiropractic Residency Match (Chiro Match) is an Application Service and Matching Program that provides an orderly process to help applicants obtain positions of their choice, and to help programs obtain applicants of their choice. For many years, health care training sites throughout North America have used a similar match in the annual recruitment of medical residents, pharmacy residents, psychology interns, dentistry residents, and others.

How It Works

• 1. Register for the Chiro Match

  Applicants and programs must register online in the NMS Match System.

  • Applicant Registration
  • Program Registration

• 2. Apply to Programs

  Using the NMS Match System, applicants must apply to programs in which they are interested and programs will evaluate applications. Applicants must be registered for the Match in order to apply to programs.

• 3. Interview with Programs

  Programs invite acceptable applicants to interview using the NMS Match System.

  No offers of acceptance 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.

• 4. Submit Your Rank Order List of Preferred Placements

  After all interviews are completed, each applicant confidentially submits a Rank Order List in the NMS Match System on which the applicant lists the programs they desire in numerical order of preference (first choice, second choice, etc.).

  Similarly, each program confidentially submits a Rank Order List in the NMS Match System on which the program lists its desirable applicants in order of preference. Each program also indicates the number of positions available in each program.

• 5. The Matching Algorithm is Run

  The matching algorithm then places individuals into positions based entirely on the preferences stated in the Rank Order Lists.

  • Read about how the Matching Algorithm works

• 6. Get Your Result

  The result of the Chiro 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 in programs they prefer.

• 7. Post-Match Process

  It is possible that all of a particular program's positions will not be filled in the matching process, and that some applicants will be left unmatched. When the results of the Chiro Match are released, information regarding positions that remain available is provided to applicants who are not matched. Similarly, information regarding unmatched applicants is provided to programs with unfilled positions.

  The filling of available positions in the Post-Match Process is not done by NMS. Applicants still seeking a position and programs with positions available are free to contact each other and to negotiate directly with each other, independently of the Chiro Match, to fill available positions.

Read more about each stage of the Chiro Match process:

Benefits of the Chiro Match

The Application Service allows applicants to apply to multiple programs using a single user-friendly online application. Programs are able to access a consolidated online portal to collect, review, and evaluate all of their applications.

The Chiro Match allows programs and applicants to evaluate each other fully before determining preferences, so there is no pressure to make premature decisions based on incomplete information. Applicants and programs do not receive information about the rankings submitted by other applicants and programs. Applicants and programs can list their desired placements in order of their true preference, without worrying about how they will be ranked by the other party.

The Match simplifies the process of making and accepting offers of admissions. Since all offers, acceptances, rejections and final placements occur simultaneously, the matching process is an effective and fair means of implementing a standardized acceptance date. The Chiro Match guarantees that each applicant and program will get the best possible result that is available to them.

The Chiro Match ensures that programs will not overfill their positions. It also eliminates unfair behavior that occurs in many typical recruitment processes, like programs issuing extremely time-limited offers, applicants hoarding multiple offers, and programs or applicants reneging on a prior acceptance because a more preferred option has become available.

Governance

The Association of Chiropractic Colleges (ACC) is responsible for setting the rules of the Chiro Match and for monitoring its implementation. The administration and conduct of the Chiro Match is carried out by National Matching Services Inc. (NMS), on behalf of ACC.