The NRMP’s Registration, Ranking, and Results (R3) system offers institutions the option to revert, or donate, unfilled positions in one program to another during the matching process. If a donor program does not fill its quota, a designated number (equal to, or less than, the quota) of its unfilled positions can be added automatically to the quota of a receiver program. Reversions offer a degree of protection against the possibility that positions will not fill when the matching algorithm is processed.

Creating Reversions

Who Can Create a Reversion?

Any residency program can create a reversion in the R3 system, although reversions typically are formed between

• categorical and preliminary programs
• traditional and primary care tracks
• clinical and research tracks

How Does a Reversion Work?

• Donor program reverts a specific number of its unfilled positions to a receiver program.
• The matching process first attempts to fill all positions in the donor program so that positions revert to the receiver program only if they do not fill during the donor’s matching process.
• Receiver program accepts a designated number of unfilled positions from a donor program, and reverted positions are added to the received program’s quota only if the donor program is unable to fill its positions during the matching process.

A Few Reminders About Reversions

• Only the donor program can create the reversion.
• Programs cannot revert more positions than the current program quota.
• The NRMP Institutional Official must approve all reversions.
• Reversions can be added, changed, or deleted but they must be finalized and approved by the Rank Order List Certification Deadline.
• Both the donor and receiver programs must certify a rank order list with ranks by the Rank Order List Certification Deadline.
• The donor program can revert positions to multiple receiver programs either at the same or at a different institution; however, NO Circular Reversions! Circular reversions in which two programs both donate and receive positions from each other cannot be accommodated in the R3 system.