Match! Part I

My life for the past year (really the past 3 1/2 years) has been building up for the moment that passed on Thursday March 17th when we found out our fate for Residency for the next four years...and it's known to the world as the MATCH! It's really just a fancy algorithm run by a super computer that an economist developed to help pair medical students to their desired residency programs. A similar program is used to match up organ donors to organ recipients. Essentially the students create a rank order list of all the programs they interviewed with, and each program creates a list of all candidates they interviewed from most to least desirable, and the computer tries to match up each student with their top program, and the programs with their top desired students. Not everyone gets their top program, although we are told it is favored toward the students. Some don't match anywhere at all and enter the "scramble." Everything we have done lately was geared toward matching, every conversation could not be had without mentioning it or getting asked about it. I had dreams about the different places we could end up, sweated through the times I had convinced myself we would not match, debated back and forth between which programs to apply to, interview at and then ultimately rank, and in what order to rank them. It has been a long, interesting, exciting, exhausting, informative, exhilarating, costly, and crazy 12 months! Warning: I am now going to paraphrase the past year, which may or may not be interesting to you, so read on if you so desire...I will not feel bad if you do not.

It all started in March of last year as I finally decided to pursue the specialty of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation(PM &R) after much prayer, investigation and thought. Makenna and I decided it would be best for me to go on three "audition" rotations to help improve my stock and chances with residency programs and to show what kind of resident I could be. After more investigation, we chose to audition at the University of Texas-San Antonio, University of Utah, and the Mayo Clinic school of Graduate Education. I sent in the applications and was approved for all three, and scheduled them in the order above. At this time I was convinced the U of U was where we needed to be. I thought Mak would be unhappy anywhere else and I needed to excel while there.

I spent the entire summer dreading the end of August coming, because that is when the "audition" rotations began and unfortunately, I would have to leave Makenna behind in Ohio because of her job for three straight months. I also spent the summer months preparing my application in my free time after rotations. This application is no walk in the park. I spent hours writing, proofreading and rewriting a personal statement of why I wanted to pursue PM &R, gathering up transcripts, board scores, five letters of recommendation, chronicling all the volunteer and work activities i had done over the past three years, and picking which programs to apply. I must shout here a big THANK YOU again to everyone who proofread my personal statement and helped with the application! It was essentially like applying to med school all over again. Well, the end of August came just like it always does, and off I went to Texas. My only comfort in leaving Makenna alone in a city without any family and few friends was that I bought her a cat, Darby, to keep her company. She proved to be a good friend and comfort for Makenna through the lonely three months.

I enjoyed my time in San Antonio. To help with the loneliness, Mak and I planned to see each other every two weeks. Makenna came to visit halfway through my rotation and we had a wonderful mini-vacation. We enjoyed the Riverwalk, the Alamo, and some good Texas BBQ. My Cousin, Logan Skidmore, lives in SA and we enjoyed spending time with his family also. I was lucky enough to hang with Logan and his family every weekend while there and I sure enjoyed getting reacquainted with one of my favorite cousins. Meanwhile, I also enjoyed the rotation. Most everyone I met was friendly at the hospital, and since it was my first real rehab rotation, I thought it was the best program in the world. I found that I liked every aspect of PM &R and knew I had made a great decision about my career choice. I enjoyed rooming with Eric Brimhall, who was a first year PM &R resident. All in all it was a good rotation and I left SA feeling like I would rank it pretty high.

I next went to the U of U and right from the get go I had a different experience. While I LOVED being in Utah for a month, there was a different feeling at the U. When I arrived on the first day I got the impression from the employees that checked me in that I was a BURDEN to them. No one took me on a tour of the hospital or showed me where to report. In Texas, I got a personal tour of the hospital and was made to feel they were so EXCITED to have me. The attitude I felt from the attending doctors at Utah was one of "prove to us why you should be in our presence" whereas the Texas doctors were willing to teach and happy to have me part of the team. There were good people in the program at the U, but overall I did not feel welcome or wanted. It was so different from SA that it really soured me to the program at the time. I know there might be readers of this blog loyal to the University of Utah and swear by it, but I really think there are a lot of issues (pride, arrogance, etc) with their medical education...and its unfortunate its the only program in the great state of Utah. I enjoyed living in my parents basement for part of the time and the Bartons for part of the time(when Mak came to visit me and her family for 10 days), and getting to spend dinners and the weekends with them. But I left Utah thinking the only reason I would rank Utah would be for Makenna and being close to family.

Well its nearly 10 pm, and for Makenna and I, that is late. :) So this will conclude Part I of this mega post. I will continue part II with my Mayo Clinic experience and the Interview process next time. Hopefully the next time won't be 9 months later like the last time I posted on this blog. ;)