Destination: Phoenix, Arizona!!

I found out where I matched for residency today and it's Phoenix, Arizona! Coll and I were both so thrilled, I have hated winter for the past several years and won't be one snitch upset about trading this winter:


for this one:



Match Day
Let me explain quickly what Match Day is and how it all works. As a 4th year medical student, you decide what field you want to specialize in (Pediatrics, Medicine, Plastic Surgery, Anesthesiology, etc.) then apply for residency programs in those fields. You can apply to whichever programs you want and for most specialties there is one application through the NRMP that you can submit via internet to all the programs you are interested in. Once your application is complete, programs will begin to invite you and you set up interview dates. I had 9 strewn about the country and did a few in November, local ones in December, and the rest in January. Once you are done interviewing you have to rank the programs you would be willing to go to in order of preference. The programs also sit down and rank everyone who interviewed with them in order of preference. After the rank lists are due, a computer uses an algorithm to match all of the medical students with the programs.

On Monday of this week I found out that I matched somewhere. I didn't know where but it was one of the 8 programs I'd ranked. If you find out that you didn't match on Monday, you then have to "scramble" on Tuesday which means you re-apply to any programs that have an opening and try to make a match. Today we had our Match Day ceremony which is different at every school. How we do it here is everyone from our class and significant others/family gather in an auditorium and our names are read one by one in random order to get the envelope which contains the paper saying where we matched. It was a bit chaotic with 200 people in the class - they call them off continuously until everyone has one! It was fun, though, people cheering and clapping - we are almost done! There were a lot of happy tears and some sad, but all in all it was quite the experience.


Collier and I are so excited to move to Phoenix! We came home after the after-party and Coll immediately started looking at houses via the MLS listings. It looks like the real estate market in Phoenix may have tanked a bit more than other places which is terrible for the economy of the city...but good for us right now. We can't wait to own our own home with a fenced yard to let Kermit out instead of leash him to go to the bathroom! After seeing the above photo I also realized that a little sun might do me some good, too :)