Match day memories

[spotty_dog]

I'm putting this in Grand Rounds so feel free not to add too much detail if you don't want, but what feelings does this day evoke for you?

It was an insanely emotional ride for us. I was a few weeks pregnant and hadn't even told my family yet. So I was learning where my first child would be born, and whether I would be close enough to family to let my baby get to know them in its first years. We got unexpected results, so we had to take a few minutes to process that, and then start calling family, figuring out how to share all the news at once. It seemed like everyone we knew got exactly the result they expected, so we felt really alone and skipped all the after-Match festivities. But by the next day we were ready to face our new adventure.

The "PTSD" tension is less each year, as I look around at our beautiful family and idyllic life and wonder what I was so worried about. But I'm not sure it will ever be gone for good...

[medpedspouse]

I'm putting this in Grand Rounds so feel free not to add too much detail if you don't want, but what feelings does this day evoke for you?

It was an insanely emotional ride for us. I was a few weeks pregnant and hadn't even told my family yet. So I was learning where my first child would be born, and whether I would be close enough to family to let my baby get to know them in its first years. We got unexpected results, so we had to take a few minutes to process that, and then start calling family, figuring out how to share all the news at once. It seemed like everyone we knew got exactly the result they expected, so we felt really alone and skipped all the after-Match festivities. But by the next day we were ready to face our new adventure.

The "PTSD" tension is less each year, as I look around at our beautiful family and idyllic life and wonder what I was so worried about. But I'm not sure it will ever be gone for good...

Ha! As I shared in another thread, I still get teary eyed each year on this day...and we got our #1! Still, it brings back the anxious feelings. I needed one more year to complete the coursework for my doctorate. Moving away would have not only been horrendous for my career but would have not allowed me to continue with my school work...remember, this was back in the dark ages when you sat your butt in a class. I remember calling our families and the third call being to my coworkers. They, too, were anxiously waiting to learn if I could stay.

It was such a rollercoaster of emotions.

[Thirteen]

I remember approx. a month of sulking. He was very disheartened. It was then that I made my tin foil hat.

But seriously, we're fine. We know what we like, and what we don't like. We do what we want and live where we want. Onward!


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[alotofyarn]

I was on fertility meds, and we were pretty surprised. I cried. Then we eventually adjusted, and now we're so happy to be there and close to my parents.

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[poky]

Ugh. We were all set and looking forward to to moving and starting a new adventure; had only ranked one local program, and it was ranked fifth, I was all set to start working remotely.
Then, we opened the envelope, and...local program!
Some tears were shed, just from the sheer let-down of it.
I texted my manager, she was THRILLED I was staying in town.
The dean of the med school gave us big hugs and told us how lucky the program was to have DH, and how glad she was we were sticking around.
It was a bit of a bummer, at first, but:
- the program is one of the best; he got amazing training, and probably could have gotten a job anywhere he wanted to.
- we had the BEST friends there, and staying 8 years instead of 5 just cemented those amazing friendships.
- we did end up moving, just a couple miles, to a slightly nicer rental house (slightly bigger, updated kitchen), so the searching kinda took our mind off NOT house-searching in a new town. It was nice to already know the neighborhoods, and to have months to search without having to travel to see places in person.
So, in hindsight, it was not bad at all, just...a let-down right at first.

[scarlett09]

Still remember being anxious and excited. And trying to look through the opaque envelope to see the results before 12pm. The roar, the energy that went through the room at 12pm as everyone opened their envelopes. DH opening his envelope and crying as he looked at me and said he got his #1. Me crying, MIL crying. Calling my parents and texting friends. Great celebratory lunch and lots of beer.

The #1 choice took us to the next state over where we lived for 3 years before moving back to our home state at the completion of residency. DH received great training and got a very good job right out of residency. We got married during residency and I finished grad school without having to transfer. We made a great group of friends and we really liked it there.


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[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Ours was...weird.

DH is an early match specialty. I had delivered our first child 2 days earlier and was having major complications. I was actually getting some testing done in the hospital when he got the email which he didn't open until I returned. Since it's an early match, there isn't any fanfare, we just opened the email. He got his first choice and it's been 100% wonderful. I had a little onesie for his #1 choice so we immediately put it on DD and sent an email and posted to Facebook. And then, we went on with fretting about our newborn and WTH was going on with me.

We did get to watch DH's classmates match. There was a lot of crying (happy and sad) and some disappointment for some of our friends but honestly, it's really worked out for almost everyone. Our closest friends were pretty disappointed and 4 years later, they LOVED their training location and realize now it was a great fit for them.

