Residency Feedback Email After Not Matching

Residency Feedback Email After Not Matching

Don't send a residency feedback email during Match Week. If you are SOAP-eligible, NRMP's agreement bars you from starting any contact with a program until it contacts you, and SOAP ends on Thursday, March 18, 2027, at 9 p.m. ET. After that, ask your own school's advisor first. Then email one or two programs that knew you, with one narrow question.

Our view: meet your school's advisor before you email any program. No NRMP rule makes a program answer you. Your advisor can see what you ranked if you share it. A program can tell you what it saw in your file. Ask it about the file, never about its ranking.

Every NRMP document quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026, and the dates are from NRMP's 2027 Main Residency Match calendars. If you are deciding what to send to the program you did match with, see email to your residency program after the Match instead.

Timing: the SOAP rules come first

The 2027 Match Participation Agreement (MPA), section 9.2, says neither SOAP-eligible applicants "nor their representatives may initiate any verbal, written, or electronic communication with any program" until a program contacts them. The full SOAP text and hour-by-hour schedule are on the 2027 Match Week and SOAP rules page.

Any includes a polite feedback request. It also covers your representatives, so your dean or a faculty mentor can't send it for you either. The rule ends at a set time: "At the published time, SOAP communication rules end, and unmatched or partially matched applicants may contact unfilled programs freely."

The same section covers two other groups:

• SOAP-ineligible applicants: "Unmatched applicants who are SOAP-ineligible may not contact Match-participating programs until after SOAP concludes" (MPA 9.5).
• Applicants who skip SOAP for research or a master's: "Neither the applicant, nor their advocates, may contact SOAP-participating programs for the purpose of discussing or seeking a clinical training position until the conclusion of SOAP" (MPA 9.4).

The 2027 dates, from NRMP's Match Week and SOAP calendar:

1. Monday, March 15, 2027, 10 a.m. ET. You learn you didn't match. SOAP begins. The calendar says "Applicants and their representatives CANNOT communicate with a program until contacted by that program."
2. Thursday, March 18, 2027, 9 p.m. ET. "SOAP ends." The calendar adds: "Applicants can begin contacting all remaining unfilled programs."
3. Friday, March 19, 2027, 12 p.m. ET. Match Day for everyone else. The calendar lists program reports, including "Match Results by Ranked Applicant", released that day.
4. Friday, April 30, 2027, 11:59 p.m. ET. "List of Unfilled Programs no longer available in the R3 system". MPA section 9.6 says "through 11:59 p.m. ET on May 1." The two NRMP documents differ by a day, so plan on April 30.

Unfilled positions come before feedback

After SOAP, MPA section 9.3 says applicants who remain unmatched "May contact all remaining unfilled programs". In the 2026 Match, NRMP reported that "At the conclusion of SOAP, 219 positions remained unfilled from 140 SOAP-participating programs" (Results and Data 2026). That's a small number, but it is a reason to spend Thursday night and Friday on the List of Unfilled Programs, not on feedback emails. NRMP's After the Match page says "At the conclusion of SOAP, unmatched applicants are free to reach out to programs as they choose to inquire about training opportunities."

If you are partially matched (for example, an advanced position with no preliminary year), one limit applies: you "May not seek to replace any matched position and/or position obtained through SOAP" (MPA 9.3). Look for the missing year, not a new specialty.

Send feedback requests the following week, once the unfilled-position emails are out.

Who to ask, in this order

The MPA gives programs no duty to give feedback; the word doesn't appear in it. So a program that doesn't reply hasn't broken a rule, and a program that replies owes you nothing beyond what it chooses to say.

Our view: skip programs that didn't interview you. They have the least to tell you, and your advisor can read the same file with your rank list beside it.

The countercase: if a program director wrote to you during the season with a specific concern, such as a missing Step 2 score, ask that program. It already knows what it would tell you.

What to ask, and what not to

Ask about things the program saw. Three constructed questions, written by us:

• "Was there anything in my application that stood out as a weakness?"
• "Is there one thing you would change in my application before I reapply?"
• "Did my rank-list length or specialty choice seem like a concern?" (for your advisor, not a program)

Don't ask about the program's ranking. The NRMP Code of Conduct for Applicants says applicants "must not request a program director or any member of the recruitment team to disclose program ranking preferences or intentions." Its text gives no end date. Our reading, not NRMP's words: we wouldn't ask a program where it ranked you, even in April. NRMP itself treats the list as confidential: MPA section 13.2.2 says "a rank order list submitted by an applicant is confidential".

