Once all interviews are complete, all appointable candidates are ranked in order of the total score awarded to them. A matching algorithm will then be run to match candidates to their highest available programme preference. The first offer will be made to the highest-scoring candidate, the next to the second-highest and so on until all offers have been made.

All offers, and responses to them, are made via the Oriel system.

After all programmes have been offered to candidates, those which are declined will be re-offered to the next ranked candidate in contention for that programme.

This process will continue until either all available vacancies have been filled, or there are no more candidates to whom an offer can be made.

Offers will be made to candidates once all IMT interviews for the round have been completed, all scores have been compiled and verified, and the closing date for programme preferences has passed. 

There are a number of factors to bear in mind:

Offers made in iterations

Not all candidates will receive an offer in the first 'batch' of offers that are made. Higher-scoring candidates will receive offers first. Any offers declined can be recycled to lower ranked candidates.

Should the higher-scoring candidates opt to hold offers (see the responding to offers page) for a period of time and then choose to reject later on, this will delay how quickly offers can be recycled.

Deadline for first offers

There is a deadline for each round by which the first batch of offers must be made (Tuesday 19 March 2024 for round 1). This deadline applies to all specialties, eg general practice, paediatrics etc, to help those applying to more than one with their decisions.

It is possible that first offers may be made before the first offers date but cannot be earlier than when programme preferences close and interviews are completed; the dates & posts section of the website details these for each round.

Holding deadline

When offers are made, candidates will be given the option to hold their offer. If a candidate opts to hold an offer, they must respond to it (ie accept or reject it) by 1pm (UK time) on Thursday 4 April 2024. Consequently it is usually the case that this will release a few more programmes for recycling. 

[See the responding to offers page of this website for more information on holding offers and the offer-holding deadline.]

Completion of offers

Offers will be recycled as many times as necessary between the first set of offers and when either all posts are filled or, more likely, the pool of candidates has been exhausted.

It cannot be guaranteed when exactly this will be but usually offering is virtually complete either on or just after the upgrading deadline for the round (Tuesday 9 April 2024 for round 1). Candidates who are on the reserve list when offers have been exhausted will be emailed when this happens.