Why The Residency Match Is Like Getting Married

My life is currently composed of audition rotations, applications and scheduling catastrophes, peppered here and there with fun things/having a life (e.g. running off to Columbus between rotations to visit friends).

I’d like to share some thoughts on what the residency match is like, because I was trying to explain how it worked to my parents and I suspect that they’re just pretending that they understand what’s going on.

Why The Residency Match Is Like Getting Married (…After One Date)

So this is as accurate as it’s gonna get.

I haven’t ever actually been married, but I like to think that my facebook marriage of 9 years to my best friend has to count for something! Our “marriage” has lasted more than a whole lot of real relationships!

<3

“It’s like going on a first date and deciding whether or not you want to get married.” (Or at least, whether or not you want to be married for the next 3 years.)

Sometimes, you get to do a trial run (e.g. audition rotation/acting internship) where you spend 2-4 weeks there (I’m at another one right now!) to get them to like you (and vice versa)…but this is the gist of it:

Please like me.

I sent off my application with my CV, personal statement, board scores, transcript, dean’s letter, photo, and recommendation letters…and I’ve been waiting ever since.

The likelihood of finding a program that I love and adore in every single way might be a challenge, because no place is perfect, and neither am I, and no matter how much you love something, you can’t be happy with it 100% of the time…

But that’s why you learn to compromise. Factoring in the things that were most important to me and what I was and was not willing to compromise went a long way when I was researching programs to apply to. There are plenty that I would be ecstatic to be accepted into because they offer so many things that pertain to my interests and my long-term goals, but in the end, there will only be one for me.

Please invite me on a date.

Aka the residency interview. Over these past few weeks/months, I’ve been checking my email constantly (it’s basically like when you’re constantly checking your phone to see if the person you’re interested in responded yet).

Sometimes, you get your heart shattered to pieces by an email inviting you for an interview from one of your top-choice programs, immediately followed by this:

Good morning! My sincere apologies if you just received an invitation to interview. That letter was sent by mistake.

(It was followed up by a 3rd email saying that they needed all the people they were considering to fill out a survey first before making their final decision. I was so ecstatic when I got that first email though. :'( )

…And other times, you get flat-out rejected.

But despite those, I’ve [thankfully] been very, very blessed in the realms of interview invitations to programs that I’m really interested in. :D! Thus far, I’ve managed to stuff them all in so that I’ll only miss a grand total of 1.5 days of rotations!

Please marry me.

With 600-1000+ applications sent to each program, they have room to interview ~50-150-ish candidates for anywhere from 2-15-ish spots. It looks in every way like the odds are stacked against you, but…I like to think that somehow, the algorithm they run us through is magical, and that it’ll all work out.

I hope that when I step foot into the residency program I’m meant to be at, I’ll just know in my heart that it’s “the one.” (And that they’ll feel the same way!) <3