And there was much rejoicing...

Lady M and I have been walking on air since finding out the Match results yesterday; I didn't anticipate how exciting all of this would be.

For those of you who like to read the notices in the paper the next day, the College of Medicine has the lowdown on this “strange mix of free will and predestination” featuring a shot of yours truly modeling the official Iowa Emergency Medicine Match Day jersey. Our very own Iowa City Press-Citizen also weighs in with an account of the proceedings. Finally, the UCSF-SFGH EM Residency Program has already posted pictures and bios of the inaugural intern class on their home page. (It's the first time that I've seen my name with those hard-earned initials after it -- even though it's still a few weeks premature).

Huge thanks to all of you for your support and good wishes this week and all along the trail. And keep watching this space -- there'll be a lot more news coming very soon....

Match results

I matched at the University of California, San Francisco!

Starting a new life

Tomorrow is the big day -- Match Day. In June of 1999 I sat down in a lecture hall for the first day of a freshman chemistry class. Since then I've spent nine years going to school (including several stretches when I had to drop out in order to earn money for more school). I gave up a whole other career, racked up enormous amounts of debt, endured endless hours of brain-busting studying, worked at various labs and institutes, competed with much younger and more energetic fellow students, moved halfway across the country to go to medical school, worked in hospitals and clinics around the state, experienced the sleep deprivation and occasional humiliations of being a medical student on the wards, shared intimate and dramatic life experiences with patients and colleagues, spent more time studying, traveled all over the country interviewing for residency positions, and learned what a trooper Lady M truly is. After all of this, tomorrow I find out where I'll do my residency. I'll still be a trainee but I'll finally be a doctor, and after all of this preparation I'll finally start to be the one responsible for my patients' care.

We start a new life in June and tomorrow we find out where it will take place.

Matched!

It's official -- I'm going to be an emergency medicine doctor. Today there was a meeting for all of the fourth-year students where we got our envelopes and I got the official news that I matched to a residency program. However, the small detail of where I will be a resident is a mystery that will have to wait until Thursday, when there will be another meeting and another envelope.

Rolling the dice

Today is a big day for folks who hope to start a residency this summer: it's the deadline to finalize the "Certified Rank Order List." Every applicant submits a list of desired residency programs in order from most to least desirable, and every program does the same with all of their candidates. Later tonight, in a secret Dobermann-guarded laboratory under a mountain somewhere, a computer will begin running, assigning applicants to programs. March 20 is Match Day, when we all find out where we'll be going.

I'd travel around the world for a residency

Turns out that this is almost literally true. In an idle moment I looked at how many miles I racked up going to residency interviews and came up with the following interesting statistics:

Circumference of the Earth: 24,900 miles
Total miles traveled for residency interviews: 23,089
Ratio of miles traveled to circumference of the Earth: 0.927

In other words, looking for a medical training position I traveled the equivalent of over 90% of the distance around the Earth at the equator. For the truly detail-obsessed, here's the breakdown by mode of transport:

Miles by air: 20,648
Miles by car: 2,052
Miles by rail: 389

And the total costs of all of this? I'm trying not to think about it.

Back on the blog

I'm back from my last trip of the residency interviewing season! No more canceled flights, waiting in airports, random-model rental cars, or worrying about arriving at my destination with a wrinkled suit.

Of course, after nearly a week in southern California and Texas (where I took another board exam, of which more later), I had to deal with the seventy-degree temperature drop of returning to my icy midwestern home. I try not to be that blogger, the one whose posts consist largely of quoting other folk's online musings, but I came across the following and it struck home. (And to my Minnesotan and Canadian readers: yes, I know you have it even worse.)

Cold Enough For Ya?

60 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in IOWA plant gardens.

50 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Iowa City sunbathe.

40 above zero:
Italian and English cars won't start.
People in IOWA drive with the windows down.

32 above zero:
Distilled water freezes.
The water in CEDAR RAPIDS gets thicker.

20 above zero:
Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in IOWA throw on a flannel shirt.

15 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in IOWA have the last cookout before it gets cold.

Zero:
People in Miami all die.
IOWANS close the windows.

10 below zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in IOWA get out their winter coats.

25 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in IOWA are selling cookies door to door.

40 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in IOWA let the dogs sleep indoors.

100 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
IOWANS get upset because they can't start the Mini-Van.

460 below zero:
All atomic motion stops.
People in IOWA start saying..."Cold 'nuff fer ya?"

500 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
IOWA CITY public schools will open 2 hours late.

Mush!

