Monday, March 11, 2013

I matched!

Match week officially kicked off this morning with an e-mail at 10:00 am Denver time with an e-mail that told all residency applicants whether or not they matched - but not what program they actually matched to. The e-mail subject says, "Did I Match?" which would have been horribly anxiety provoking right before opening the e-mail were it not for Gmail's useful snippets feature that immediately answered that question: "Congratulations! You have matched!"

Now, we all have to wait until Friday morning for Match Day. The program that we matched to (because the result has already been determined) is written on a piece of paper inside of an envelope with our name on it. The envelopes sit on a table at a brunch hosted by the School of Medicine, and we're not allowed to open them until 10:00 am Denver time. I hear that some schools make their students open the envelopes on stage, or in public, but Colorado is a bit more humane in letting us take the envelope home, if we wish, and open it in privacy.

The wait is killing me. Though so far I have been keeping myself busy and my mind sufficiently distracted. I'm thrilled that my parents will both be visiting me in Denver to share in the excitement on Match Day!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

South America

In less than 12 hours, I'm leaving for a South America adventure. This may very well be the last opportunity I'll have for quite a long time to do a backpacking vacation. How is it that I, a medical student, have the time to take 6 weeks off? That's just what fourth year medical students do this time of year. With interview season finished, and the National Residency Match Program open for business (I submitted my rank list today!!!), there's not much to do but wait for Match Day and graduation.

I could have taken an elective, yes, but every single resident who has weighed in on the subject has emphatically insisted that this time be used to do the kinds of things that I simply won't have time to do once I'm a resident. Like travel. Consistently, those residents have also said that everyone ends up on an even playing field by the third month of residency.

So I'm going on an adventure to forget about life for awhile and focus on living.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Reality check

It's now 2013, my graduation year. I will be a doctor (technically) in 144 days. Crazy.