[reciprocity]

ours went perfectly but it was all downhill from there!!!

one of J's former classmates matched in her program today and I can't bring myself to type "congratulations"

[Howfunitis]

We had an early match day and we were in different states!! He had me check his email and FaceTime him with the news if he had matched to the only program he had ranked. I cried at 5am and I called to give him the news!! Surreal and raw emotions!! Waited a couple of hours to tell family and friends and now we can't wait for this cross-country move!! We still have to pinch each other to see if it's real

[MrsK]

We didn't match. We had married just two weeks before Match Day and prior to that spent months agonizing, negotiating, arguing, and weeping over the rank list. I'd just become a partner in a BigLaw firm and was distraught when he suggested I work as a receptionist at a law firm during residency if we couldn't stay near my firm. We *had* to preserve my career. We were so methodical. First ranking local programs, then programs in cities where my firm had offices, then States where I could be admitted to the Bar on motion (there were 11 but this required researching the bar admission criteria in all 50 states), then States where I would have to sit for the Bar....We also ranked internship programs in the same order. I don't remember why but DrK wasn't near a computer when we got the results. I ended up checking for him from work and calling him with the bad news. It was devastating.

Then, we scrambled. Do they still scramble? He came to my office and we bolted the door. He sat across the desk from me and we looked up a list of programs that had unfilled spots. Then we started making phone calls. We were using multiple lines and our cel phones. Calling 4 programs at once and waiting on hold. The spots were filling fast. Every time I refreshed the computer screen, there were fewer spots. We called for hours. His medical school was not at all helpful. There were not any residency spots. I think it was about midnight when he finally scrambled into a general internship. Luckily, it was in a State where I could be admitted on motion (Plan F, internship in a state where I could be admitted on motion) but that was the start of a whole other saga. Ultimately, we landed 3 months off cycle and it took me 10 months to be admitted to the Bar in the internship state. Five days after I was sworn into the Bar, he was offered a residency spot in another state...a state we hadn't even considered in a city about which people made lame jokes...and we were afraid to turn it down because we'd been burned before so we jumped at it.

It was miserable. Just reading what I wrote above makes my stomach turn. But, funny thing is that now 2 years post training, it seems like such a distant memory. I had almost forgotten it all until I saw this thread.

[SoonerTexan]

They still scramble, but the process is now stretched out over a week and organized into mini matches. It's called SOAP now. I think it is supposed to level the playing field more.

We went to breakfast and drank huge mimosas! Then we waited in a big gym with all his classmates and waited until noon with the envelopes in our hands. We had the kids with us too. We tore open the envelope and I read it faster than DH and squealed when I saw we were staying! He was more focused on intern year--we got our first choice for Radiology but his fourth for intern year. I was like "whatever we're staying it's great" and he was worried about how much intern year would suck, but happy about radiology. (spoiler: he was right about intern year!)

Then we hung out at a park downtown with classmates and their kids. We started making plans about things to do yo our house since we were staying! Overall it was a really great day


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[ides]

We new we were leaving - I hated our medschool city- so we were excited and nervous. Dh had spent an extra year doing research so the class he was matching with wasn't the one he has spent three years with so we skipped the ceremony where each person was called down one name at a time to announce their result and went to our favorite cafe instead. We drank coffee and hung out until 11am then kept refreshing his email until the result popped up. We were thrilled- we were going back to nyc (where we lived before med school) and thought we had a non malagant program. We found out later we were in one of the most malagant programs but by then we were stuck. Anyway it was a good day.


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[TigerLily]

My biggest memory from match day was standing outside the room with my crying baby, and our Morning news anchor who I LOVED walking out and I said "HI RAY!" and he looked at me trying to figure out if he knew me, and I said "oh! Sorry, you don't know me, I'm just your #1 fan." and thinking wow....i can't believe I just said that. And then we became friends and now every match day I tell him Happy meeting Ray day!!!

[spotty_dog]

My biggest memory from match day was standing outside the room with my crying baby, and our Morning news anchor who I LOVED walking out and I said "HI RAY!" and he looked at me trying to figure out if he knew me, and I said "oh! Sorry, you don't know me, I'm just your #1 fan." and thinking wow....i can't believe I just said that. And then we became friends and now every match day I tell him Happy meeting Ray day!!!

Okay, that's a hilarious twist to Match Day! I don't remember if there was local news at our Match.

[MrsF]

I honestly cannot even begin to think about match day. I'm already stressing out big time about it and it's 1 year away for us. Reading your stories is making me panic. They're either great or not so great. DH is putting in his picks for his acting internships and thinking about some away rotations. Honestly thinking about all of this is making me nauseous


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