What does your school do for Match Day?

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dr.evil

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I was just curious about the traditions at school for Match Day.

Our school gathers us all in an auditorium, places the envelopes with out match results in a hopper, one-by-one pulls a name from the hopper, the student then goes to the front of the auditorium, opens the envelope, finds out where he/she matches, and announces it to the rest of the class. <img border="0" alt="[Wowie]" title="" src="graemlins/wowie.gif" />

After that, we all go to a huge party and become inebriated to the point of losing 4 years of education. :clap:

I know this year that the results will be posted on the internet at noon so will things change at your school? We're starting our festivities early in the A.M. and will stick to tradition.

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Doesn't opening them in front of an audience make the guys who didn't get what they really wanted feel bad? I mean, having to announce it in front of the whole class? I don't think I would like that (unless I matched into a great residency)
 
Well, they do tell you to not put down a residency program that you wouldn't be happy matching at so...

Yeah, really, that part kinda sucks but everyone around is doing it so you just suck it up and enjoy the anticipation/stress, whatever. Everyone in your class is going to find out where you matched eventually so they might as well endure it with you (my class is a pretty tight-knit group so it will be fun).
 
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We all get together at 10am (we are on Mountain Standard Time), receive our envelopes, and then are allowed to go wherever we want to open them. Then, at 11am, after we've had time to calm down/cry/call the parents/etc., we get back together and our names are drawn randomly to go up and announce where we are going. If we don't want to participate in the announcing part, we don't have to, but pretty much everyone does because as your name is called, you put a dollar in a box. The last name called gets the cash. It only comes out to $100, but $100 is still $100. Once that's over, we have the big party and try to undo 4 years worth of education.
 
Yeah I know that Dartmouth does that too. They have the video of the past year's match announcements on their website if you want to download it.

What happens if you just dont show up? Do you not find out where you match or what? Dont they mail a letter both to you AND the medical school dean or do they just send it to the dean?

I think thats pretty stupid to force you to get up in front of everyone like that. What possible purpose could this serve other than to incite jealousy and make some people look bad in front of others? This strikes me as entirely unnecessary.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by LionTrees:
•Well, they do tell you to not put down a residency program that you wouldn't be happy matching at so...•••••I see what you're saying, but I think I'd rather have some time alone to absorb the shock (either good or not so good) before announcing it to the whole class.
 
There are people in my class who are just like you guys and don't want to get in front of the class. So, they don't have to. It is simply voluntary. The bonus is that you find out your match results 2 hours earlier (10am versus 12pm when the results are on the web). We also drop the $1 in a pot and the last person drawn gets the money.

Most people don't mind doing it and find it entertaining (supposedly, I don't know yet. I may hate it after I open my envelope. :( )

So if you don't show up, you just find out at noon (or whatever time it happens in your part of the world) on the internet.

Not mandatory, not forced. Just entertainment if you want to do it.
 
I have a question,
what about DO schools? Since there are really TWO matches, with the DO and the MD ones, at different times, do the DO schools do anything like this? I wonder what my school does (NSU). I suppose I could ask one of the interns at the hospital... but its just so easy to type it out. :)
 
We have our match at a restaurant/bar where we intoxicate ourselves while we announce our matches.
 
When you say they post it on the internet, do you mean the school puts it up on their website, or are you talking about the national match program posts everybody in the whole country on their website?

Either way, I hope they use some kind of anonymous ID number instead of just listing it by name. In my opinion, its a violation of privacy to give everybody and their brother access to that info.
 
It is really sad, because DO programs (the majority of them) do NOTHING on match day...
First, the allopathic match is only for the select few that participate, and it is likely they are NO WHERE NEAR their medical school on march 21st (we do so many "out of state" rotations...at least half the class spend 3rd, 4th years in a different state!). I haven't SEEN my school more than once in the past 2 years! (So on match day, I will be loggin on the computer, by myself and celebrating with my girlfriend and a bottle of bubbly!)

Secondly, when Osteopathic programs interview for residencies, you get a clear idea if the program likes you AT THE TIME OF THE INTERVIEW. So by match day, everyone knows where they are going...or at least they have been PROMISED a spot. It certainly doesn't involve a computer and it reeks of "wheeling and dealing".
Thirdly, in the DO match, there is the mandatory Internship year...so you have to reapply to a program during your internship (with a few exceptions). Let's look at Orthopedics. They will allow you to be part of the internship class with the hopes of being in the Ortho program at their institution (with 2 spots), but have 3 OTHER interns wanting the same thing! So during your rotating intership year, you are still battling for a crummy spot with 3 other people! It isn't always like that...but it is NOTHING like the allopathic match.
 
I'm really not sure how the results will be posted on the web. I know that the NRMP will place the results on their web site. I believe this is the first year they're being posted on the web on match day. I assume you have to log in to your account and find out, so I doubt they will have all 16,000 (or whatever) match results posted.

The NRMP web site only says this
•••quote:••• Match results for applicants are posted on the NRMP Web site at 1:00 p.m. EST. ••••Pretty vague. Story of my life.
 
Ahhhh..... match day. I can still feel the energy of that day. My school didn't do anything like having people announce one by one where they matched (class had like 190 students so it would have been kinda long).

We all met in the school's lobby where the dean of student affairs would give a short speech telling how as a whole our class matched (percentage of those who got their 1st choice, number of those who got into nice hospitals, etc.)

Then the moment of truth. The envelopes are given to some 6 people in various parts of the lobby, and you go to one of them based on where your last name fits in the alphabet. The tearing of envelopes begin. And then the yelling. Then the hugging. Then the people calling up their mommies on their cell phones. I for one yelled like a viking when I got my first choice...... and my damn cell phone couldn't get a signal in that lobby.

