I cannot believe it.
My last day of hospital medicine was four days ago! I finished a two week rotation in the medical intensive care unit. I truly hope for that to be my last day of school ever!!
Four years of hard work.
Four years of studying to exhaustion.
Four years of learning how to care for patients.
Four years of pursuing an incredible life-fulfilling profession.
It has been a priceless journey alongside some of the most incredible and intelligent classmates. It has been a honor to learn from the most compassionate teachers. It has been a privilege to care for the people in my home state of West Virginia.
And now, this week is one I have been waiting for since I knew of my passion for medicine in high school. The MATCH is the standardized process of placing allopathic and osteopathic medicine seniors from all over the world into residency programs within the United States. It is an exciting and nerve-wracking experience for applicants whose future is decided by an intricate mathematical algorithm.
Senior medical students have been applying and interviewing to residency programs over the past 7 months. I submitted my applications in August and had my first interview in October. Most interviews were virtual this year with opportunities to meet faculty and residents through virtual "meet-and-greet" sessions. Some programs offered optional site visits following interview day to get a better look at the clinical sights. Applicants dressed to impress and answered countless questions about themselves in hopes to find and impress the perfect program to fit their future.
On March 1, every applicant had to rank and certify a list of programs they wish to attend. Couples hoping to match together collaborated on their lists. On the other side of things, every residency program had to rank and certify a list of applicants they wish to educate. The rankings have to "match" up to successfully place a student at an individual program. The algorithm favors the student's ranking to try to place them at their most favorable program.
Here is an awesome article and video with details about how the MATCH algorithm works! It is super helpful for those outside of medicine to understand this unique and intricate process of placing resident physicians at their current programs.
Today applicants were presented with their MATCH status via email - saying they had either matched or they were eligible to apply for open residency spots throughout the country because they did not match. Then, on March 17 at 12PM EST, applicants who successfully matched will each find out where they will be training as a resident physician!
The West Virginia University School of Medicine has a unique MATCH day - which just to happens to be Saint Patrick's Day this year! The school hosts a brunch at the Erickson Alumni Center in Morgantown, WV, with fourth year medical students and their guests. At noon, when the MATCH information becomes available to all applicants, one MD senior student's name will be drawn and announced. That student is welcomed on stage in front of the crowd to open a sealed envelope containing the name and location of the program they will be attending. They will then take a thumbtack and place it on a large map of the USA to represent their new placement. That student will then draw the name of the next student to come to the stage and receive their own envelope. Some students choose to accept their envelope and open it with their friends and family privately before announcing their placement at the end of the ceremony.
I am so excited to say that I received an email this morning to say that I have successfully matched!!! I cannot wait to find out where I land and the program in which I will make a future impact. I am anxious to know where my classmates will end up as well! I am so thankful we get to spend this week together.
For those of you who do not know, I have applied for a residency in Family Medicine. I have a passion for treating patients across a lifespan - from birth to end of life. I am also excited to implement my culinary and lifestyle medicine training into my future practice!
Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers this week! As exciting as the MATCH sounds, there is a possibility that applicants may not get their most favorable rank. And also a possibility that applicants may not match to a program at all. We truly hope that all of our four (+) years of hard work has paid off.
I am hopeful for the best for everyone.
We now just leave it up to the MATCH!
Good luck to all applicants this year!
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