<p>**Congratulations, UMDAD, to your daughter and to your family!</p>
<p>Congratulations to STBDBF, your daughter, and your family, churchmusicmom!</p>
<p>And snowball… Congratulations to your son and your family! Wow, what a story!**</p>
<p>I just received a text from D about her dear friend. “He matched! We are on our way to see him now!” I will be anxiously waiting to hear on Friday. While we would love him to match at his #1, his #2 is in the city our S goes to college and his #3 is our city.</p>
<p>Thanks! Definitely in at one program he feels good about, interviewing at another this week and waiting to hear from another. Plus he has a nice spot in a regular MD program should he suddenly get cold feet about the MD/Ph.D. I have to say that I now think that med school apps make college apps pale in comparison, and now it seems that Match Day, makes Med School apps pale in comparison.</p>
<p>It does seem that way! One of my D’s dear friends and suite-mates in undergrad was applying to med school their last year together, so she got an idea of the intensity of that process then. I am amazed at this process of applying for and interviewing for and then ranking programs for residency. It’s pretty intense. And, if one wants to specialize further, they do it all again (sort of) in applying for fellowships!! And the financial burden incurred is immense…i just need to be nicer to all my doctors, that’s all!</p>
<p>:) </p>
<p>Best to everyone! Thanks for the “good vibes”, Jaylynn!</p>
<p>This somewhat takes me back to when D was in 12th grade and she received her 1st college acceptance letter from a school with rolling admissions. She then said “Well, at least I know I’m going to college.”</p>
<p>Now, at least she knows she has a residency in the practice area of her choice.</p>
<p>My roomies in med school and I of course typed all of our residency applications on paper and we had one typewriter. So we had to practically reserve time in our little apartment to type them out (and curse when we made typos (and our Match List was done by sitting at a desk in front of this lone, big computer monitor that would look hilarious today). Between the three of us we applied to thirty-five programs. That’s a lot of typewriter time! It was stressful, yes. But also very exciting, I thought.</p>
<p>It IS very exciting, Jaylynn! My D has often said she wishes she was in a position to just move with her STBDBF because this would be so much fun…she loves the idea of moving to a new city and making new friends and new connections. He does NOT love that idea, however, and of course wants to be near her as well. That is the source of stress for them both right now I believe. Plus I imagine it will sting to not be matched to his present program just because they all know him so well. He is pretty realistic about it all though and realizes it’s a long shot. It’s a prestigious program with only a very few spots reserved in any given year for students of the program and there are some women who also want to stay there. </p>
<p>And it is so funny to look back on the days before personal computers and word processors and the internet!! I remember having to type my Master’s thesis on a typewriter…or rather, have someone else do it because I did not know how to type at the time. Formatting for footnotes and references…ugh!!!</p>
<p>Oh goodness. Carbon paper! Wonder how THAT particular industry is doing??</p>
<p>I have been reading posts on Student Doctor Network about the match…and, oh my, I feel so bad for anyone who did not match and is going through SOAP. I know that process is supposed to be an improvement, but at least according to one person, there are just not many spots left unfilled and there are lots of SOAPers out there just hearing crickets. Also, apparently, the NRMP computers were down for a time on Monday! Ugh.</p>
<p>Keep reminding myself that even if D’s STBDBF does not get his #1 spot, at least he’s not having to go through that! And I hope HE is able to maintain that attitude. He’s quite a people person and has cultivated many good relationships with people where he is (staff and students alike). I think it will just sting a lot if he does not match there…</p>
<p>Now, as my daddy used to say, just two more “get ups” and we know!</p>
<p>Part of the problem is too many students, not enough slots to go around. That’s what we hear here - so those that don’t match have to see where random slots are available and then go after them.</p>
<p>Good luck to all the folks in the trenches!!</p>
<p>Sheesh. I hate all of this. Really. Hate it. The idea that someone gets shut out of their desired career path after med school just pains me. I find it hard to focus on the “big picture”. Just keep identifying with the individual student. </p>
<p>(But, my kid can’t even make a “final” choice stick for more than a month so I am really glad she has stuffed in a research year next year.)</p>
<p>I am with you, Curmudgeon! I am so new to this, and my natural reaction is to read up as much as I can on anything new. And the stories of not matching, not knowing what will happen, etc, just break my heart. I cannot imagine anticipating this for 4+ years…</p>
<p>My D considered going into pre-med for a time in undergrad, and I remember taking a deep breath and thinking—okay, I know you CAN do anything you put your mind to. But I really hope you don’t choose to follow that path (I knew a little about how grueling it could be…but not as much as I thought I did, as it turns out!). </p>
<p>Now, it seems, she is going down that road any way—more as a passenger, as it were, but still…</p>
<p>My admiration for all that pursue medicine grows daily.</p>
<p>W talked to D last night. She and her friends are really just killing time until noon tomorrow.</p>
<p>I have been reading the SOAP threads on studentdoctor.net and they are just killing me. I just keep thinking of Bluto Blutarsky in Animal House saying “Seven years of college down the drain.” Four years of undergrad and four years of med school down the drain. Not really, but I sure hope there are alternatives available.</p>
<p>Ach! I have been reading those threads as well, UMDAD. How utterly awful for them! Hopefully things will begin easing up and they will all end up in good places.</p>
<p>I did ask D if all their friends matched and they did. Not sure about the entire class…</p>
<p>As the mother of one that went through SOAP last year I can tell you it is stressful. But, if the student isn’t picky, they should be able to find something, at least for the year. Many surgery programs leave Prelim openings, just to have extra hands for scut work! For my son, his chosen specialty only had a couple of slots opened; he applied for one, had a phone interview with the department head, and was told he would be a great match for the program. The next morning he found out he didn’t get the spot, so on to the next round of SOAP. While an internship year in General Surgery wasn’t what he wanted to do, he knew he needed a job, so he took it. He did not want to shift to a different specialty, so the surgery year was the best fit for him. He has a job, was able to defer his student loans and is still learning. </p>
<p>The down side was having to go through the match again this year. One thing we didn’t know, according to my son and some others he knows that didn’t match last year and doing it again this year, when you take a Prelim year not in your chosen field, you are treated like a step child in the next interview cycle. My son has heard from many that they didn’t receive the number of interviews this cycle as they had the cycle last year. Schools that interviewed this doctors last year, didn’t offer them interviews this year. I would have though that because that had an internship year under their belt, that they would be more qualified this year; especially when they had recs coming from the head of the department they were working in. That did not seem to be the case for most. </p>
<p>My son is at a big university hospital and his program director from the start made sure my son was in contact with the head of the department in his chosen field. The mentoring he received in this one year was far superior than what he received in med school. While not matching added a year to his training, in years down the road, this will just be a small blip. He is still a doctor and will still be practicing medicine in the field he wanted!!</p>