The Match, Part 1 - Introduction

This morning I received an important email from the National Resident Matching Program. It told me whether or not I was accepted to a residency program. The receipt of this email was one of the very last events in the long and arduous process of deciding my future. Or having my future decided for me.

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about (and don't worry, most people usually don't - i find it rare that anyone does), I will fill you in on what is quite possibly the single most complicated and stressful job application system in existance: The Match.

The Match is a system that is wholly unique to medicine. Unlike in most academic or professional settings, where you apply for a position, have it offered to you, and then decide whether or not to accept it, The Match is a complex game of odds and strategy that culminates in a nationalized computer program printing out a little slip of paper with your future on it. Here's how it works:

Step 1. You simpy pick a field of medicine that you would like to dedicate your life to. This is easier said than done. Unfortunately, it is the easiest part. My career choice was Emergency Medicine.

Step 2. You fill out a computerized application, that includes your transcript, your board scores, a list of everything you have ever done, comments about you from virtually every person that you ever worked with or passed in the hallway, and a personal statement in which you modestly express how you are the most awesome, intelligent, and compassionate human being who ever picked up a stethescope. Oh, and a photo. You send this application electronically to a whole bunch residency programs in your field.

Step 3. Some of the programs offer you interviews (hopefully), based on your initial application. You then decide which of these programs you would like to interview at. This decision is based on the merits of the program, their geographic location, the cost of airline tickets, and, if you are like me, how many friends you have in the area that you would like to visit.

Step 4. You travel around the country interviewing at different residency programs. This usually happens in the months of november through january, is incredibly difficult to coordinate, costs varyingly enormous sums of money, and is referred to as being on the "interview trail," or more simply, "The Trail." As in, "when I was on the Trail I met a bunch of students from this one place and they all said that this other place totally sucked." The interview trail is basically a huge roving national rumor mill, where whispers about the qualities of various residency programs (or about other students on the trail) are exchanged in passing. I have a feeling that other things (like STD's) are exchanged as well, but I did not get any first-hand experience to support this claim. My personal interview trail took me from Oregon to New York to Minnesota to Oregon to California back to Minnesota back to Oregon then to Arizona.

Step 5. Once you have interviewed at all of the programs you were destined to interview at, you decide where you want to go. Now, I know that sounds simple, as if it were merely the last step in the residency application process. In fact, if it were any field other than medicine, it would be. Game over, end of blog entry. But as it turns out, Step 5 is where things get really interesting. Its where the game begins. The game called "Making your ranklist." Its so fascinating in fact that it is deserving of its very own blog entry.