Making that Rank Order List

I’m currently on my second (and last) vacation of intern year, and it is also the week that 4th year medical students across the country must submit and certify their Rank Order Lists (ROLs), ranking all of the programs where they interviewed… basically, choosing which programs will be a the top of their lists and which they will *hopefully* Match into next month. In just a few weeks, we find out who will get to replace us as interns next year! (But really, how on earth am I almost a senior resident?!)

Making our ROL last year was much more nerve-wracking than I ever anticipated. It’s a big decision to put all of those programs into a list and then submit that list into an algorithm that has the power to put you (and in my case, a family in tow) anywhere in the country for (potentially) years of your life.

I interviewed at far too many places: I was offered 24 interviews, planned on attending 20 (one was cancelled due to weather and then the program rescheduled me on a date I had an interview somewhere else, so I declined the rescheduled date), actually attended 19, and ranked 14. (My school’s leadership has us all believe we needed a ton of options if we wanted to successfully Match, even in “non-competitive” pediatrics.) Going into interview season, I thought that there would be a few standout programs and the rest would just be “meh”, so it would be easy. Not so. I could have seen myself being happy at just about any of the ones where I interviewed. My approach to every program was: I need my first job as a resident so I can become a badass general pediatrician. That is my top priority. And I think that I could achieve that goal pretty much anywhere. But the next priority was: Where will I be HAPPY? Because that is a completely separate entity. There were a few programs that I honestly thought, “I would be miserable there…..” but with all of the advice I received to “rank every program!”, I was hesitant to discard any of the programs. That being said, it was still much harder to make this ROL than I originally anticipated, so I needed some help with sifting through all of these programs. I did use the NRMP’s PRISM app to submit an initial ranking immediately after each interview, which set me up with a good idea of where they all fit into a list based on many factors, but it still felt a bit off.

I needed something more tactile, more visual. I wrote down every program I interviewed with onto a Post-It. All 19 of them. I then met with my med school advisor/best friend at a bookstore coffeehouse along with The Handsome and The Ladybug. At a tiny table, I took all of those Post-Its and went through them one by one, moving some higher or lower on the list. My advisor/best friend would give her input on the individual programs where she knew people, knew my interests, and knew my family and how they would all fit together. Her input helped immensely! It was nice to step back from the stress of the process to see the big picture. When we left the coffeeshop (An hour later? Two hours later?) I had a rough list and felt a little more reassured. There were still some programs that I wasn’t sure were in the right place on my list, or if I wanted them on the list at all (at that point, I had not yet discarded any of them).

So then, using those same Post-Its, I played a little game. I folded them all up, and over the course of several days, I would randomly draw one and open it…. pretending that was my envelope on Match Day. If I was excited, it stayed at (or moved to) the top of the list. If it made my heart pound and I wanted to cry….. I threw it away. Once I had played this game and drew all of the program names….. I knew my ROL, and I knew it was right for me (and my family). I submitted, certified, and never looked back. Based on the AAMC’s data for pediatrics, I knew there was a >95% chance that I would Match at one of my top 5 programs on my ROL…. and when I opened those 5 Post-It’s, I was very excited. I knew we’d be ok no matter what my envelope  said on Match Day.

I’m glad I don’t have to go through that again… at least until the fellowship Match in two years. 😉

To all of the MS4’s out there stressing over the ROL deadline TOMORROW…. it will all be ok. I can’t wait to see where everyone is headed! (But if you’re going into Peds…. my program is the best and I hope to see you this June!) 🙂

Useful Apps for Fourth Year

I cannot believe that it is already September and recruitment season is almost here. These were the apps that helped me keep my sanity through a wonderful fourth year that was full of adventure and excitement as I closed the book on that chapter of my life. 4th year was a lot of fun but still a lot of work and a TON of stress. These apps helped to relieve that stress.

***I am not sponsored by any of these apps/companies… I found them throughout the year and thought they were useful… I’m still using them!***

1. NRMP PRISM app

This app, designed by the NRMP, was great for tracking the programs I applied to, interview dates, and they even had a ranking system. I have been telling every 4th year student about this app! (And, it’s free!) You choose which Match you want to enter (Main Residency vs. specialty like Urology, vs. fellowships), add your programs, and update once interviews get going. It was so helpful, and I already had a framework for my Rank Order List (again, easing the stress… a little).

Waze

Honestly, I’ve been using this app for a long time well before interview season. It’s a crowdsourced GPS that shows you the fastest route to your destination and it updates in real time so you can avoid wrecks and traffic jams. I spent so much time on the road driving to the majority of my interviews 😳 and this app saved me a lot of time. All I had to do was type in the address and drive. (It also shows you places to stop along the way…. where to get gas, restaurants, etc.)

Audible

In speaking of all that time on the road… after awhile, I grew bored of my iTunes and even the radio and I needed something else to stimulate my brain while the miles ticked by. Audible is a branch of Amazon and there so many choices. Some books are free, you can be ‘gifted’ your first book by a friend, or you can sign up for a membership (this is what I did) and get discounts on books. In the membership, you get one credit per month to use on any book (any $ amount), plus discount if you buy additional books (plus they have new free books pop up all of the time). I spent so much time on the road (I literally stopped clocking the hours because it was insane), but I would use my monthly credit toward the longest audiobooks I could find. I started the _Outlander_ series and some of them are 30-45 hours of audiobook… and some of them I listened to more than once. Now that my round of interview season is over, I still use this every day on my commute to and from work.

Calm

At the beginning of 4th year, I downloaded the Calm app to give meditating a try to see what it was about. I liked this (FREE!) app because it had lots of material on it that I found soothing. There was plain background noise (I use mountain lake, pictured above), guided and unguided meditations, and series of meditations (such as, A Week of Calm, A Week of Stress Relief, etc), and all of that was free. Each meditation is 10 minutes long or so. Since then, they have majorly upped their game. Now even the free version has daily meditations on topics to ponder, more series meditations, a section just for music, and–my favorite–SLEEP STORIES. I have such a hard time falling asleep when I am 1) alone 2) in unfamiliar places and 3) stressed about the next day’s interviews, all of which I was doing on a regular basis during interview season. My sleep was suffering during that time, but in using this app, I gained back a lot of peace. I still use this app every day, and I upgraded to the paid version so I have access to all of the content. They are constantly adding to the content, with new daily meditations, sleep stories, music, series, etc.

Those are my top choices for useful apps for 4th year. What apps did you find helpful?