Matched!!!

Mon 11:55am
Congratulations! You've Matched.

Thurs 12:55pm
Cleveland Clinic Foundation

I officially have a job post graduation. I matched into Categorical Anesthesia. Cleveland, OH will be my home for the next 4 years. My family decided to play their own version of guessing game. My brother and dad guessed Baystate and mom guessed Maine Med. I personally knew that I would end up in Cleveland, just a gut feeling that that's where God was leading me to. I'm thrilled to be there and am not disappointed that it was my third choice. To me my first 3 choices were all my number 1's. I just couldn't really distinguish their tiers. I guess I'm still processing the results but nonetheless, it's great.

Now, I just have to find a place to live so I can get the moving process in order once I'm back from Uganda. Now only if I could get my mom stop going on and on about moving process long enough for me to fully process what happened and make my own decisions. Seriously, she is starting to treat me like a kid again. ugh.

I need to savor the sweet moment.

ROL #2

It's official. It's in. Here's my ranking list.

1. Baystate
2. Maine Med
3. Cleveland Clinic
4. VCU/MCV
5. UTSW
6. SLU
7. Thomas Jefferson
8. Univ of Washington
9. Case Western/ MetroHealth
10. St Luke's Roosevelt
11. Univ of Washington (Adv)
12. Baystate (adv)
13. UMKC
14. Henry Ford
15. Univ of Mississippi
16. Mizzou
17. Mizzou (adv)

ROL #1

I have Maine Med, Baystate and Cleveland Clinic running around in my head. I can't decide how to order these 3. I love each of the three. Maine Med is smallest of the 3 and is in Portland, ME. It's gorgeous and has a very quaint feeling. The only thing holding me back is the small Asian population. Baystate is great, a medium size, great hours, resident friendly. Clinic is great too, the only thing is that it's big. It has great cases and great name.

The decision really is between a big well known program or a small regionally know place. Decisions, decisions.

As the next couple on my list would be VCU, UTSW, SLU and Thomas Jefferson. With them, it'll probably be based on location. They are about the same feeling for me.

I know that I'm definitely going to be disappointing my mom regarding UW ranking. It's going to be middle of the list because I'm not sure how well I'll fit into the rogram there. I love Seattle but just not sure about the program itself.

The rest will be based on location again with Mizzou at the end. I'm not the greatest fan of these because of location. Texas Tech is not on my list because I didn't have a good gut feeling about it and also, it sounds a little sketchy being that I feel like the residents learn from books.

Will see how it all turn out.

Interview # 6

Baystate .. Categorical

I drove the 3 hrs to the hotel that they put us up in. It's the longer route because I was trying to avoid driving through the city traffic.

It's an awesome program. I was already in love with it before even going for the interview. I love the fact that they are very pro residents and a medium size program. The dinner was at the restaurant next door and there were 5 residents that sat down with us. Some of them brought their SO as well. The residents are very happy and said all the good stuff about the program.

Interview Day: It starts at 9 am not the 7am shuttle that hotel runs to the hospital. We didn't know that beforehand so a bunch of us met in the lobby and just sat and chatted until it was time for us to carpool to the hospital. The orientation that started the day off was long and the lights were off. We all were pretty much ready for the PD to end by the end of his presentation. But the PD was very informative and excited. He was all praising how great the program was and how supportive they are of the residents.

The one thing that impressed me was that they have managed to arrange an advanced airway month. They have small enough number of residents that about half of the faculty practice one their own. They also have plenty of funds for the residents for education/conferences. They have a CRNA night system where it lightens the residents' load during calls.

The interviews were laid back. No crazy questions were asked, just wanting to know you.

Overall, I'm so far loving this place. Now, I can't decide between CCF and here.

Interview # 5

St Luke's Roosevelt .. Categorical

The one where my day was filled with what could've gone wrong, went wrong.

I left my place early enough and took the train into NY Penn station plenty of time. Then I hopped onto the subway and took me 2 stops to realize that I got on the wrong direction. Of course. I got off and cross the streets to try to get on the other way. I bought the ticket and went in then realize I was on the wrong direction platform again. I had to get out and cross the other way to finally get on the uptown subway. I got off and I have 5 min before breakfast and I would only be 5 min late, so it wasn't too big of a deal. Then I walked in the wrong direction and I had to bactracked a block and walk the original 2 blocks. I ended up being 15 min late to breakfast and walked into a roomful of people dressed in suits. Ugh.

The program felt a little out of place for me. I'm still not sure what is it that made me feel that way. The PD and chair were role playing and entertaining us during their orientation/presentation. They were the only ones to interview. They didn't ask anything about me and their only question was if I have any questions. That was it. The residents came in during their lunch breaks and they didn't hide the fact that this was not their first choice and some even said that they wouldn't come if they did want to stay in the city.

They are definitely known for regional. Starting as CA 1 they dive right into doing the regional procedures. The residents didn't seem as happy as some other places I have been to so far. They definitely to rave about it.

They do have subsidized housing but even then, it's $1400 for studio. expensive.

Overall, it's a quality program, just not sure how I'll rank them.

Interview # 4

CCF ... Categorical

As per my previous review, nothing change during this visit for me. I was a little intimidated going in because of the other applicants not becuase of the interviewers. The applicants all seem to be from a much stronger batch than myself so there was a little inferiority complex. But other than that, CCF is still what I saw 2 months ago.

