What Nobody Tells You About Match Day

Alexa M. Mieses, MD, MPH

Disclosures

February 20, 2019

Eventually, It's All Over

Remember that if you've matched at all, that is a success.

Also remember that, no matter the specialty, the Match is competitive. For example, in 2018, over 200 people applied for just 25 slots in dermatology. Approximately 6500 applicants applied in family medicine but only around 3500 slots were available. If you were not selected for a training program, you are notified beforehand. That can be heartbreaking, to say the least. Devastating. Life-changing.

Match Day comes and goes. Whether you "scramble," decide to reapply next year after not matching, or were lucky enough to get your top-choice residency program, the marathon is not over. You still have to finish medical school, with probably the worst case of "senioritis" you will ever know. You will be thinking about where you might be moving, the family that you may leave, the friends that you may make, and the rest of the medical training journey that is still to come.

No matter what leads up to your Match Day or how your Match Day ends, be prepared for an emotional roller coaster filled with the good, the bad, and the ugly, with failures, successes, and celebrations all around you.

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