March 14 is the day that many Doctors-to-be are looking forward to with a mix of excitement and anxiety. It is the day we find out about Residency - whether we Matched (and in fact, the day is called "Match Day") to a hospital program or whether we are stuck scrambling for a position (and in fact, the rest of the week is called "The Scramble"). Most of the folks waiting are 4th year medical students who will graduate in May and then a short few weeks later, start the grueling process of on the job training that is so unique to our profession.
I am a bit more unique in this respect, as I graduated last year in August - too late to start residency last year, so I have been working as a teacher in a beautiful public high school while I applied for residency this year. It has been an incredible ride and as AA (not the airline or the program) likes to say, I have been "exactly where you are meant to be."
In two weeks when I wake up, I will open up an email that doesn't change who I am as a person, but does help guide where I will be going in the near future. Will I be staying in Fresno or going to New York? If I go to New York, will I go to the city or upstate to Buffalo? There are so many questions that I have started somewhat avoiding folks so I don't have to repeat the same answer 1,352,938 times - "I don't know." Nothing is certain right now. I have no control over where I go other than a "rank list" that a computer uses in its complex algorithm to ultimately assign me a position somewhere.
So, with that in mind, I beg all of you - please stop asking. I don't know starts sounding really annoying to a person who doesn't like saying it. I promise all of you that as soon as I know, I will let you know, so that we will all be in the know. Wow, that was a lot of "know" in one sentence.
Stay tuned this week: in an upcoming blog post, I will share all the dates that important information will be arriving about this process...so that all of you will know exactly what I know, right now. Know what I mean?
Yep...KNOW exactly what you mean! And AA (not the airline) is right (as usual)!
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