Constructed feedback email

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's email. Context (invented): Dr. Jonah Feld didn't match in internal medicine. He did a sub-internship at Riverside General and interviewed there in December. It is Tuesday, March 23, 2027, after SOAP ended.

Weak version (62 words):

Dear Dr. Kamau,

I was devastated not to match this year. I really thought my interview at Riverside went well. Could you please tell me why I wasn't ranked high enough to match at your program, and where I was on your list? Any feedback at all would be so helpful as I figure out what went wrong.

Thank you, Jonah Feld

Revised version (74 words):

Dear Dr. Kamau,

I'm Jonah Feld, who did a sub-internship at Riverside in August and interviewed in December. I didn't match this year and plan to reapply in internal medicine. If you have five minutes, I would value one thing: is there a part of my application you would strengthen first before I reapply? A one-line answer by email is plenty. Thank you for the time you gave me during my rotation.

Jonah Feld

What changed:

• No ranking question. "where I was on your list" asks the program to disclose its ranking, which the Code of Conduct says applicants must not request.
• One question about the file. "A part of my application you would strengthen first" is answerable in one line from what the reader already knows.
• Context first. He names the rotation and interview month so Dr. Kamau can place him.
• Low cost to answer. "A one-line answer by email is plenty" makes a short reply acceptable.

Turning feedback into the reapplication

Sort what you hear into three lists: what your file lacked (scores, letters, clinical experience), what your list lacked (length, specialty mix, geography), and what your writing lacked. Only the third belongs in your next personal statement, and only as the change you made. The residency reapplicant personal statement guide covers how to rewrite last cycle's statement. Programs will also ask about the gap at interviews; explaining not matching in a residency interview covers that answer.

IMGs planning the year after should also read unmatched IMG next steps for 2027.

Your feedback-email checklist

1. Is it before Thursday, March 18, 2027, 9 p.m. ET? Send nothing to programs. Talk to your school.
2. Have you worked the List of Unfilled Programs? Do that first.
3. Have you met your advisor? Share your rank list so they can review it.
4. Pick one or two programs where someone knows your work.
5. Write one question about your application. No question about ranking.
6. Expect silence from some. No NRMP rule requires a reply. Don't follow up more than once.

Questions about residency feedback emails

Can I email programs for feedback on Match Monday?

No, if you are SOAP-eligible. MPA section 9.2 bars you from starting contact with any program until it contacts you. Wait until SOAP ends at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 18, 2027.

Can my dean email programs for feedback for me?

Not during SOAP. Section 9.2 begins "Neither SOAP-eligible applicants nor their representatives may initiate". After SOAP, your school can contact programs as you can.

Will a program tell me where it ranked me?

Don't ask. The Code of Conduct says applicants "must not request a program director or any member of the recruitment team to disclose program ranking preferences or intentions." Ask what in your application to strengthen instead.

Should I email every program that interviewed me?

No. Write to one or two programs where someone knows your work; they can answer from what they saw. Your advisor reads your whole file, with your rank list beside it.

Review the writing you send next

Your next document is a reapplicant personal statement. Get a free Quick Review of your residency personal statement against GradPilot's ERAS residency personal statement rubric, which reads for why this specialty, the experiences you chose, what changed in your thinking and readiness for residency work. After next season's interviews, the residency letter of intent rubric checks your post-interview letters.

All medical school and residency essay guides are in one place. For the full Match Week schedule, see the 2027 Match Week and SOAP rules.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted.

• NRMP, 2027 Match Participation Agreement for Applicants (2027 Main Residency Match): sections 6.4, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, 13.2.2.
• NRMP, 2027 Main Residency Match Week and SOAP Calendar: Monday status and no-contact rule, Thursday 9 p.m. ET SOAP end, Friday program reports, April 30 List of Unfilled Programs close.
• NRMP, Results and Data: 2026 Main Residency Match (2026 Match): positions unfilled after SOAP.
• NRMP, After the Match: contacting programs after SOAP.
• NRMP, Match Code of Conduct for Applicants: no requests about ranking intentions.