Match Day

Match Day.  On the Ides of March.  The culmination of medical school comes down to this day.  It is terrifying, nauseating, heart palpating - "Matched-induced arrythmia" - nothing seems to calm the nerves.

Match Day is the day where medical students across the country find out where they will do the next 3-5 years of residency at exactly the same time (11am).  Leading up to Match Day, both the applicant and the residency program submit their respective rank lists to the NRMP.  The NRMP then matches applicants to a residency program in a binding contract.

Every school has its own Match Day ceremony.  At ours, a brass drum is presented at the front of a room.  The envelops sealing our fates are loaded into the drum.  Then an administrator spins the drum and pulls out an envelop at random.  As we go up to receive our envelop, we hand over $1.  The last student who receives his/her envelop gets all the dollar bills.

A friend of mine goes up: #6 for psych.  Another friend goes up: #8 for medicine.  Another friend: #6 for general surgery.  Another friend: #7 for pathology.  The mood is somber.  What is going on?!  What if I also matched so far down my list?

My next friend is up: #1 for general surgery.  She is ecstatic and relieved.  Shortly after I am called.  As I hold my envelop, I chant my mantra out loud: "Please don't be [my last rank], please don't be [my last rank] . . ."  I open my envelop and I first see "California."  Then I see "University of California - San Francisco."  I am confused, I hadn't gotten an interview at UCSF and didn't rank it.  Then I see "Fresno" and it dawns on me - I matched at my #2 for pediatrics!!  Yes, I am somewhat devastated that I didn't match at my #1, but I can't complain.

Then the doubt begins to set in, almost like a kind of "survivor's guilt."  Did I make the right choice?  Should I have ranked Fresno lower?  Should I have ranked programs with more "prestige" above it?  Should I have ranked a more academic program above it?  I logically understood that all the questions are moot - I have matched and it is binding.  I know will get excellent training at a free-standing children's hospital (and it's basically an oxymoron to get bad training at such a hospital for pediatrics).  And then I remember all the other perks that slowly trickle back to me.

I have matched pediatrics at UCSF Fresno.  Can't complain.  :-)

Backlog: 03-15-13

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