For the next hour it's a session of finding all your classmates in the dense crowd and sharing the good, or bad, news. For the most part... a good 80 percent of my colleagues were extremely elated. More hugging. You'd even hug people you hated throughout the 4 years of med school. We also look at the list of people and where they matched.... posted on the window of our library in the lobby. You find the names of classmates and see where they went. There you hear things like.... "Ooooh.... aaaaaah.... he went to Mayo for ortho." ... and "Oh wow, he's going to Hawaii... lucky bastard."

All those long hours of studying and spending time in the hospitals is a culmination of what lies in that envelope. It's a great feeling to know where your life will take you the next 3-7 years... and to know all your hard work paid off. Nothing compares to match day... even graduation doesn't stand up to it.

Enjoy it... remember it... let it soak into your soul. Cuz during internship... you're going to wonder why the hell you were so damn happy that day. :mad: Good luck people.
 
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Does anyone know what Wash U does for its Match Day?

MacGyver, what's the link to get to Dartmouth's Match Day video? I couldn't find it.
 
oh god i haven't even started med school yet but that whole "announce where i got matched" thing sounds HORRIBLE.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by vyc:
•oh god i haven't even started med school yet but that whole "announce where i got matched" thing sounds HORRIBLE.•••••I think Match Day sounds exciting! Just look at what Bernardo wrote! You can't tell me that doesn't get you a little pumped up! All that crying, hugging, calling mothers on cell phones, and of course "yelling like Vikings!"

So now my question is how does Match Day compare with that first med school acceptance, undergrad college graduation, the famous white coat ceremony, and med school graduation? How would you rank those in order of excitement? They all seem like exciting rites of passage. I'm still in undergrad (it's a long story about how I wandered onto this forum), but I definitely yelled like a Viking when I got my first med school acceptance!
 
Although the white coat ceremony and the first day of med school/orientation are pretty exciting, I don't think I've ever been as pumped as when I got that letter of acceptance. Although I felt pretty good after I received my USMLE part 1 score. I skipped out on my undergrad graduation as I wanted my ENTIRE family to be at the graduation that really mattered to me, which is coming up quick. :clap:

I'm counting down to Match Day (10 long arduous days of anticipation) and will be EXTREMELY excited if I match at one of my top 3 places. I can't say if it will be as good as that day when I received my acceptance but I bet it will be pretty dang close. It will be especially special to celebrate with some of my best friends in life that have battled through med school with me over the last 4 years.

For all those who doubt, MED SCHOOL RULES. By far the best four years of my life (it's easy to say when you're a 4th year :wink: )
 
I am entering med school this fall and I am very excited about the Match. For me, it will mean my first real job. :) In order of most exciting to least exciting (1-5):

1. Match Day
2. First med school acceptance
3. Med school graduation
4. White coat ceremony
5. Undergrad college graduation
 
Hey, what about the early match? They know the results before everybody else, right? Do they join the rest of the gang on the Match Day? Just curious.
 
i'm just thinking about the possibility of not getting matched...
or getting matched with my last choice which may not have really been a preference and watching everyone else be so happy they're about to pee all over themselves.
not to say that i can't be happy for other people bc i can but i don't need it to be rubbed in my face...

•••quote:•••Originally posted by gobears:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by vyc:
•oh god i haven't even started med school yet but that whole "announce where i got matched" thing sounds HORRIBLE.•••••I think Match Day sounds exciting! Just look at what Bernardo wrote! You can't tell me that doesn't get you a little pumped up! All that crying, hugging, calling mothers on cell phones, and of course "yelling like Vikings!"
•••••
 
Haha... yeah I also yelled like a viking when I got my first acceptance letter for med school. Prblem was I opened up the envelope just outside the street's mailbox. Couple of neighbors were peeking out of the window to see what was all the commotion. It was a wonderful feeling. But does not match up to match day.

I was alone when I opened up the acceptance letter.

During match day.. you're amongst your colleagues and good friends whom you've spent 4 years of studying, pulling all nighters for studying, doing overnight call, numerous keg parties, and other such joys and agonies of medical school. It's a day of happiness that is spent together. It's an amazing day. (please refer to my previous post)

Second on that list would have to be med school graduation day. Getting the diploma is one thing, but the best part of the whole ceremony is taking the Hippocratic oath with your classmates (unlike other schools, my school did not have us take the oath the first year). Before then... it's "just an oath." A set of words that had some meaning but didn't matter as you studied yout butt off the first two years and shadowed residents the next two.

But then... as if something magical just happened... the words absorb into your soul. You realize the great privilidge bestowed upon you as you say those words with your classmates. "I will lead my life and practice my Art in uprightness and honor." It is now official. You are a doctor... and you never realize that feeling until then.

The rest of my rankings are as followss

3) Med school acceptance
4) undergraduate graduation
5) white coat ceremony- My school had their's when we had a histo test to study for.... so I was too stressed out to enjoy it.
 
•••quote:•••Originally posted by i_bite:
•Hey, what about the early match? They know the results before everybody else, right? Do they join the rest of the gang on the Match Day? Just curious.•••••I think the military match is before the Early Match. Nevertheless, people shooting for otolaryngology, ophthalmology, neurology, neurosurgery, and urology find out before the rest of the chumps. :cool: We Early Match folk, as I'm told, have the option of receiving an envelope on the regular Match Day. Basically, the Early Match is a pretty silent affair...that's okay; we're pretty comfortable about not participating in such a foo foo affair... :)
 
This thread is a fun preview of 4 years from now! Thanks Bernardo and others for sharing your memories of Match Day. It truly is a privilege to be accepted to medical school and become a doctor. I am so excited to be on the journey. :)
 
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