I agree with everything that is being said about mixed feelings and a sense of ambivalence about the entire process and where we end up, regardless of where it was ranked. It is obviously less so when matched with a top site, but I’ve discovered that there is such a spectrum of success in talking with friends. Even those who match at top sites may be traveling across the country, leaving significant others, children, and lives behind.
Another piece is that we invest so much time and energy thinking about what life will be like at each site where we apply, interview, and rank. We spend hours preparing and learning how a site would be a good fit, and then we make a sincere attempt to convince training directors and staff how strong that fit would be (sometimes regardless of whether or not we actually think it is a good fit). This can lead to a strong connection with multiple sites, so it ends up not being black and white if we get our top one since several sites could have offered different experiences.
And this isn’t even factoring in the intense and immediate emotional release, for better or worse, that occurs upon reading the email after months of pseudo-debilitating stress and anxiety.
