Third Choice Match by Crystal Fowler
For us, the match was fairly eventful. Matt was doing Anesthesia, and had decided to do his internship in Internal Medicine. We had to compose a Rank Order List (ROL) for Anesthesia, and then a ROL for the internships for each anesthesia residency. His ROL went like this #1 Dartmouth , #2 Utah , #3 U of WA, #4 Colorado (he had gone to med school at Colorado, and wanted to spread his wings and venture out- he would have been a shoe-in if he ranked them #1).
At CU, a Match Day lunch was arranged for the med students. Each student had to pay for an envelope containing their match information- it cost $1. The students couldn’t open their envelope until the time was announced.
When the time came to open the “envelopes,” the envelopes didn’t contain their Matches but a QUESTION. You had to answer it and then find the faculty member with the corresponding letter on their head to get your match letter- you had to make sure you answered the question right or you didn’t get your letter. I remember Matt’s question- “What is the capital of Greece?” (Answer Athens.)
Matt though his match letter was in his hand the entire time, only to be let down that he had to jump through hoops to get it. His comment was “I should have known! I had to jump through hoops for 4 years, what made me think this moment would be any different?!”
We ended up with his third choice. Matt was pretty shocked that it turned out that way. I remember I opened the letter to look at it first, and my jaw dropped. Matt grabbed it and looked at it and then said “Colorado for Internship-(surprise, surprise). ~Washington for Anesthesia??!!”
He wasn’t too happy that he got into Washington, because he really wanted to go to Dartmouth. That is where his uncle had done his anesthesia residency, and where he felt certain that he too would get in. It would have been a really laid back residency.
Now that we are here, Matt sees that Washington is a great and challenging program for him. He has gotten to do a lot and see a lot, something he knows he would not have gotten at Dartmouth. At least in with us in Seattle, we have family friends that live an hour south of us. It is only a 2 hr plane ride that costs $150-$200 for Matt’s parents or mine compared to a 6-7 hr plane that would have been $500.
