What If I Don't Match? Preemptive Consolation for the Worst-Case Scenario

Before every exam during my first two years of med school, my good friend and assigned-seat neighbor Nate would freak out. Despite the fact that he always studied well enough and knew more than I could ever cram into my brain in the limited time we had, he was always worried about doing badly on a test. To ease the stress and have my fun, I'd tell him not to worry: in the worst case scenario, he'd fail the exam so badly that the dean would call him into her office, tell him how utterly disappointed she was in him, and he'd be kicked out of school and sent home in disgrace. Obviously, this never happened. But it's fun to dream, right?

The point is, nothing is ever as bad as it seems. I wasted so much time and energy during undergrad worrying about whether one bad score would hurt my chances of getting into medical school. It made doing well, and not necessarily learning, the end goal of studying. I decided that, if I did get into medical school, I would try not to put as much pressure on myself about grades. It worked well for a while. And then Step 1 came. And now the match is looming.

As far as I can tell, medicine is one of only a handful of careers where you have to make three separate decisions about what you want to do with the rest of your life. First, you have the decision to apply to school and become a doctor. Then, you have to go through the match and pick a field to decide what kind of doctor you want to be. Finally, many young doctors choose to apply for fellowships, narrowing down exactly how they'll be spending the rest of their careers.

When my wife was going through the match and struggling to decide what she wanted to do, I had trouble understanding. I was still applying to schools, struggling with that first decision and just hoping to get the opportunity to make decision #2. The way I saw it, regardless of what residency she got, where she matched, and what specialty she ended up going into, she was still going to be a doctor.

So again, nothing is ever as bad as it seems. Sure, I might not match into the specialty I want. I might even have to scramble or take a year off. But, ultimately, I'll still come out of this thing as a doctor. I'll still get to treat new patients every day and talk with families who genuinely care about the work I'm doing. The rest are just details.

And above all, remember this: When life gives you lemons, keep them. Because, hey, free lemons!

nice article ,

from http://boards.medscape.com/forums?128@507.9o4eaSK2NIr@.2a078bb9!comment=1

by Brian Fishman

28 Feb 2011