match day
So, tomorrow is match day. The day when fourth year medical students across the country find out where they will be spending the next 3-7 years of their lives. Where they will be training to become whatever sort of doctor they are going to become. This isn't as exciting for me, because I know where I'm going already, thanks to the military's early match program. In theory, if I hadn't matched with the military, I would have had time to participate in the regular match. Certain other programs are also early match, mostly the more competitive programs such as Ophthalmology and Neurosurgery.
But the majority of my friends and classmates won't be sleeping much tonight. Getting into a residency is sort of a combination of applying for school and applying for a job. Everybody pretty much goes through the same process. There is a general application online, and it goes out to all the programs you apply to. This was due in the Sept-Nov time frame. Then come the invitations to interview. Some people do as many as 20-30 interviews during December and January. By a certain date in February, everyone ranks their favorite programs. The programs rank their favorite applicants. A big computer does the magic sorting, and, wala! The Match.
It's a big deal. We get the day off, and there is a ceremony in which everyone is handed an envelope. The envelope contains, of course, where they are headed this summer. After months of donning the suit, breaking the bank on hotels and flights, and agonizing over which programs are the best fit, it all comes down to this. It's like some crazy game show. Come on down, see what you've won! Can you feel the anticipation?
I know what's in my envelope. But I'm going anyway, to see friends I haven't seen in a while, to find out where everyone is going, and to celebrate properly. There was no big party for the early match programs, to this is our chance to celebrate too, albeit belatedly. Did I mention there will be free food and drinks?
But the majority of my friends and classmates won't be sleeping much tonight. Getting into a residency is sort of a combination of applying for school and applying for a job. Everybody pretty much goes through the same process. There is a general application online, and it goes out to all the programs you apply to. This was due in the Sept-Nov time frame. Then come the invitations to interview. Some people do as many as 20-30 interviews during December and January. By a certain date in February, everyone ranks their favorite programs. The programs rank their favorite applicants. A big computer does the magic sorting, and, wala! The Match.
It's a big deal. We get the day off, and there is a ceremony in which everyone is handed an envelope. The envelope contains, of course, where they are headed this summer. After months of donning the suit, breaking the bank on hotels and flights, and agonizing over which programs are the best fit, it all comes down to this. It's like some crazy game show. Come on down, see what you've won! Can you feel the anticipation?
I know what's in my envelope. But I'm going anyway, to see friends I haven't seen in a while, to find out where everyone is going, and to celebrate properly. There was no big party for the early match programs, to this is our chance to celebrate too, albeit belatedly. Did I mention there will be free food and drinks?