Match Day (Weekend) Plans?

[brain hugger]

I'm trying to think of ways to spend Match Day/Weekend. So far, I'm thinking of a weekend trip or a potluck dinner with friends. Any fun ideas that can work for both a potentially happy/sad heart?

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[syzergy]

Either way, alcohol.

 

[imadreamer]

I'm in the midst of planning an extended weekend trip since Match is the start of Presidents' Day weekend. All the planning has been a good distraction.
...
And when I say planning, I mean determining what alcohol to drink before, during, and after Match.

 

[mishpug]

I'm trying to think of ways to spend Match Day/Weekend. So far, I'm thinking of a weekend trip or a potluck dinner with friends. Any fun ideas that can work for both a potentially happy/sad heart?

Seems like this would be highly individual, depending on what is rewarding and/or comforting for you. You could plan to go to yoga or get a massage, try a new restaurant, check out a museum or activity that you have wanted to see, go for a hike (weather permitting), plan a weekend away someplace you have wanted to go, etc. I think the potluck idea sounds fun. You could plan a get-together with the other folks in your program applying for internship.

I won't be doing anything huge, but I will probably have a couple of ideas lined up to either celebrate or to soothe.

 

[EmotRegulation]

I applied for internship back in the dark ages where the "did you match?" (yes or no) and the "where did you match TO?" (specific site) information came on different days. We did a celebratory brunch (with mimosas) on the first day, and sat dumbfoundedly for several hours on the second day. If you match to your top choice, life is great, but sometimes even matching has a bittersweet tinge to it if you had your heart set on one of your top choices.....I matched to my 3rd choice based on a phone interview and felt like I was being sent to the moon for a year because it was a place I never visited.

I have to imagine I'd probably now plan Match Day kind of like the day I planned when I got divorced...a nice long walk by myself to contemplate my past and future, plus window shopping and maybe a delicious lunch. And maybe that window shopping would turn into justification to buy something lovely.

 

[singasongofjoy]

What you want to do might be pretty different depending on if you / others in your cohort do/don't match, or do/don't match to one of your top choices. I made brunch plans with only my best friend from grad school in the morning, hoping we'd both be celebrating but also knowing if either of us needed to cry, that would be OK too. Turned out to be a good mix of both - I did cry a little because I matched not in my top 3- I had some high geographical hopes and wasn't looking forward to a year of brutal cold, but also celebrating because we ended up matching in the same city at good sites At any rate I was glad I hadn't made plans to be around other people where I'd have to hold myself together, because I knew I couldn't count on myself to be able to do that. Just something to consider... if you've got a SO or good friends in the area who are *not* involved w/ match this year, I'd consider making plans with them, at least earlier in the day.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I too matched in the dark ages (we had to mail hard copies of all of our application materials!!) and most people seemed to have two plans…depending on the outcome.

 

[procrastin8r]

Match day is interview day for my doctoral program, so I'll likely be mingling with the applicants . Hopefully I'll have good news to share, but if I don't, fingers crossed I won't end up drunk and bashing the program for robbing me of my 20's with nothing to show for it

 

[singasongofjoy]

Match day is interview day for my doctoral program, so I'll likely be mingling with the applicants . Hopefully I'll have good news to share, but if I don't, fingers crossed I won't end up drunk and bashing the program for robbing me of my 20's with nothing to show for it

oh wow, wonder if they picked that day on purpose? I hope not, lol! Great distraction if you need distracting, but... hope no one is expecting too much focus and hard work out of you and the other internship-bound/hopeful folks on that day

 

[brain hugger]

Thanks for all your replies, everyone! And loving the comments on having Match Day during the dark ages!

I've decided to have a chill weekend with my husband and a few friends. We ended up nixing our trip plans because in case there's bad news, it'll be nice to have the comfort of home.

And yeah, that's a gamble on having interviews on Match Day! I imagine grad students will, like you said, paint quite the picture, depending on their Match results.

 

[PsyDr]

damn, I remember being so poor that the mailing was a substantial hit to my budget.

I matched to my second choice, and had a few drinks. Then a classmate called for help with scramble, went over there to read emails/send emails, organize letters with another classmate. My help was... marginal.

 

[oathkeeper]

The night before match, my cohort and I had a party which involved a great deal of alcohol and ran very late. It was a great distraction the night before but I remember waking up at 7 am (couldn't sleep any longer) and feeling awful! And while I might not recommend distracting to the extent that we did, I would highly suggest planning something for the night before as well. Later on in the day I met up for lunch with my best friend from cohort and that was a really nice way to process. Even though we had both matched, neither of us had matched at our top choice so it was nice to be able to talk to someone who understood both being excited about matching and at the same time feeling disappointed.

