Limit your applications. Dealing with congested markets in the matching procedure

Some considerations in optimizing the Medical Physics Match

“…Because the problem of optimal applications is an economics problem, there has been a search for solutions and a developing literature on the subject. Balter et al show that limiting the number of applications candidates can submit is superior to limiting the number of applications a program can evaluate. Entering an application limit into the Gale/Shapley algorithm that underlies the matching process, the authors conclude that "the optimal limit in the number of applications balances the tradeoff between being unmatched and gaining a better match in the aggregate, and the benefit can be considerable if the graduates' preferences over the positions are not very correlated."…”