Parcho, MD

It’s official.

The computer gods have smiled upon me and I’ve “matched”.

Somewhere.

I just don’t know where yet.

Match Day Week is broken into three key parts. Part I was today–the “check your email and see if you matched but not where you matched day”. If you did not “Match”–you “Scramble”.

Makes sense, no?

Er…maybe not.

Okay, here is how it works. Last fall thousands of students applied to residency programs. Those residency programs then offered interviews to applicants based on whatever it is residency programs think is appropriate. Applicants then interview over the winter.

After interviews, the applicants create a “rank-order list”–an ordered list of the programs at which the applicant wants to do a residency. The residency programs do the same–ranking students according to whatever it is residency programs think is appropriate.

What comes next is key. The rank lists are entered into the mother-of-all-computer-programs. A priest and a rabbi both bless the program, and a buddhist monk does a chant to ensure peace and tranquility to all those involved. I’m pretty sure the program beat HAL-9000 in a game of chess once.

Or something like that.

The computer spits out a “Match list”–the list of which programs will get which students. Today is the day that students around the country found out if they were indeed matched with a residency program. Those that were not matched–it’s not the end of the road…yet. (More on “the Match” from Wikipedia).

Which brings us to Part II of Match Day Week. The “Scramble” occurs tomorrow–the next stop for those unmatched applicants. I’ll give a bit of insight into that process later this week.

For now, I’ll sit back and relax–knowing that I do, in fact, have a job.

Outstanding.