It's been exactly 1 week since I matched into a position in Internal Medicine at University of Illinois Hospital. In that time my fiance and I have signed a lease on a new apartment, packed up some of her place and started picking out color choices to paint the new place. Budgets have been set, elective rotations chosen, vacations planned. It's amazing what one (match) day will do to one's life.
What fascinates me is how in retrospect my path seems so inevitable. Perhaps (most likely) my anxieties blinded me to what now seems like a logical progression and a pretty certain outcome. Anyhow, there's no looking back, and an ocean of new experiences looking forward.
For those of you unfamiliar with match day, this is when medical students gather to find out where they will do their residency training. Imagine 200 students who have spent the last 4 months flying all over the country applying to programs, who have agonized over how to rank various schools, who have put their future plans temporarily on hold in anticipation of where they will be placed. Now dress them up, add parents, grandparents, and over a thousand glasses of champagne and a 30 minute wait until their name is called and they are handed an envelope holding their fate while hundreds of their peers look on in anticipation. This, my dear readers, is a ridiculous ritual; but I can't imagine it being done any other way. There are tears of joy, screams, disappointment, and celebration. But in the end, everyone comes to accept the cards they were dealt. We congratulate friends and move on as best we can.
My life as a medical student has been strange, and I'm sure life as a resident will be even stranger. Though what I've learned, and not having to sit behind a desk for the past 4 years has definitely been worth it.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Matched 6:05 PM
Today marks the beginning of a strange ritual known as match week. It's like a game show. It starts with an email telling us whether or not we've matched. Then cue the 72 hour commercial break.
Who does that?
Anyhow, stay tuned for where i'll be spending the next three years.
Who does that?
Anyhow, stay tuned for where i'll be spending the next three years.
