Email to Your Residency Program After the Match

Email to Your Residency Program After the Match

You may email your matched program once Match results are released at 12 p.m. ET on Friday, March 19, 2027, and not before. Your program sees its roster at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 18, but the NRMP agreement bars both sides from contact until results are announced.

Our view: keep the first email to four sentences. Once results are out, the agreement lets the program start onboarding, so the first email should ask how that works, not retell why you ranked them. The questions that matter (contract, license, visa, start date) belong in a second, separate email once that packet arrives.

Every NRMP page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026, for the 2027 Main Residency Match. Earlier in the season, the documents that can still change a rank list are covered in the residency letter of intent rules for 2027 and the ERAS 2027 timeline.

When NRMP lets you write

The 2027 Match Participation Agreement for Applicants (MPA) sets two rules for Match Week. Section 7.5.2, which covers the time between your match status and the end of Match Week, says:

"Fully matched applicants and programs may not contact each other for any reason until the general announcement of the Match results."

Section 7.4 then opens the door:

"Programs and matched applicants may freely communicate, and programs may initiate their institution's onboarding processes after Match Results are made available on Match Day, as published in the Match calendar."

The 2027 Match Week and SOAP calendar puts those rules on a clock:

For 22 hours (our arithmetic: 2 p.m. Thursday to noon Friday) the program knows you matched there and you don't. It still may not tell you. If a resident or faculty member contacts you on Thursday, don't reply about the Match. Report it to policy@nrmp.org, the address MPA section 7.5 names for communication violations.

Partially matched? If you matched an advanced position but not a preliminary year, or the reverse, section 7.5.2 says you "will receive email notification of the city, state, and zip code of their matched program to facilitate the applicant's participation in SOAP." It adds: "Partially matched applicants must follow all SOAP communication rules." Knowing the city is not permission to write to the program. The SOAP rules are in the Match Week 2027 and SOAP schedule.

The first email: what it should say

The first email confirms you're there, says you're glad, and asks how onboarding works. It does not ask about salary, start-date changes or vacation. Those go in the second email, after the packet arrives.

Constructed example: the first email to your matched program

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. Context (invented): Ritu Malhotra matched internal medicine at a program where Dr. L. Abara is program director and Ms. R. Delgado is coordinator.

Subject: Ritu Malhotra, matched PGY-1 internal medicine

Dear Dr. Abara (cc Ms. Delgado),

I learned today that I matched to your categorical internal medicine program, and I am very glad to be joining it. Thank you to you and the interview team for a thoughtful interview day in December. Please let me know how you would like me to receive and return the onboarding documents, and whether anything is due before the packet arrives. My best contact is ritu.malhotra@example.com or (555) 010-0199.

Ritu Malhotra

That is 84 words, subject line included. Why each line is there:

• The subject line names you and the position. The program can file it without opening it.
• One line of thanks. Leave out the paragraph about why you ranked them first. The match already said it.
• One question, about onboarding. This matches what section 7.4 now allows: the program may "initiate their institution's onboarding processes."
• No attachments. Send documents only when the coordinator asks for them, in the format they ask for.

Onboarding questions to send the coordinator

NRMP's After the Match page lists what matched applicants "should be prepared to engage in":

"Signing and returning a letter of acceptance Signing and returning the appointment contract Completing an application for a license (types determined by programs and state medical boards) Addressing any ongoing needs with respect to visas (applicants on a J-1 visa should regularly check OASIS with the ECFMG) Completing any pre-training activities (e.g., drug screens, background checks)"

The same page says: "Programs are required under the terms of the Match Participation Agreement to disclose eligiblity [sic] and onboarding requirements to applicants prior to the Rank Order List Certification Deadline." The programs' version of the agreement spells this out. A program "must disclose to applicants all eligibility requirements for training set forth by the sponsoring institution and the program during the recruitment period and before the Rank Order List Certification Deadline," including "pre- employment testing (e.g., illicit drug screening), background checks (e.g., criminal, financial, etc.), visa sponsorship" (2027 MPA for Programs, section 4.0).

So most of these answers should already be in your inbox from interview season. Look there first. Then turn each NRMP item into one question:

If your program never gave you its eligibility requirements, NRMP's After the Match page says to contact policy@nrmp.org.

Constructed example: the onboarding-question email

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email.

Subject: Ritu Malhotra, onboarding questions

Dear Ms. Delgado,

Thank you for the onboarding packet. Two questions it didn't answer: is the training license application started by the program or by me, and is the background check done locally or in-state? I have signed and attached the letter of acceptance as requested.

Ritu Malhotra

That is 53 words, subject line included. It asks only what the packet left open, and it confirms one task done.

Can you negotiate a residency contract?

NRMP gives you no lever to do it. When you clicked "I Accept," MPA section 4.0 says you agreed that "The NRMP is not an employment service and does not oversee the terms of any contract between applicants and training programs." Section 10.0 adds that "Each appointment is subject to the official policies of the appointing institution and program (e.g., expected training credentials, background checks, drug screens, visa status) in effect on the Rank Order List Certification Deadline." And section 11.0: "Neither applicants nor programs may release each other from a matched position, or an offer accepted during SOAP."

