Our program gives unmatched/unSOAPed students the option of not attending or attending. If they attend, they participate in the ceremony and get an envelope just as everyone else in an effort to conceal that they didn't match.
I agree that it's a silly tradition. I am happy that I matched my number 2 but I resent that I had to find that out in a public forum. My initial gut reaction was sadness because number 1 is where my entire family resides. But I had to suck it up and smile because we were at the ceremony. . Of course I got over it and am now ecstatic about going to one of my top choices.
lol if you did not match, you would have to be a very shallow/emotionally blunted person to care 1% about "refreshments".
I just find the whole process pretty sickening myself. You have to pay the exorbitant vigorish to the corrupt Guild to have your name placed into the hat, spend another fortune traipsing around the country, and then wait for the slime balls to hand you a piece of paper with your marching orders from the Sorting Hat.
To first part:
It's one thing for a school to celebrate a match, the culmination of a students hard work. The white coat ceremony felt like a 'welcome to med school, have a derpy little coat you'll not see again for two years'.
You have to admit white coat ceremonies are incredibly stupid and a complete waste of time. It's literally a celebration over NOTHING. It's a very recent addition to medical school, and I think it has a lot to do with the declining quality of education. I've noticed an inverse correlation between quality of curriculum and administrative ceremonializing. This is not unique to medical education at all, it is simply another form of bread and circuses appeasement.
Believe it or not, it was actually much worse for everyone involved (and most so for students) before the Match. It exists for a reason.I just find the whole process pretty sickening myself. You have to pay the exorbitant vigorish to the corrupt Guild to have your name placed into the hat, spend another fortune traipsing around the country, and then wait for the slime balls to hand you a piece of paper with your marching orders from the Sorting Hat.
I just kind of see it as a pointless additional ceremony. I'll go to graduation, but I'm not going to some Match ceremony.
We did white coat after the first block, so it kind of felt like surviving the initial transition to medical school. We lost a few people in those days, and it felt good to be the survivors. I went, but mostly for my family rather than myself, as it was a really big event for my mother and I'm the first person in my family to go to graduate school of any sort.
Interesting. I feel like Match Day is just so fraught with disappointment and feels that it's just not a great day for a celebration. Even the people who match are often crushed and have to hide it. I'd much rather do a graduation thing, where everyone has kind of dealt with their fate and just wants to enjoy surviving.
You aren't actually being welcomed to the profession, though. You have 0 credentials and have yet to prove you are worthy of actually entering the guild. One school nearby this year just added another party for 1st years - "A pinning ceremony.." Apparently the M1s get a special pin placed on there white coats by M2s. And then M2 year they have another white coat ceremony. It's a pattern of completely idiotic ceremony to celebrate achieving absolutely nothing yet.
Not really, it was mostly better for the students because they could independently contract their services with hospitals on their own time, no need for a million new fees to participate in a centralized system.
The problem for students was mostly that without a centralized system, they would get strung along by residencies. Low-ranking residencies would hardball students with a "Well, if you want to be a surgeon, you can sign this contract now, but if you leave this room, the deal is off the table" while high-ranking residencies would interview long and late, forcing people to gamble on not taking the hardball offers if they wanted someplace prestigious. Institutions would often end up with unmatched spots, due to indecision and a lack of coordination provided by a central matching system. It was a mess.
"ZOMG! 4/15ths done with medical school!11!"
I just find the whole process pretty sickening myself. You have to pay the exorbitant vigorish to the corrupt Guild to have your name placed into the hat, spend another fortune traipsing around the country, and then wait for the slime balls to hand you a piece of paper with your marching orders from the Sorting Hat.
