Medical students find their match

Anticipation was high March 18 at the Sanford School of Medicine as 61 medical students anxiously waited to see where they matched for residency, and in what specialties.

“I was a total mix of emotions, from everything to excited, to nervous, to just over the whole process,” medical student Liz Hoffman said. “It’s just a really weird day because you’re basically handed a letter, and that’s where you’re being told to move for the next five years. You can’t plan anything, you can’t look at houses, you can’t look at anything until you know where you’re going. I would say I was a little more excited and nervous more than anything else.”

This year’s Match Day was one of the most successful in school history, according to a press release on the event. All 61 soon-to-be graduates of the 2016 class were matched with a residency.

Residencies for these students include 22 different specialties and are within 26 different states. At 13 residencies, the most popular specialty is family medicine, followed by anesthesiology with six and radiology with five.

Many students were placed at their top choice, according to the press release.

While March 18 was the official Match Day for students, March 14 was when students found out if they were matched with a residence, which medical student Robbie Nicholas said was his most nerve-wracking day.

“On Monday of the week we find out a yes or no on whether we matched at all,” Nicholas said. “That’s the biggest day in terms of nervousness. Friday was more fun for me because I knew for sure that I was going somewhere. I was just really excited, and when we got our letter it was just really great.”

The process for applying to a residency differs for each student and is dependent on their specialty and how competitive the field is.

Hoffman and Nicholas, who are engaged, went through the process of applying and ranking their residencies. Hoffman said that since Nicholas’ program was a lot more complicated, it made trying to find a residency together a bit more complicated.

“We both applied to a lot of programs, about 75 programs, and we ended up interviewing at 12 of the same programs,” Hoffman said. “Those were the ones that we put on our list from favorite it least.”

Sept. 15 is the first day for students to send out applications for their residencies. Interviews start in October and November and usually last until January. The rank list for students is due by the end of February, and students find out where they’re placed by the middle or end of March.

Hoffman said there were a lot of factors Hoffman and Nicholas had to think about when figuring out which residency they liked best.

“We had to gauge all sorts of things when figuring it out, what the program is like, what living there for five years would be like, what the people are like, how easy it is to visit family, etc.,” Hoffman said. “You make your list and then you wait, and wait, and wait for an email.”

Both Hoffman and Nicholas will be attending a residency at the University of New Mexico. Nicholas is going into Otolaryngology, otherwise known as an ear, nose and throat doctor, and Hoffman is going for family medicine.

Hoffman said she was excited to hear they got their top choice.

“We loved the faculty, the program, the people, just the place itself,” Hoffman said. “We immediately fell in love with it during our interview. Right away when we started making a list, it was our number one. That’s why Match Day was so much fun, finding out that we got to go to our top choice.”

Both Hoffman and Nicholas are excited to start their residencies.

“I’m most excited for the weather,” Hoffman joked. “But getting a little autonomy will be nice.
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I mean medical school is great, but you’re always sort of watching the physician do things, so it’ll be nice into making the transition to doing that on your own.”

Nicholas said he’s ready to put all of his training to use.

“I’m excited to make an impact on patients and be trusted with their care,” Nicholas said. “It will be really fun.”

Residencies are essentially doctors but work as interns. They do everything a doctor does but are watched by attendants.

Depending on the specialty, some residents’ jobs will differ from year to year.

“For me doing something surgical, I’ll start by doing an intern year,” Nicholas said. “Once I start my second year, I’ll be doing minor procedures on my own. As I get through the years — mine’s five years total — I’ll get more responsibilities in terms of types of cases, diagnostic plans, stuff like that.”

Hoffman’s advice for students about to undergo the Match Day process is to enjoy it.

“Looking back, we both did a really good job at enjoying the process,” Hoffman said. “It’s a really unique time. No one really in their life really gets to go all of these places that we never would have visited if it weren’t for this process. Despite the fact that it is so stressful, we really tried to enjoy it.”

Nicholas said he always tried to do something fun during each of his interviews, like going to see something scenic or historical.

Hoffman added that USD really helped her and Nicholas get to where they are today.

“We’ve now both attended eight years of college through USD and we’ve both been extremely thrilled with that. We both got a great undergrad here, and the medical school is phenomenal here. We get a lot of hands-on experience and at a great cost,” she said. “My suggestion to any undergrads reading this, really give USD a chance if you are planning to go to medical school. You are getting a great education for a great price and you’re getting trained by amazing people.”