They put us up at the Intercontinental next to the Clinic. They were very accomodating. I got in very early, right around their checkout time, and they were able to put me into a room with no fuss. I was impressed. For dinner, we all met at the lobby and they chartered a bus/van for us. There were 2 chiefs there with interns and all other classes. Dinner was at Fire in Shaker's Square.

Interview day started aroun 7am and done by 2pm. Interviewed with 3 facutly and 1 residents, not necessarily the chiefs. The interviews were laid back and the ones with the chair and PD were nice and short. Everyone interviews with PD and others are just luck of the draw. Residents came in during lunch and tour was after. Tour was long, 1 hour and definitely needed the walking shoes. They took us all over the clinic. Whew.

They no longer do the exit interview where they sort of give you hint of how likely you'll match there because the PD and the chair are new.

Overall, they are still one of my tops and would love to be there.

Interview # 3

SLU ... Categorical

Awesome peds... Cardinal Glennon .... peds wonderland ... need to say more ....

Anyways, it's a medium size program about 10 per and only pain fellows around. So work/cases wise, no competition. They are working on setting up a peds fellowship but according them, there are enough work that they shouldn't have any problems.

They have one thing special is that they are starting a course on healthcare policy/management. I find that amazing because I know that I myself am fairly clueless when comes to healthcare politics/business. The fact that they are starting a course on it sounds like they really do care how the residents do while they are there and afterwards out in the real world.

This was one of the few that did not put up hotel but got us a great deal at Hyatt Riverfront. It was a gorgeous hotel and I think the going rate was around $200 per. Dinner was at Ruth's, which was right in the lobby so it was great not having to worry about where to go for dinner. The residents there that night was very blunt and straight forward. They tell you straight up what is good and not. Same thing during the interview day when they came in during breaks and lunch.

The interview day was one of my longer one. It started around 7:30 and did not end until 5pm, partly due to a series of situations that the interviewers had and they had to call other to come in to interview us. Interviewed with 3 people and they are all very laid back, no crazy questions.

Overall, I liked this program, which surprised me. I didn't want to like St Louis because it's in MO but it made an impression.

Interview # 2

University of Washington ... Seattle, WA

Interview while on my away rotation. Felt like it was more of a courtesy interview. Anyways, normally they have dinner night before. Interviewed with 2 interviewers. One with the PD and the other with a faculty. Both were laid back. PD asked about the current ASA/health policy a little, but nothing too crazy.

Overall: very strong program. Faculty are mostly international so lots of ways of doing things. An elective month during CA3 to go abroad and the faculty has connections to help. Seattle is aa great place to live. Loved it there. Lectures are on Thurs morning. Wed morning is grand rounds and then 3 hrs protected after for class lecture depending which year's turn. Simulation every 4-6 mos or so.

Interview # 1

Texas Tech ... Lubbock, TX - Categorical

Dinner - Lots of food at steakhouse. Food is really good. Got to talk to the residents and have their honest opinions and the going ons of the program. They seem to be happy to be there, not really have complaints. Got to meet the other applicants and just talk about random things and also hear about their other interviews as well. I got lucky and manage to coordinate rides with a couple of the applicants. Being 1 of 3 gal applicants there, got the story behind them having only 1 gal in their program. One left due to personality issue and the other left wanting to be full time mom.

Interview Day (Sat) - Starts with breakfast @ 8am. Again their theme seems to be food. Day starts with a couple of slideshows by Dr Hall, program director, introducing Lubbock and the program a bit. He is funny, very laid back, approachable. Then interviews start. Each of us has 3 interview sessions, 2 one-on-one with faculty and 1 with 2 residents. There are 12 of us and about 5 faculties and 4-5 residents. The rest is luck of draw to see who you get. I interviewed with Dr Boswell, Dr Hall and 2 of the residents. Standard questions. Asked about my personal statement, my research, what I liked and how I dealt with struggle and of course my school and OMM. I just hoped that I answered coherently. In between interveiws, can chat with other residents popping into the conference room for food. Everyone there is very open about answering any questions. They are up for accreditation renewal so they'll know in Nov. They are planning to rank 25 ish to match 4. Their ranking process is very mechanical. Everyone is given a score and then are put in order after interveiw. They would talk about it before submission. Lunch is provided and a short tour after. The hospital looks fairly new and has electronic records. It's a decent size, not too small. They have plenty of call rooms and they all look very nice.

Hotel - Hawthorn Suites - gorgeous hotel for the price of 80ish bucks. The only thing I could complain about is not having shuttle service or not being too reliable. Interview is on Sat morn and we were told that they would have a shuttle for us in the morn even though they don't normally run on Sat morn per program coordinator. Anyways, I asked them 3 times about and they didn't have a clue to what I was asking about. Thankfully, I met one of the guys on the plane and ran into someone I knew from Dallas at the hotel. We ended up bumming a ride from another that rented a car and staying there as well. Also there's not much around the hotel besides Covenant Hospital and I didn't know what else is there and being that dinner was not till 8pm, I got hungry after I landed at 12:30pm. Took quite a bit of walk but ended up eating at the hospital cafe. would be nice if the hotel could provide some surrounding area info for those of us without rental.

Overall - Solid program. Not have enough pediatric but do send residents to Dallas Children's. Seems to have good education to pass boards. Lubbock is interesting being that it serves West TX, NM and surrounding states. Will consider.