Matched!

So, as some of you know, last week was a very eventful week in the life of a medical student: Match Day!

Some time during the third year most medical students decide on what specialty they want to apply to. In my case, I decided that psychiatry was my thing. Then, all through November, December and January, 4th year medical students fly all around the country interviewing at residency programs. Then at the end of February you make your rank list, which is just a list of the residency programs you interviewed at in order of preference. At the same time, residency programs rank all of their applicants. Just as applicants use a wide range of criteria to rank programs, the programs rank the applicants according to who knows what! A lot of it comes down to fit and gut feeling.

Throughout the whole process, essentially from the beginning, there were two programs that really caught our eye, the University of Washington and UCLA. Both were large, well respected, and would provide all the opportunities you could ask for. And both were on the west coast and near family. They both had so much to love! So when it came to the rank list, it was a VERY difficult decision--one thing we were sure of was that UCLA and UW would be number 1 and number 2. Then we just hoped and prayed that we would get our number 1 or number 2 choice (which really is asking for a lot!).

But really in the end, what was most important was just to match! The match has lately become more competitive in ALL specialties. Over the last few years medical schools all across the country have increased enrollment to meet future demands. However, residency program sizes have stayed the same. This means that there are now more and more students trying to get the same number of spots. Oy!

So last Monday, we were very relieved to get an email informing us that we did match! yay!

But then we had to wait for Thursday, the official match day, to find out where we would be going. And so at 10 am we found ourselves in the University of Chicago Hospital auditorium anxiously waiting to find out where we would be spending the next 4 years. at about 10:45 they hand out the envelopes that tell you where you are going, then you wait to all open them at 11 am.

This is us ANXIOUSLY waiting for the envelope. The tension was immense!

I had just got the envelope! Only a few more minutes!

YES!!!! University of Washington!

We were ecstatic! I was so impressed with the program and felt so blessed to be going to such a great place. It really just seemed like the perfect fit! I do have to say that I will miss the California sun, however! Maybe someday in the future we will end up there!

Now, though, comes the next three months which will involve: Finding someplace to live, graduating from medical school, moving across the country, Betsy having a baby, and starting a very stressful, time-consuming new job! Heaven help us!