 

[kestrelcry]

I recommend staying up late the night before, so you can hopefully sleep in until it's email time. This is probably easier for folks to the West. I took the day off from everything and my partner stayed home from work. We got the makings for awesome food for the day, with emphasis on mimoss and a fancy breakfast. Thus we were prepared for good or bad news.
Also, I had a plan for what I would do the next year if I didn't match (a specific practicum and classes I would have liked to take, doing a stats minor, research plans, etc) that I was genuinely excited about. That made the suspense a little easier to bear coming up to match day.

 

[brain hugger]

Oh! I hadn't thought about pre-Match festivities, oathkeeper. A great idea. Also, kestrelcry, I like the idea of having breakfast and mimosas, may have to borrow that.

 

[CompleteUnknown]

Ugh, I have a class that goes all Friday morning and the professor preemptively stated that Match Day is not a legitimate excuse to miss class. Pretty sure I'll just be a delinquent and not show up. I can't imagine being present and focused for a 3.5 hour class after getting the news -- either good or bad!

 

[awishingstar]

Ugh, I have a class that goes all Friday morning and the professor preemptively stated that Match Day is not a legitimate excuse to miss class. Pretty sure I'll just be a delinquent and not show up. I can't imagine being present and focused for a 3.5 hour class after getting the news -- either good or bad!

That's awful. Is the professor a clinical psych faculty member? Or like... human? You could always show up with a flask.

 

[Topspin1]

Match Day falls on the weekend of my birthday, so here's to hoping I'll be feeling fine enough to stick with my original plans of going out dancing at a local dive bar.

 

[glowstick]

One week.

 

[brain hugger]

One week.

Continuing the countdown. 5 days!

 

[Topspin1]

 

[singasongofjoy]

Y'all got this!! I hope some of you will come back to this thread to relay how you actually ended up celebrating Good luck everyone!! This time next week your anxiety will likely be so much lower

 

[kathygeiss]

Great thought- in a week things will likely be a lot better! Am I the only one who is super excited to wake up every morning because it means another day has passed? haha.

 

[Pragma]

Another dark ages person here - same thing, found out if you matched Friday, but not where until Monday. Back then (no phase II), if someone didn't match they would rally their DCT's and any friend to help them figure out a spot in the clearinghouse that following Monday, which I was told was like the wild, wild west. But I never really witnessed that happening. The thinking at the time was that by letting people who did not match have the weekend, it gave them a chance to prepare for the clearinghouse before knowing what slots would be available.

All I knew was that Friday involved some alcohol either way.

Back then, we also mailed paper applications and there was no additional fee within the match system based on number of applications. There was, however, postage.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

A quick story to make you appreciate the current system….

It was totally the wild wild west. For Clearinghouse you'd get a list of sites and it was literally you against the clock bc sites would accept apps until a certain time (or ongoing) or sometimes cut out early bc of so many apps. It was a team effort by your cohort, as someone would go through the list of sites, another person would do editing, the person applying would be on the phone with sites, etc. Sites would do phone interviews right then, and if you were lucky you'd get an offer.

I can't remember if you could hold up to 1 offer and then call your top place and say you have another offer or if you needed to just decide; it really was chaos. There might have been a time limit for a site to offer/withdraw a spot, though I can't remember for certain (10+ years ago). I just remember running back and forth from the printer and being in the computer lab with papers spread everywhere and our DCT coming in and out to check on things.

I helped a friend a couple years ahead of me, though thankfully she was in at 8am, I think it started at 9am, and before noon she had an APA-acred offer and accepted it. There would be maybe 30-50 APA-acred. spots, so those would go quickly. She only applied to a handful of sites, got interviews, but missed on matching. It was long enough ago I can't recall if the application was by fax and/or email, I just remember looking at that stupid site list and highlighting all of the APA-acred sites for my friend. I was stressed and it wasn't even my app!

So yeah…be thankful for the current system.

Good luck to everyone.

 

[brain hugger]

Wow. Thanks for sharing these experiences. I'm now feeling more grateful for the current system (which I hadn't imagined myself feeling!).

Also, Therapist4Chnge, I'm touched by how you all came together for your friend. The positive side of this whole stressful process is how it can be a wonderful reminder of how much others got your back (and you for them).


Good luck, everyone!

 

[procrastin8r]

oh wow, wonder if they picked that day on purpose? I hope not, lol! Great distraction if you need distracting, but... hope no one is expecting too much focus and hard work out of you and the other internship-bound/hopeful folks on that day

I don't think they even though about Match Day when they picked an interview day, they just tried to conflict with the fewest number of other programs... Yes, lost of distractions either way and a low of understanding for no work being done =)

 

[glowstick]

So glad the system is less insane today. Also that I don't have to pay for copies at Kinko's and mail everything...

