Post-Match March 23, 2009

So literally minutes after the NRMP results were posted online, I got an email from my new program.  They wanted to confirm my address so that they could send me my contract, among other things for intern orientation.  It seems like rapid fire after that I got emails from residents that I didn’t know, as well as residents that I stayed in touch with after my interview.  Everyone was very welcoming in their emails and reiterated how much they love the program.  In addition, the residents have been great about sharing where they live an housing options.  I really like how they have already made me feel a part of the residency family even before starting.

On the other hand, it’s a little scary.  No more waiting and wondering where I will be.  Now I know and have to start making plans.  I have to decide if I am going to keep all the furniture that I have now (that I’ve had since college) or just start fresh.  Am I going to decide to continue renting, or try my luck at buying a small condo?  When am I going to move into a new place: in the next month since I’m done with rotations or after graduation?  On top of logistics, the cheif resident sent an email inquiring which type of rotation would we like to start with and for vacation requests.  They also distributed a guide for the hospital.  This was just via email… can’t wait to see what’s in this package they are sending.

I suppose I can use the next few weeks to plan and then enjoy my time off to the fullest.  I’m really going to be an intern in just a few months!  I’ve got to get things in order so that I can really be ready come day 1.

Match Day! March 20, 2009

First of all, I want to say sorry for not posting yesterday (Match Day)… it was truly a busy day and I wanted to give you all the quality posts that you are used to .  Hopefully you at least saw my Twitter status with the great news!

So I show up to my match celebration 15 min before the refreshments were to begin being served, which was an hour and 15 min before we got to open our envelopes.  I was so nervous that I literally ate only 3 grapes and 2 orange slices!  I was running around talking to everyone, wishing them luck, etc.  The one day that I chose to actually be early to an event and it was driving me crazy.  About five min before it was time to open the envelopes my Dean took the stage to share some stats.  Apparently 78% of the class would be staying on the same coast – with 40% staying at hospitals affiliated with my home institution, and 24% at my home institution specifically.  As far as specialties go, 32% went into primary care, followed by 21% in surgery/surgical subspecialties, and 9% in radiology.  “All others” made up the remaining 38% (with 8% being Ob/Gyn).  Clearly I was distracting myself from the anticipation by taking notes!

Then the clock strikes and my Dean has all of our family and friends go outside to the terrace.  I had no idea what was going on.  I thought they were going to make us open the envelopes in solitude or something crazy!  Then we are told to go outside.  All of our envelopes are taped to the window in alphabetical order.  I find my envelope and grab my boyfriend.  We walk all the way to the back corner of the terrace.  I really only wanted he and I to be a part of this moment.  I flip my envelope over to open it and there’s a photographer standing right there!  So much for privacy.  I tear into the envelope (and the letter) and unfold it frantically.  There it was… the name of my #1 PROGRAM!!!  I started jumping, and laughing, and smiling.  I hugged and kissed my boyfriend so many times.  He did such a great job of capturing it all with my camera.  I was in total disbelief at what I was reading.  I must’ve read #1 program’s name over and over and over.  I actually took a picture of it to be sure!

Next I proceed to call my parents who were both excited.  I also called my best friend who got her #1 program as well!!  I spent the next hour running around to all of my classmates to see where they were going.  It was such an intense experience.  There were tears of joy and tears of disappointment filling the room.  There were hugs and kisses, screams and laughs.  Such an intense amount of emotion it was a bit overwhelming.  The hardest part was seeing the faces of the classmates that I knew didn’t get their first choice.  I suppose that’s the downside of the 3 week waiting period.  By the end, people were alot more open to sharing where they were going to end up.  So when I asked where they ended up, we both would know that they didn’t get their number 1.  Even more shocking was a classmate that was a stellar student, had stellar interviews, great personality, and got their 4th choice.  This classmate was just in shock… it’s still an amazing program, but since we’ve talked about it extensively, I knew how heartbreaking it was.  In the end though… at least we matched!

I spent the rest of the day eating and drinking.  First with my boyfriend.  Then with a few of my close classmates.  Then with my best friend and her classmates at a neighboring school.  The night concluded with me putting the final touches on my poster and heading off to the club and dancing the night away.  I suppose my school was smart for making us have to be at school the next morning for poster presentation set-up at 8am!  I definitely drank less and came home earlier because of that obligation.  That won’t stop me from partying tonight!

