MATCH DAY!!!

One of the days we had been waiting for for seven long years had finally come!! MATCH DAY!! For those unfamiliar with the matching process here's a brief explanation. During the second half of your last year of med school you apply and then interview at various hospitals around the country in hopes of procuring a spot in one of their residency programs after graduation. Residency is actually a real job where you get to be a real doctor with a salary! Once you interview at all the places that have extended one to you, you sit down and make a rank list, ranking each program from ONE (I want to go to this place over all the others) to however many you have in order of which program you'd like to go to most. Then, on a day in March, every single fourth year medical student who has participated in the match process opens their letters altogether at the same time all over the country to find out where they've matched. You get one offer from one program and it could be the number one spot you picked or it could be farther down your match list, it all depends on how the programs ranked YOU.

So... because Tyler is brilliant and hardworking (I'm allowed to brag, I'm the wife) he interviewed at places like Harvard, Yale, Duke, Michigan, Stanfurd, UCSF and others. He interviewed insanely well at all of those places which made our rank list extra hard to put together. We had so many good programs to choose from that we, especially Tyler, agonized over which one would be best for not only him, but also our family. We went to the Temple, prayed about it for hours and hours, weighed the pros and cons, the quality of the programs, the quality of living in whatever city they were in. We thought we had finally figured out who we were ranking number one and then a phone call and some serious promises changed it all. While Tyler interviewed at UCSD, we were pretty certain we'd be making a big move across the country. For various reasons UCSD wasn't high on our list (even though it broke our hearts to leave here) but then days before the final list was due, things began to fall into place, questions were answered and doubts were erased that made us put UCSD as number one. We honestly didn't really have any bad options but when it really came down to it, UCSD suddenly felt right for us. So, with our list turned in we waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally, Monday of Match Week came and although we never really had any doubt that he would, we found out Tyler did in fact match in Radiation Oncology! We had to wait until later that week though to find out WHERE. We were fairly certain where we'd be but it was still a LONG wait.

Finally Match Day was here!! We sent Max off to school but Lia came with us and we waited until 9am when everyone would open their letters!! And wow were we excited, relieved, thrilled, happy beyond belief -- soooo many emotions!!! Not only do we get to stay in SAN DIEGO, Tyler will have some amazing research opportunities while he is here. We are THRILLED to get to stay here!!! Part of us felt a little sad that our big adventure would have to be put on hold for the time being, but really we are just beyond happy. And honestly, I was so glad to not have to TALK about it anymore!! We are so proud of our Tyler!

Tyler and the other student that matched at UCSD for Radiation Oncology.