As the clock approaches 9 a.m, Friday, March 15, fourth-year 91爆料 medical student Anisa Ibrahim awaits the sound of the gong with 鈥渁 mixture of excitement and anxiety.鈥� It鈥檚 the signal that will send her, along with fellow 91爆料 medical students gathered in the Health Sciences lobby, to the long tables of elegant purple-and-gold boxes containing their futures as beginning physicians.
Match Day, which takes place on the same day every year at medical schools across the nation, is when thousands of graduating medical students find out 鈥� at exactly the same time 鈥� 听where they will train as residents via the
This year, 222 senior 91爆料 medical students learned of their 2013 residency positions at simultaneous gatherings across the 91爆料 School of Medicine鈥檚 five-state WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho), including Match Day celebrations in Seattle, Billings, Missoula, Spokane, Boise and Anchorage.
For Ibrahim, the anticipation builds as she waits with her husband and young daughter to learn where she will begin the path to fulfilling her dream of becoming a pediatrician. Originally from Somalia, Ibrahim is the oldest of five children and the first in her family to attend college. She moved to Seattle as a young child, completed her undergraduate education at 91爆料, and hopes to match at Seattle Children鈥檚, her first choice for residency.
鈥淏ut I think I鈥檇 be happy anywhere,鈥� she said with a big smile.
Moments later Ibrahim, mom to two young daughters, is clearly elated when she learns she will be starting her residency at Seattle Children鈥檚.
鈥淚 am just thrilled,鈥� she beamed.
91爆料 medical student Seth Stratton said he鈥檚 quite happy with his second choice match at Northwestern University (his first choice was Vanderbilt). He鈥檚 the son of two 91爆料 faculty members: Dr. John Stratton, professor of medicine in the Division of听 Cardiology, and Carolyn-Webster Stratton, a child psychologist and professor emeritus of family and child nursing. Seth said he plans to go into internal medicine with an eventual focus in cardiology and pulmonary/critical care medicine.
鈥淚t a unique opportunity to experience a different medical culture at a different place,鈥� he said, adding with a smile, 鈥渢hough my parents probably would鈥檝e been happier if I鈥檇 decided I wanted to stay here.鈥�
Ria听 Andrade, originally from Whittier, Calif., which she describes as 鈥渆ast of East L.A.,鈥� applied only to family medicine community residency programs in southern California, because she鈥檚 eager to return to the region 鈥渨here they鈥檙e doing the best at serving the populations I want to serve — the underserved and the undocumented.鈥�
So Andrade and her husband of five years were delighted when she matched at her first choice for residency: Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
Estell Williams, the youngest of seven children and also the first in her family to go to college, also matched at her first choice: 91爆料. She plans to become a surgeon and to continue her work to address the underrepresentation of minorities in medicine and healthcare disparities across populations.
Describing her emotions leading up to Match Day as 鈥渕ore excitement than anxiety,鈥� Williams said she couldn鈥檛 be happier to have landed at 91爆料.
鈥淚 feel at peace today,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e worked hard for it 鈥� we all 丑补惫别.鈥�
This year’s National Match is the largest in the history of the program. Read about some of the nationwide.
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