2011 update: See post #80. The short story is that I'll be coming back to Seattle in 2013.
i figure i'm allowed to be an attention whore this week. here's why:
this week is a HUGE week for senior medical students in the U.S. (in their 4th year of medical school, having already completed a bachelor's degree prior to having begun med school). this is the week when we find out where we'll be doing residency, and each day has its own special significance.
Cliffs Notes/short version: i find out today whether i have matched with a program. assuming i did match, then i find out on thursday which program i'll be doing my residency at. for my specialty, diagnostic radiology, that's the next five years of my life.
here's an expanded timeline of the residency application process:
i figure i'm allowed to be an attention whore this week. here's why:
this week is a HUGE week for senior medical students in the U.S. (in their 4th year of medical school, having already completed a bachelor's degree prior to having begun med school). this is the week when we find out where we'll be doing residency, and each day has its own special significance.
Cliffs Notes/short version: i find out today whether i have matched with a program. assuming i did match, then i find out on thursday which program i'll be doing my residency at. for my specialty, diagnostic radiology, that's the next five years of my life.
here's an expanded timeline of the residency application process:
-toshi, 4th year med student at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, WAlate summer and autumn 2007 (near the start of the 4th year): programs researched, applications sent out, letters of recommendation obtained
november 2007-january 2008: interviews. it is not uncommon to interview at a dozen places in as many cities. this gets really expensive.
january 2008-february 27, 2008: applicants (students) figure out which programs of the ones at which they interviewed they'd like to go to, and submit a list in order of preference to a private website.
january 2008-february 27, 2008: residency programs figure out which students of the ones they interviewed they'd like to have as residents, and submit a list in order of preference to a private website.
(neither side is allowed to solicit information from the other on what these lists might contain -- it's a secret.)
february 27, 2008-march 16, 2008: computers at the National Residency Match Program churn away at these lists. the short version of their algorithm is that applicants will match at the program highest on the applicant's list provided that the program had the applicant on the program's list and there aren't any applicants that were higher on the program's list that are unmatched/do not have a program. the long version is explained here: http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/about_res/algorithms.html
and, finally, we come to today:
today, monday march 17: at 12 noon eastern we receive an email that says whether we "matched" or not. we don't find out where we'll be, just whether we have a program lined up. in my case, doing Diagnostic Radiology, i have to programs to match to: an internship (post-grad year 1) and radiology residency (post-grad years 2-5). i will find out today whether i matched to one, the other, both, or neither.
if an applicant did not match to a program then they Scramble.
tomorrow, tuesday march 18 is Scramble Day. starting at noon eastern a list of residency programs with unfilled positions is made available to the applicants that do not have a program to call home. frantic emailing and phone calling ensues, and decisions are made over the phone after the briefest of brief interviews.
finally, thursday march 20 is Match Day. at noon eastern school administrators across the country hand their senior med students an envelope. inside this envelope is the program that we're legally bound to (by matching we're in a binding contract to perform at least one year's worth of residency for the program).
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