My last point, for those readers that have not yet applied, I will update my “Numbers” posts under the USMLE Books & Advice page if it may help to give you insight.  If I could match my #1, so can you!!

4 Words March 16, 2009

“Congratulations! You have matched.“

I was so happy to see those four words when I opened my “Did I Match” email from the NRMP this morning!!  I mean honestly, I think that I was a bit more terrified of having to scramble on Tuesday than finding out where.  I couldn’t sleep well last night and was checking my blackberry incessantly for that email.

Once the NRMP sent out the email they also posted the regional data by specialty.  For Ob/Gyn there were only 6 spots unfilled accross the nation out of 1185 total available!  Last year there were 12 unfilled spots, and 6 the year prior.  I am so thankful that I was ranked high enough by at least one program to match successfully.  I can only imagine how competitive and stressful it must be to go through the scramble. 

Anyways, I definitely can’t wait til Thursday to find out where.  It’s going to be a turning point for me in so many ways.  So much of what type of Ob/Gyn I will be will depend on where I end up for residency.  In addition, this may be a change in location for not only myself, but my boyfriend.  I may end up right back in my home town and regain that local family support… or completely accross the country.  So many changes are right around the corner.  I’ll keep you posted.

One last thing: I’m on my Ob Ultrasound rotation and the program director from one of the programs at which I interviewed was in the clinic today.  The PD directly asked me what my rank list was.  I suppose after I paused the PD knew I thought it was an odd question for them to ask.  Then the PD proceeded to say, “well it doesn’t matter since the lists are in and you know you matched.”  I ended up revealing my #1, which wasn’t this program.  Although the PD looked a little disappointed, the PD revealed that I would definitely fit in at that program and thought that I should have no problem getting my #1 since I was a strong applicant.  I really hope the PD was right..only 3 days until I have an update!

Match Week March 15, 2009

I can’t believe it… tomorrow I find out IF I matched into a categorical Ob/Gyn residency spot.  Surprisingly, these last 2.5 weeks since submitting the rank list have gone by quickly.  I did have my one match nightmare, but outside of that, it hasn’t been too bad.  Mostly, I’ve distracted myself with other things like working on my class yearbook, and preparing for my poster presentation.

The closer I get to match day, more and more people ask me where I want to end up.  I kind of hate that question because I haven’t figure out the best way to answer it.  My newest attending asked me directly, “What’s your #1?  Okay, what about your #2 and your #3?”  It’s pretty personal what exact order I put my rank list in.  Since there is always a possibility that I may not get my #1, I’ve been a bit hestitant about how I should answer this question.  I tried doing the regional answer: well my top 2 are in this area of the country, my next 2 are in this area.  Then I’ve tried saying well these 5 programs are my top 5 in no particular order, and I’d be happy at any of them.  Then of course, there’s been a handful of people that I directly told them was my number 1.  I have no intention of fabricating that I got my #1 if I didn’t, however, I don’t want everyone to know that I got my #8 school because I publicly posted my list!

Anyhow, the last few days have been full of ups and downs with a car crash and a birthday celebration.  I just hope that Monday and Thursday get added to the list of “ups.”  My class has planned a bunch of activities this week to celebrate matching.  I plan on being at them all and hopefully I’ll get to celebrate matching in one of my top 3!

MedObsession on Twitter March 7, 2009

During the election I was pretty hooked to CNN for the political commentary.  The broadcasters used to always talk about Twitter.  They would post questions and then read the comments live on air.  I had forgotten about it until recently.  My intern has a crackberry like me and was on “TwitterBerry” one day.  He instructed me on the ins and outs of Twitter.  Basically, it’s like constant facebook status updates.  People can become “followers” of your page to stay up to date with your posts.  You can also reply to other posters’ updates as well.

My first reaction was that this seems way too invasive!  I heard that there was a celebrity “twittering” during the delivery of her baby.  So I immediately deactivated my personal twitter.  I decided that only my close friends and family need to know what I’m doing moment-to-moment, and they can get all the updates they need by calling and texting me.