Just back from an interview in Chicago. On Thursday the trip, usually four hours, took eight hours because of heavy snow. Saw many potentially nasty accidents; at one point I thought I saw an oncoming car that turned out to be the headlights of someone who had done a 180 and was stuck half in the fast lane, facing oncoming traffic. Made it to Chicago in one piece but it was snowing again in the morning, so hard that I was half an hour late to my interview. (The program people were very understanding.)

In general Chicagoans drive well in the snow, but at one point I wound up behind a dude in a Lexus with vanity plate Big Gear. Sadly, Mr. Gear's only snow driving strategy seemed to be to step on the gas. I watched him spin out and careen all over the expressway, at one point fishtailing into a line of oncoming snowplows. Fortunately he regained control just in time and my nascent trauma management skills were not put to the test. I have to admit, it's the most exciting trip to an interview I've had yet.

(Many thanks to B and Cali for their hospitality.)

Special upgrade

I've been renting a lot of cars lately and even though I usually ask for the super-economy model with fourth tire optional, I often seem to get the special upgrade. The last time I rented I got a PT Cruiser in Cool Vanilla, and the time before that I got a Ford Focus...in leather. In fact, every one of the rental car company employees I talked to wondered why they had a Focus in leather in the first place.

Johnny One Note

It looks like this blog has devolved to the point where it's just a string of interview travel anecdotes. But I guess that's reasonable, since that's pretty much what my life is these days. I'm heading out again tomorrow morning, back to the east coast.

However, I can report that Lady M and I went out and whooped it up on Saturday night. We joined a group of people at our local Eritrean-Ethiopian restaurant where we had a very nice after-dinner chat with the owner (and I tried to remember a few words of Tigrinya). Later we went to the bars and things degenerated into a much-needed bout of drunken college-town revelry.

Flightmare

Considering how much I've been flying lately, I've been very lucky about not having any travel disasters. Unfortunately, last week my luck ran out.

Naive, trusting country boy that I am, I was very understanding about the "mechanical problems" that had canceled my morning flight the other day. However, when I got to the airport for the next flight I was told that I couldn't check in because I wasn't there two hours in advance -- for a domestic flight. (The agent at the ticket counter waved one of those little ticket folders at me saying "read the fine print" -- which I actually did, and of course there was no requirement to be there two hours early.) When the next flight came, there were "mechanical problems" again. A 70-seat airplane had been replaced with a 50-seater, and I've never seen such an aggressive gate agent; he actually came on board and announced "if nobody volunteers to take another flight I'm going to start pulling people off this flight!" Needless to say, the passengers weren't very impressed. Narrowly missing being manhandled by the gate agent, I finally got to O'Hare a mere six hours late. But when I went to check on my connecting flight, whaddya know -- it was cancelled! Due to "mechanical problems," natch. It took standing by on two more flights to get out of Chicago, and even then I only managed it by sitting on someone's lap.

Although I was pretty pissed at United, usually their flights out of our local regional airport are well-run. I think the problem is that these flights were actually handled by a subcontractor called Mesa Airlines. In the future it would probably be wise to stay away from any airline that has as many "mechanical problems" as Mesa Airlines.

On the plus side, all the sitting around in airports and planes gave me time to do some medically-related but recreational reading -- about 18th-century surgery. Stand by for gruesome historical anecdotes....

If it's Tuesday, this must be Indianapolis

Tomorrow morning I head out for another interview, and tonight United Airlines e-mails (and calls!) to inform me that the flight's been canceled. Momentary irritation gives way to relief that mechanical problems are responsible for the grounding -- let's not take any risks in that department, okay?

However, I must be reaching some sort of interview travel saturation point. When I got the call, it took a second to register: "I'm flying someplace tomorrow? Hmm, I wonder what city I'm flying to?" At least, being at home this evening for once instead of in a hotel room, I can place what city I'm in at the moment. Just too many flights in too few days recently, I guess.

On the other hand, even though travel fatigue is setting in I remain excited to see each new residency program. It really is fun to get a cross section of Emergency Medicine nationwide. And United was very good about re-booking me on other flights; I'll be late, but I'll get there.

Road Warrior

Yesterday I completed the first continuous 24 hours I've spent at home since the start of the year. There has been much traveling and much interviewing over the past month. A few highlights:

I lived in Boston for almost 10 years, but a few weeks ago I returned to the city for the first time in over a decade. It was a sentimental journey to former residences, hangouts, and the old alma mater. The city looks beautiful -- it's in much better shape than when I left during the big recession in the early 90s. And the beer and sausages at Jacob Wirth are just as good as I remember from 15 years ago!