 

[NeuroLady]

2 days and 16 hours!!! Deep breath.

 

[futurecatlady]

Assuming everyone in my cohort has good news, we're planning a brunch with mimosas. If I remember correctly, results have come out in CST around 8 am in the past. Perfect time for breakfast. Or morning drinking.

 

[futurecatlady]

2 days and 16 hours!!! Deep breath.

I downloaded a countdown clock...

 

[syzergy]

Assuming everyone in my cohort has good news, we're planning a brunch with mimosas. If I remember correctly, results have come out in CST around 8 am in the past. Perfect time for breakfast. Or morning drinking.

Just don't get too drunk! We get a call from our new training director at 11est

 

[futurecatlady]

Just don't get too drunk! We get a call from our new training director at 11est

But...no take backs, right?

 

[neuromatic]

Assuming everyone in my cohort has good news, we're planning a brunch with mimosas. If I remember correctly, results have come out in CST around 8 am in the past. Perfect time for breakfast. Or morning drinking.

Last year, my friends who applied got their match emails at 6:30AM CST. But I'm never one to say it's too early for mimosas.

 

[futurecatlady]

Last year, my friends who applied got their match emails at 6:30AM CST. But I'm never one to say it's too early for mimosas.

BRB...updating my countdown clock.

 

[MrAlago]

There's a small local bar/lounge/gift basket shop that my cohort frequents. When we told them about Friday, they gave us run of the place from the time they open until, like, 6pm. It's nice to know there are still decent humans in New Jersey.

 

[syzergy]

 

[EmotRegulation]

Our DCT was notified of our program's matches at 6:50am last year and 6:53am the year before that. I assume emails to actual applicants go out a bit earlier though I don't know that for sure.

 

[syzergy]

Our DCT was notified of our program's matches at 6:50am last year and 6:53am the year before that. I assume emails to actual applicants go out a bit earlier though I don't know that for sure.

What timezone though? That seems way too early for est...

 

[awishingstar]

What timezone though? That seems way too early for est...

I was CST and got my email at 6:47 am. This was pretty consistent with the two years prior. Seems to be a relatively set time!

 

[imadreamer]

I agree with awishingstar. I looked back at the past two years and both threads had match results rolling in between 6:45-6:55 CST. I'm assuming Greg Keilin emails every year that match results will be offered by 10am EST.

 

[EmotRegulation]

Oh sorry, I should have specified 6:50 and 6:53am Central time!!!

 

[SmithPsy24]

Good luck everyone!

I was one of the unlucky souls who did not match in Phase I a few years ago. I have to say that I was pretty devastated - I knew it was a distinct possibility because I didn't have a lot of interviews, but it still hit me harder than I thought it would. I actually focused on Phase II that day and on congratulating the folks who did match - it was strange because I was still really happy for them even though I was miserable for myself. The next day I went out to lunch with a friend, which felt good for getting out of the house and being someplace I enjoyed.

(I eventually did get an APA-accredited internship at a site that was perfect for me...but man it was a loooong wait.)

 

[PhDToBe]

Two years ago mine came in at 6:43 CST.

Good luck, everyone!

 

[NeuroLady]

Good luck everyone!

I was one of the unlucky souls who did not match in Phase I a few years ago. I have to say that I was pretty devastated - I knew it was a distinct possibility because I didn't have a lot of interviews, but it still hit me harder than I thought it would. I actually focused on Phase II that day and on congratulating the folks who did match - it was strange because I was still really happy for them even though I was miserable for myself. The next day I went out to lunch with a friend, which felt good for getting out of the house and being someplace I enjoyed.

(I eventually did get an APA-accredited internship at a site that was perfect for me...but man it was a loooong wait.)

Thank you for sharing this.
A program-mate who applied last year had one interview in phase one and did not match. She ended up getting several interviews in phase two and scored an amazing site. Much more so than I think she ever expected. Phase two success is a very real thing.

 

[stw2010]

Good luck everyone! Hoping today flies by and tomorrow you all wake up to one awesome matched email!

 

[SmithPsy24]

Thank you for sharing this.
A program-mate who applied last year had one interview in phase one and did not match. She ended up getting several interviews in phase two and scored an amazing site. Much more so than I think she ever expected. Phase two success is a very real thing.

I actually didn't match in Phase II either, but afterwards in the "post-match vacancy service." I got my internship literally at the last minute at the end of June for a July 1 start date, when my site received a grant to fund some additional spots. It absolutely worked out for the best but the lead-up was stressful.

 

[Topspin1]

Well we've made it this far

 

[kathygeiss]

LESS than 24!

 

[procrastin8r]

today is torture

 

[syzergy]

**anxiety ball in stomach**