We knew interviewing was going to be a pain, but with Campbell arriving earlier than expected, it was a bigger pain than expected because of all the travel! If the hospitals would pay for the travel, lodging, rental car, etc, it would be a whole lot easier to swallow, but knowing that he's interviewed at all these places and will only ultimately end up at one makes the "cha-ching" noises in my head even louder!
Anyway, after going to University of Florida, Vanderbilt, Carolina, Duke, UC-Denver, UT-Southwestern, Standford, Hopkins, and Mass. General, I'd say we have our work cut out for us in coming up with a rank-list. No place seems to be without an equal amount of pros and cons. We'll see... I think the Match Day ticker today says we have 2 months and 6 days to go, so I guess we're getting down to the wire =)
For those who don't know, here's how the Match works: (not in my words :-)
The process by which a newly graduated doctor goes about getting a residency position is different than applying for a job like new graduates in other fields. Rather than submitting applications, receiving offers, and choosing a place to work, medicine has something called “the match”. The match basically works in the following way: (1) Graduating students apply to programs and interview at these programs, if selected. (2) Students then rank all of the places where they interviewed from 1 to 10 based on their order of preference as to where they’d like to go. (3) The residency programs rank all of the applicants that they interviewed (usually 1-300 or so) based on their order of preference of the students that they’d like to come work at their hospitals. (4) On “match day” (March 19th this year) the lists from both students and residency programs go into a “magical computer in the sky” and it spits out where you are going to complete your residency… it “matches” students and programs together in a supposedly fair way. What the computer spits out is a binding contract, meaning that you can’t just “not go” to the place where you matched. In a sense this is a bit like casting lots, which relieves pressure a bit, though it still is a stressful time in the lives of medical students and their families.
We have to have our rank list completed sometime in the next month, so keep us in your prayers as we make this important decision!
Here are some pics of the girls during our week without Daddy:
Ellie helped me bake some cookies (I'm pretty sure she never changed out of her pajamas that day, but she still insisted on a bow as soon as she got up!)
Here we are bundled up for our morning walk (this picture reminded me of this post almost 2 years ago-- a few things have changed! Ellie's bigger, the stroller's bigger, Rosie's bigger, (I'm probably bigger, but I'm not including a comparison shot of me to prove it!) The sunglasses Ellie's wearing are actually the same ones she has on in the shot from this week! (I'm amazed at myself that we haven't lost them!)
Hangin' in there without Daniel around to help (Campbell looks like she's over it!)
OK, so let me tell you the quick back story on this next photo:
I will admit that I was more than a little overwhelmed at the idea of being on my own for a week (It takes me a while to adjust to a new baby!), but I got my courage up and actually felt like I was keeping my head above water by Day 2. On Day 3 I was feeling like a regular pro, that is, until the power went out for almost 2 hours that night! Ahh, it was horrible! Thankfully, my great friend Jennifer had showed up earlier with dinner and 2 fun playmates for Ellie, so we had some help. I learned a few things during the "darkness": 1. I am not cut out to be a pioneer woman; and, 2. I am totally unprepared if a real emergency happens!
I was fumbling around in the dark looking for candles (only had tea lights-- not the best illuminators, FYI!), flashlights (only one had batteries), and taking the baby swing apart to get to the batteries (which didn't fit the flashlight after all), etc. It was a mess! Ellie was scared and clinging to me, Campbell was demanding to be held, Will was insisting on a flashlight, and Andrew wasn't nuts about the idea of playing in the pitch dark while his mommy held some other baby!
I'm so thankful Jennifer was here, though, because it at least gave me time to get candles out everywhere before I had to put the girls to bed-- which, thankfully I was able to do with lights, since the power came back on just as we were getting ready to head upstairs for a bath! Yay! I honestly broke into the Hallelujah Chorus!
Anyway, back to the picture: Poor Jennifer was trying to get both of her kids into jammies since they would likely fall asleep on the way home, and she was also trying to collect all the things they brought. As they were getting ready to leave (still no power, mind you), she noticed that Andrew only had one sock... we looked and looked for it by flashlight, but couldn't find it. A couple days later Ellie got out her doll house and there it was in the miniature kitchen!
Can't imagine why we couldn't find it, Jenn!
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