Match Day

Today, the fate of about 20,000 medical graduates will be decided in what could be best described as a complex interplay of luck and computing. I’m more concerned with the fate of some 8,000 foreign medical graduates (of which I am a subset of) – for we have it the hardest. The culmination of years of patience and practice finally dripping down to this state where your chances of being matched are directly related to:

1. The probability that the program remembers you through an interview you probably gave 3-4 months ago
2. The probability that the program actually ranks you on their list

I’m fighting for 63 positions for which, probably, about 600-700 people would have applied. I don’t know what will happen 2 hours from now when the results come out but I needed an outlet for my frustration/anxiety/panic attacks/you-name-any-emotion-here

Some questions that were tormenting my mind were:

1. Will I match?
2. Where will I match?
3. What visa will I get?
4. When should I start booking tickets for India? What should I be shopping for parents/friends/girl friend?
5. What if I don’t match? Another year stuck here?
6. If I don’t match, I’ve got a mid-term exam tomorrow – will have to push my mental balls for that one
7. If I match, do I need to finish off my current graduate studies?
8. If I don’t match, how will I finance my graduate studies for another year?

and the list goes on… I’ve spent the better part of the last 24 hours cerebrating about these and more, leading to what can be best described as – “stress related diarrhea” (Had to make the post funny). Actually, could not sleep till 4 AM last night just because I was too excited about the results.

I’ll be recording my reaction to the match result email and post it here in another 2-3 hours. Look out for it and wish me luck.

Tags: Medical