However, I thought about my readers.  My blog has had increasing numbers of readers, with 4800 views alone last month!  I know that my time during Ob/Gyn residency will be limited, and thought this could be a good way to still stay in touch with my readers.  I created a Twitter page for my blog: http://twitter.com/MedObsession, this link is also post on my blog roll.  I’ve also subscribed to my own RSS Feed and displayed it in the right-hand panel under “twitter updates.”  For those of you that don’t have twitter you can read the updates on my own blog.  For those that do, you can click on each of the status updates and it’ll take you to the page to favorite it or to reply!

We’ll see how long I keep this up…

My Match Nightmare March 3, 2009

Well, despite the fact that I thought I was pretty calm about the Match ever since I submitted my rank list, last night I had a nightmare.  Well I suppose it was just a dream that didn’t quite go how I would’ve liked, but the term nightmare will remain.  Basically, I woke up on Match Day and went to the ceremony.  I was somehow the only one there and had to open my envelope with the Dean.  I matched at my #2 spot… Okay, okay, not so bad of a nightmare yet.  I guess it’s better than scrambling, but then I was fast-forwarded to my first month as an intern.  Even though it was my #2, it was nothing like I remembered.  I didn’t know any of the residents or faculty.  Nobody wanted to know me either, I just had to work, work, work!

I hope this doesn’t mean that subconsiously I regret putting this program #2!  I guess it reflects my bigger fear.  I hope that my instincts were correct about these places from my interview day, and follow up interaction with residents.  I would hate to match somewhere and feel that I had been tricked:  Instead of approachable attendings, I’ll be forced to only communicate through my 2nd year resident and on up the hierarchy.  Or instead of being compliant with the 80-hour work week, I’ll be expected to pull 100-hour weeks.   For all I know, I could be retracting in the OR for the first 3 years of residency without the opportunity to really operate until my chief year.

It’s one of those things where I just hope that it all works out and my intuition was correct about these people.  On top of that, I really hope that I am one of those lucky 55% or so of US Seniors that get their #1 choice.  Of course I would be happy to match anywhere on my list.  But, I finally chose my #1 because I really did think it was the perfect fit for me career-wise, personality-wise, and for my personal-life.  I really don’t want to have to settle for anything less.  Anyways, 2 weeks from this past Monday will be the day that I find out if I match, and in 2 weeks from this Thursday will be the day that I find out where I match.  This is such a long countdown!

Rank List: Done! February 25, 2009

Now… I must wait.  Today rank lists were due to the NRMP by 9PM EST.  I actually submitted my list initially at the end of January and then changed it two times since then.  The last changes that I made before today, were 2 weeks ago.  Amazingly, I felt really calm until I woke up this morning.  It hit me that today was the last day to make any changes.  Come 9PM EST, my fate would be sealed.

So many questions were racing through my head: What if I get my #1 and I am miserable?  I have nobody to blame but myself.  Did I put them in the right order.  What if I get my #8?  Do I really want to go there more than #9?  Should I really keep #13 and 14 on the list?  Would I really rather go there than not match?

Finally after writing my rank list out on scraps of papers all day, and reviewing the pros and cons of each individual rank relative to the next, I did nothing.  I decided that no changes were necessary.  I made and completed my extensive spreadsheet when I was in the right mindset.  The list was based on my impressions before all of the PD phone calls, resident emails, and other tactics that could sway me.  The few minor changes I made were in consideration of my boyfriend, which I believe is necessary so that we can remain a couple as I start residency.  Basically, I realized that any decisions I made in the final hours today would be impulsive.  While impulse decisions can be great in some situations, I wanted this decision to be as logical as possible.

So sometime during the afternoon, I got an email from my school indicating that I definitely had a certified rank list.  Although I logged in and saw that it was certified, printed the certification page, and printed the email… getting that email from the school was a nice 3rd party verification.

Now… I must wait.  It still baffles me that I have to wait 3 weeks, considering the algorithm supposedly runs within minutes.  But hey, at least I know that it is out of my hands.  Nobody can play anymore mind games with phone calls and emails.  Nobody has the upper hand.  Even the programs must wait.  I will definitly be praying that I will have a happy post on March 16, which is the day that I find out if I match or not.  Secondly, I hope that I will have an ecstatic post on March 19, which is Match Day and I know exactly where I am going.  Until then, I’m so happy to have my rank list done!