Our view: read the contract to understand it, not to bargain over it. Ask what a clause means, when benefits start, or how moonlighting is handled. A match is not an opening offer. NRMP publishes nothing about salary negotiation for matched residents, and the agreement leaves contract terms to the institution. The binding commitment is the one term you can't touch.

The countercase: a clear error in the contract, such as the wrong start date, wrong PGY level or misspelled name, is not a negotiation. Point it out the day you see it.

Start-date conflicts, graduation delays and licensing problems

Here you don't get to choose whether to write. MPA section 4.0 says "The applicant must fully disclose academic, professional, and personal experiences that may impact their ability to begin training at the time specified in the appointment contract." Section 6.3 says the duty runs "through the 45th day following the start date as listed in the appointment contract for the program position obtained through the Match or SOAP."

If the problem means you can't start at all, NRMP's After the Match FAQ is direct: "If you learn you are ineligible to honor your binding commitment, you must immediately submit to the NRMP a request for a waiver of your match commitment." The program can't release you on its own. The NRMP waiver guide walks through the process.

A short delay that doesn't make you ineligible, like a late license or a visa still in process, is a plain email to the program director and coordinator. Write what happened, the date you expect it resolved, and what you have already done. Send it the day you know.

If you matched through SOAP

MPA section 9.0 says: "Positions offered and accepted during SOAP constitute a binding commitment under this Agreement." The binding is the same as a Main Match position, and so is the onboarding list.

The difference is the contact pattern. During SOAP, section 9.2 says you could not "initiate any verbal, written, or electronic communication with any program until and unless specifically contacted by a program representative." So the program that offered you a position already has your details. It reached you first. Section 9.2 also says "At the published time, SOAP communication rules end," and the 2027 calendar sets that at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, March 18. After that, reply to the program's messages and send the same four-sentence first email. Then send your onboarding questions.

One rule is easy to break here. Section 10.0 says applicants with a Match or SOAP commitment "who seek a concurrent year position, absent a waiver or deferral from the NRMP, shall be presumed to have violated this Agreement." Once you accept a SOAP offer, stop all other applications for that year.

Programs you ranked but did not match

You don't owe them an email. The MPA also limits what they may do. Under section 6.5, programs may not "Have any written, electronic, or verbal contact with a matched applicant not matched into their program for the purpose of offering an interview, offering placement in the program, or requesting the applicant apply to a program."

Our view: send nothing to programs you didn't match unless someone there did something for you personally, such as a faculty mentor from an away rotation. In that case, two lines of thanks with no question attached. Don't ask why you didn't match there. They can't tell you where they ranked you, and you have a program to join. Your letter writers are a different matter and do deserve a note: see thanking letter writers after the Match.

Match Day checklist

1. Before 12 p.m. ET Friday, March 19, 2027: no contact with any program, even after Thursday's roster.
2. Friday afternoon: send the four-sentence first email to the program director, cc the coordinator.
3. When the packet arrives: check it against the five NRMP onboarding items and ask only what it leaves open.
4. When the contract arrives: ask about clauses you don't understand. Flag real errors the same day.
5. If anything threatens your start date: tell the program the day you know. If you can't start at all, request an NRMP waiver right away.
6. Matched through SOAP: reply after 9 p.m. ET Thursday and stop every other application for that year.

Questions about emailing your program after the Match

Can I email my program on Thursday if a friend says they saw the roster?

No. MPA section 7.5.2 says fully matched applicants and programs "may not contact each other for any reason until the general announcement of the Match results." Wait until results release at 12 p.m. ET Friday.

Should I email the program director or the coordinator?

Both. Address the program director and cc the coordinator. Send later onboarding questions to whoever sent you the packet.

Can I ask to start later than July 1?

You can ask. The agreement doesn't promise a yes, and it ties your appointment to the start date in your contract. If the delay comes from something that affects your ability to start, section 4.0 requires you to disclose it.

Do I need to thank every program that interviewed me?

No. Nothing in the MPA or the NRMP Code of Conduct asks for it.

Get a free review of your residency letter

Get a free Quick Review of your residency letter against GradPilot's residency letter of intent rubric, for any letter you send a program before the March 3, 2027 rank order list deadline. It checks that your reason for the program comes from what you learned there, that your interest is stated once at its true strength, and that nothing in it asks about ranking.

More residency communication guides:

• Residency letter of intent rules for 2027: what NRMP and each specialty allow before the deadline.
• NRMP waiver guide: what to do if you can't honor the match.
• Residency reapplicant personal statement: if Match Day didn't go your way.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• NRMP, 2027 Match Participation Agreement for Applicants (2027 Main Residency Match): sections 4.0, 6.3, 6.5, 7.4, 7.5, 7.5.2, 9.0, 9.2, 10.0, 11.0.
• NRMP, 2027 Match Participation Agreement for Programs: section 4.0 eligibility-disclosure duty.
• NRMP, 2027 Main Residency Match Week and SOAP Calendar: Thursday roster, SOAP end, Friday results times.
• NRMP, 2027 Main Residency Match Calendar: Monday status, March 3 certification deadline.
• NRMP, After the Match: onboarding list, disclosure requirement, waiver FAQ.