In Chicago applicants were invited to the residents' and faculty's annual holiday gift exchange. Many of the presents were whimsical or humorous, and when the dust settled I found myself in possession of a Durex Pleasure Wave Vibrating Pleasure Pack. That took some explaining when I got home to Lady M. ("But honey, it really was a job interview. Really!")

At a dinner in Massachusetts for applicants to meet residents I was the only applicant present. Five residents, assorted spouses (spice?), and little ol' me. Fortunately they were all very friendly and fun to hang out with. And I certainly had ample opportunity to get all of my questions answered.

In New York had a chance to hang out with Sis-Bob for several days. Saw a cut of her latest film, which was artistically impressive, very self-assured, and both funny and thought-provoking. Wow!

Upon sitting down in an interviewer's office in NYC he motioned towards his computer screen, which displayed none other than this very blog! Pretty much settles the debate about whether residency programs are googling me....

In Orange County I had an interview at which the backdrop through the window was the Crystal Cathedral. Afterwards I went over to check it out. I thought it was a very successful piece of architecture. The buildings are handsome and quite appropriate to their southern California location; the spire is well-sited, visible for many miles to the east along Chapman Avenue leading up into the hills. I do try to squeeze in whatever tourism I can on these trips.

On a commuter plane on the ground at O'Hare the gate agent asked the flight attendant "is this flight going to Cedar Rapids, Michigan?" The flight attendant replied that she expected it to go to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The past few weeks have been such a whirl, I'm not sure I remember which state we actually wound up in....

Now I have three whole days here at home before I fly out for the next interview. Time for sleep, laundry, and catching up on blogging!

Between flights

Quick update for anyone wondering what happened to me. (Something that I often wonder, myself.)

I'm on the interview trail in a big way. Flew in from Boston the night before last, then later this morning it's back to New England, followed by a couple of interviews in NYC (the city so nice, they named it New York), after which I head for southern California. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the laptop I was hoping to have for all of this, so I haven't really been able to post to the blog, read or return e-mails, or generally have any idea what's going on in the wider world. This morning I'm mostly just grateful that when I booked today's flight for New Year's Day I had the good sense not to put myself on the 7:00 AM flight.

Thanks for the well-wishes and concerned inquiries -- I'll provide more details as soon as I can.

City of Big Shoulders

Tomorrow I'm off to Chicago for more residency interviewing. Tomorrow is also Lady M's birthday, so I'm taking her to Birthday Brunch before heading out. Happy birthday to Lady M!

Hitting that dusty trail

Off to Chicago today for a residency interview. Had my first interview about a month ago here at the home base, but this is the start of a couple of months of traveling for interviews and board exams (of which more later). I wonder if I can apply the frequent flier miles to my tuition bill?

Ow! Ow! I'll talk!

I know that nobody'll believe this, but I wasn't trying to be coy regarding the location of my upcoming interview -- I've just been super-busy with school. However, I've obviously enraged the mob, and I don't need that kinda trouble.

So, in a bid to forestall the threatened physical and emotional violence, I can reveal that the aforementioned interview is relatively nearby in the Midwest. Indulge me for the moment if I'm a little scanty on the details; I'm just getting started with the process.

However, I can offer two guarantees to my loyal and demanding readers: 1) if I interview anywhere near any of you I'll be certain to let you know; and 2) fear not, in four months you will be tired of the constant yakking about residency-seeking on this blog and begging me to write about something else.

It begins

Today I received -- and accepted -- my first invitation to a residency program interview. Here we go!

Busted

This evening there was a big meeting for the fourth-year medical students about the upcoming interview process for residency positions. My residents were very nice about letting me leave clinic early for it--in fact, I got to go about an hour early, specifically to have a chance to go read about orthopaedics. Well, I wound up sitting in the cafeteria eating a cheeseburger and yukking it up with a bunch of other med students, quite obviously neither attending a meeting nor reading my ortho text. So who should I spy sitting two tables over? My chief resident and another resident on the team, grabbing a quick bite before afternoon rounds. Ouch.

The meeting itself was a bit stress-provoking. Plenty of reminders of how much this is going to cost (multiple flights, hotel stays, and car rentals all over the country) and plenty of reminders of how competitive this is going to be (dozens of bright, accomplished young high-achievers vying for each spot). Ah well, I guess if it was easy it wouldn't be fun.

Big Moment

Five minutes ago I submitted my electronic application to a list of Emergency Medicine residency programs. This is it--the start of a many-month season of trying to land just the right post-graduate medical education slot. It's exciting and nervous-making. (And expensive.) Wish me luck!