Match Day 2013

With only 79 days left before our wedding, Justin and I are getting closer to starting our new life together. This weekend was a very important weekend for us. This was the weekend we have been waiting for since about Justin's second year of medical school. This was the weekend were we would find out where we were going to live the next few years and how drastically our lives would change. It was Match Day and Justin was going to find out what residency he was going to place into. The planning and application process was lengthy and something we discussed for quite some time. Justin really wanted me to be a part of determining where he would go to residency because it was going to be where we would end up living. First he needed to find out what he wanted to specialize in. He went though a couple ideas over the years as to what he might wanna do. He tried a lot of rotations and felt out a lot of different options but finally settled on internal medicine. This opened up a lot of different options as far as locations for us to look at for residencies. He constantly asked me where I thought we should go. I really couldn't do that but I was able to give him an idea of where I did not want to go. I knew I wanted to stay on the west coast and he seemed to feel the same way, so as forth year began, we turned our focus to looking at programs for Medicine on the west. Justin applied to a lot of programs and receive a lot of interview offers. After turning down Ohio and Alaska along with a few others Justin settled on about 20 interviews. One of our favorite options was Portland, Oregon. Justin had his interviews at three hospitals in Portland back before the holidays. At the end of the week I few up to meet him there so together we could check out the area. We both really enjoyed the city and the surroundings and since Justin liked the programs we envisioned this location at the top of the list. 

Now i don't know your familiarity with the "Match System" but the way it works form what I understand is the applicant applies for interviews, they then go to the ones they were invited to that interest them, and then at the end of all the interviews they rank the programs they attended. The programs also rank the students that they saw during the interviews and then a computer system will match up the applicant with a single program and that is where the applicant will need to go. 

Now although we both enjoyed Portland and Justin really seemed to like some of the programs across California, we were both interested in the prospects of Justin moving back home to Reno where I am currently living and have a job that I love. This was a very feasible option financially since we would have an inexpensive place to stay and I would have a steady income. After numerous conversations together, with family, and my boss, Justin ranked the University of Nevada School of Medicine internal residency program number one with a Portland program behind it at number two. When the day finally arrive, Justin and I met up with his parents and sister and we headed over to the highly anticipated ceremony. You could feel all the emotions in the room that mixed from excitement, nervousness and relief. We munched on some provided breakfast and sat patiently while they began calling the fourth year medical students up to receive their envelopes. About three quarters of the way through the names Justin was called. At that time he came back to where we were sitting with the un-opened envelope and began to revel what was inside. And in an instant the wait was over and we knew where we would be starting our life, the same place we started our relationship over four years ago in Reno, Nevada. Justin had matched into his first choice. We are both very excited about the news and cannot wait to start putting our new home together.