MATCH

It's hard to explain the excitement that I felt as I was walking up the steps to the student lounge to check my MATCH results. All along I said any of my top six ranked programs would make me content, but I was still nervous about the prospect of disappointment after four grueling months of "audition" rotations and thirteen interviews. What would the next couple minutes mean for my life? Where could I possibly get placed; a community center in Chicago, a knife-and-gun club in New York, or a highly respected university hospital in the Northeast?

I'm not one for emotional displays of happiness and yet today I was choked up on the treadmill just realizing the gravity of the day and recognizing how privileged I was to have made it this far in my education. Having helped a good friend with the SCRAMBLE a few days before I also recognized that any residency that wanted me would be acceptable. Any program would beat the feeling of rejection and utter disappointment of not getting placed at all. What a horrific experience that was!

I reached the student lounge found my computer, got on the phone with my husband, and went to the NRMP website hitting refresh, refresh, refresh over and over again. UNBELIEVABLE. I couldn't believe it when I saw the bare bones post

Congratulations, you have matched!

Program Code: ********************
Program Name: Emergency Medicine
Institution Name: ******************

The rest of the night was a haze. Our class has never been one to hold back and I can only imagine our MATCH night was one the first, second, and third years will remember for some time to come. There was a lot of screaming, dancing, crying, and mostly relief. Relief to be done with four years of exams, stress, and uncertainty. It's so gratifying to know that I put everything I have to show for the last eight years of my life on the table and someone knew it was Ivy League material. Whew!

Interview number 10 and counting

So, today I officially reached the double digits in residency interviews for a PGY-1 position in emergency medicine. I can't say I'll miss running to the drugstore at odd hours of the day for another pair of panty hose, doing bathroom boot to heel switches, and plastering a smile on even when I didn't sleep the night before. Yes, EM is for me. I love my free time and am ambitious, adventurous, and amiable. However, the traveling, overnight stays with randoms, and mooching off distant family does get old after a couple of weeks. I sympathize with all those newly laid off employees who have weeks of this ahead of them without the finite date of the MATCH to look forward to.

The problem, I've decided at this point, is not anxiety about interview performance, but is being able to feign interest in yet another resident explaining intricate details of scheduling during off rotations. Is anyone really nixing a program based on whether there is night float or not during your medicine month? Truthfully, I don't have the perspective to know how much this will affect my life in the coming years. I also want to believe that perception of fit and reputation are reliable enough factors in my decision making.

Today, I interviewed at a high volume center in NYC. I had high hopes for this program as it was an interview I actively sought out. I have yet to find out whether the admissions committee independently picked out my application or the attending I bonded with during my prior NY rotation put in a good word for me. Nevertheless, I approached this interview with excitement and expectation for a high ranking. By the third interview it was strikingly obvious that this was not where I was going to spend the next four years of my life. C'est la vie. I should have booked that Florida vacation instead.