The Cost of Applying to Residency February 15, 2009

Before I started applying to residency, I had asked a few 4th year students how much they spent.  I heard varying numbers, but didn’t really know where all of the cost was coming from.  I figured I would post a break down of how I spent my money during application season for those applying next year.  I have to add that I applied accross the nation, 15 interviews total, hence the large number of plane flights.  However, I have a pretty big family, so I was able to skip getting hotel rooms in most cities, which saved me money as well.  I would definitely get a frequent flier number if you plan to go with one particular airline; I got enough miles for a free flight!

Application Fees

$290 – ERAS fee for 30 programs in 1 specialty ($60 for 10 programs, $8 each for 11-20, $15 each for 21-30)

$60 – USMLE transcript fee

$40 – NRMP registration fee

Transportation

$2069 – 10 plane flights (it pays to cluster interviews regionally if you can)

$141 – rental car for 2 days (in a city where I had 2 interviews and 2 socials to attend)

$78 – cab/airport shuttle fares (share cabs where you can, or book round trip shuttles to save)

$34 – parking fees for the 2 programs that didn’t reimburse (UCSF and UCLA)

Hotels

$266 – 3 hotel nights (roommates and Inns cut costs)

Grand Total

$2978

I was pretty happy to have spent less than $3000, considering I heard some people spend as much as $6000 on applying.  This number may be a little higher when you include food costs.  However, to be perfectly honest, all of the programs that I went to (except for 2), had a social the night before with free dinner, along with providing breakfast and lunch on the interview day.  I really only had to spend money on dinner the way home after an interview, and sometimes if the flight was planned correctly I would be home in time to cook my own meals!  Overall, I feel that the money was well spent as I was able to see a variety of different programs.  I’m very happy with the number of programs that I was able to see, and feel that I will have enough great programs to rank that I should match and have a great career ahead of me!

For those applying this year, feel free to post how much you spent (for how many interviews) for the sake of future readers!

They Really Do Call, Part 2 February 13, 2009

Thanks to everyone that voted in my poll in my first post: They Really Do Call! After seeing the majority of people thought a return phone call was in order, I decided to call back the PD. Initially, the call went to voicemail and I decided not to leave one. I called about 15 minutes later and the secretary informed me that the PD was on L&D and she would page the PD with my info. I left my phone number, realizing that we had just started a game of phone tag! After about 4 hours passed, I realized that the PD was probably not going to call back.  I can’t really blame the PD; I missed the call when they were  actually in recruitment mode and willing to talk.  I decided to proceed with the second most popular vote, to email the PD with the “ranking you highly” email.

Literally 4 minutes later I got a brief email back:
Thanks so much for getting back with me.  As I said, we think you are a fabulous candidate and would love to see you here with us.   Please let me know if you have any questions.

I’m actually pretty happy that I just went forward with the email. I didn’t have to have any awkward conversation, and I got a prompt reply without any pressure to reveal my exact ranking of their program.

But, speaking of awkward conversation. I look down at my phone and see a number from a familiar area code.  I recently got a new phone, and thought that perhaps it was an old friend whose number I hadn’t saved. Nope! This time it was a soon-to-be chief resident from one of the programs on my list.  I was totally caught of guard.  Luckily I happened to be sitting right next to my “residency binder” that has all of the notes that I took from each program.  I quickly thumbed to the sheet of notes I had for this program and managed to come up with enough questions to entertain a 10 minute conversation.  This call ended with the customary, “We hope to see you in July” comment.

Now I know, no answering phone calls until rank lists are due!  This is such a game these days…

They Really Do Call February 10, 2009

For the last 2 days I have had phone calls from “Unknown Number.”  I haven’t picked up because I’m a bit under the weather and have only been answering phone calls from my mom and boyfriend.  Anyhow, the first time there was no voicemail, but the 2nd time there was!  Turns out it was the Program Director from one of the programs that I interviewed at.  This program is definitely one of the top programs in the nation, so I really didn’t anticipate that they would be calling me!

I listened to the voicemail several times so that I could put it all into words:

Hi Med Obsession. This is Dr. X from Program A.  I just wanted to call to say, “Hi.”  Also, I wanted to make sure that your process is going great with this crazy thing called the Match.  We thought that you were a great candidate and would be a great fit at Program A.  Feel free to call me if you want to talk or have questions. Or, you can certainly pop me an email.  Good luck.

I’m very honored that this PD called me!  However, while this program is in my Top 5, I don’t know if they will be my #1.  So my question to you: