Medical School Class of 2009 -- Congratulations!!!

A little background. Medical school is four years. Four years of a combination of classrooms and practicals, exams and hospital and specialty rotations. A little after your 3rd year, you hope you have selected the areas of medicine that interest you (and de-selected those that you have no interest whatsoever in doing for the rest of your adult life.)

At this point, you begin researching and searching to do elective rotations and interviews at hospitals and in cities where you wish to work and live, respectively. Then you go meet the doctors and, in a single interview, you attempt to impress these jaded old souls that you are, in fact, the best candidate they have ever met and that they would be foolhardy and silly to select any one of the other 100 or so medical students vying for the slots that program in your specialty has open.

After you have concluded your interviews, you rank the places you wish for -- in order -- 1-5 (or fewer than five if you are supremely confident that you are that good...) Then those programs list their choices in order 1-5 -- both the medical school 4th years and the hospitals each hoping to MATCH somewhere on the two lists.

Then the third week of March every year, each of the medical schools has their "Match Day" ceremony. Some do dinners, some assemblies... On match day, the students know ONLY that they have matched somewhere* -- but (for the most past) they have no details. Then they are handed an envelope from the designated medical school official and their future (at least the next 3-4 years) is revealed.

For 4th year medical students and for their families and loved ones, it is a nervewracking time!!!

So the medical student daughter MATCHED HER NO. 1 CHOICE !!! So WHHHOOOOHHHOOOO punch the sky, jump for joy, and shriek in happiness (very soon-to-be) DR. L!! Dermatology in Virginia!!!

And our nephew matched his first choice as well!! So WHHHOOOOHHHOOOO punch the sky, jump for joy, and shriek in happiness (very soon-to-be) DR. M!! (His father graduated from the same school and will have the very emotional honor of "hooding" his son at graduation... it makes my eyes well up just thinking about it!)

And while the daughter's school didn't release the video, HERE is the video of our nephew's Match Day readings (fast forward through the talking heads for the first 10 minutes.) My nephew is in the next 6 minutes... (for privacy, I'll not say which one he is)... it is an interesting hour. Some are totally surprised... some are clearly disappointed... many are just non-committal. I was so proud of the military members (you will know by the military facilities with which they matched!)

But a great day of celebration (and relief!) was had in many households across America!!

So congratulations to all the very soon to be doctors of America!!

_______________

* While most students do match at least one of their choices, some don't... but some hospitals don't match with their choices either and those unmatched people/programs get a last chance just days before the Match Day to see if they can "match" somewhere.