Thursday, March 29, 2007

Post-Match Day Thoughts

Now that Match Day is well in the past, I thought I would share some thoughts regarding that entire experience.

When I think about it, that was truly the worst experience I have ever experienced -- at least the worse experience I have participated in voluntarily. Not the overall residency application process, but just Match Day itself.

There is something unusually stressful about this day ... whether it is knowing about Match Day from the very day you enter medical school, or realizing that Match Day is a more significant event than graduation, or just realizing that the envelope you are holding in your hand, once opened, will declare where you will be forced to stay for the next several years of your life (for better or worse) ... whatever the reason, it is enough to turn the sane insane.

What the contents of the envelope reveal is an entirely different story. It is difficult enough waiting for Match Day to arrive, but finding out where on your rank list you were assigned is potentially much more difficult. Unfortunately I tend to set my heart things, and when they don't happen I get demoralized. The same thing occured here -- I was set on my #1 choice and had been planning my short-term future around it; and so when I opened the envelope and saw I was off to #2, I was devastated. It made that day pretty tough when responding to all the people who asked me "Are you happy?"

Anyway, there is a first time for everything ... and luckily this will be its last time too.

1 comment:

alwaysthegoodgirl said...

I'm sorry that you didn't get your first choice. I am a third year, and I am already anxious about Match Day. It's such a public event.