On the same faithful day in March, coined Match Day, thousands of 4th year medical students around the country open an envelope that literally changes the course of their lives. Will you be moving? staying? crying? smiling? laughing? rejoicing?
Match Day is a time honored tradition of every American medical school where
graduating fourth year medical students are paired with their residency
spot. The match process is based on a very complicated algorithm that
has been demystified by very few people- we are NOT one of them! The
basic process goes like this... you apply to residency programs you are
interested in, the programs who like you invite you to interview with
them, then you rank them against all of the other programs you
interviewed with and they rank you against all the other students they
interviewed. All that information goes into some computer and if it
spits out a match you have a job for the next few years! Trust me it's
even scarier than it sounds, but the good news is most people DO match! 
There we were...200 medical students tapping our feet, biting our lips and rocking in our chairs anxiously waiting for the clock to strike 12. At the sound of a foghorn we ripped open our envelopes as fast as we could to quench the burning question in our minds- not to mention the minds of our loved ones who may need to make a move themselves.
So what was the verdict? Are we smiling? crying?...Above all things we are just grateful! We know that God knows the end from the beginning and He only wants the very best for us so that whatever the outcome it had to be a Match Made in Heaven :-).
XOXO
~Ohemaa Mimi
My sister just went through the same thing. Thank God she got matched to her first choice so no crazy surprises for us there. Congrats to you two!
ReplyDelete-Nadine
Thank you Tea Gal for the support! Congrats to your sister!
Delete-Ohemaa, Mimi
aay! WOW, I really can't wait to follow your journey! I'm ghanaian too, and I've been looking for blogs like yours (Ghanaians in diaspora in health field) for a long time! i'm soo so excited to find your blog! i'm a high school senior currently about to start college, and I have a blog for that too. (fallingofftherye.wordpress.com)please check it out if you can. I plan to pursue a career in health sciences also hopefully in Ghana! I will be following this blog religiously and hope to learn loads from it! Oh gosh i'm so excited! lol Thank you so much for creating this blog!
ReplyDeleteAlso if you don't mind me asking, what did you guys major in in college? any advice on majors for incoming pre-medical students like myself?
aay Gifty! Congrats on being a high school senior and congrats on the journey you have decided to take as you pursue a college degree! This blog is for anyone who is interested in medicine/global health but it is especially for young girls like you who have a goal and a vision. We are trying to chronicle our experiences- challenges included, so I hope you find this blog helpful as you learn from our tribulations and our triumphs!
ReplyDeleteIn college I majored in both international relations and biology (knowing that I wanted to go to med school). My advice to you as an incoming pre-med student would be to ...really make sure you know what you want out of life. It's nearly impossible at any age to have everything all figured out, but if you have an interest explore it further to make sure it is for you. If you think you want to pursue a particular profession then you should shadow people in that profession. But don't just watch what they do, speak with them in their offices away from their patients/clients and try to figure out if they are happy with their choices. Ask them if they would do it all over again if given the chance. Learn from their mistakes and their success. Next, discover your talents/passion and follow them! You may have a God given gift to sing, or design, or be a leader or whatever! Don't ignore it! Develop it in conjunction with your other interests! Someone once said passion plus talent equals purpose. It's true! Thirdly, your time in college is short so make sure you live it up and have fun!- responsible fun:-). Lastly, keep God first. Ultimately He is in control, so no matter what life may bring pray often and keep developing your faith- at times you may feel like you're falling, but He is always there to catch you! (Sorry this is soo long lol)
-Ohemaa, Mimi
ahh THANK YOU SO MUCH! :D ah,i'm so so excited for this blog. you have no idea! lol. Thanks for the advice! Definitely trying to develop my Christian faith more as I grow! ahh Good luck to you guys! Have fun in GH and eat all the banku you can ooh, before you return back to bankuless U.S.A lol.
DeleteHi Gifty it's Kukie!
DeleteJust wanted to piggy back off what Mimi wrote, if you're willing to get even more advice :)
I studied Biobehavioral Health in college- it's a cross between biology and public health with a research focus. I honestly disliked biology b/c there were so many classes that were not necessary for the medicine like plant biology and zoology, so I took the path less taken and just made sure I completed my medical school requirements.
The best advice I could give is to do things your way, no one elses. People were so against me not being a bio, chem, etc major but I knew I would absolutely hate it. There is nothing wrong w/ taken the road less taken to get to your destination. Also be prepared for naysayers because not everyone wants to see you succeed. However if you ask God to have His Will in your life things will begin to flow. Now I'm not saying it will be easy- nope things will get tough at times, but you will always receive the GRACE to get through. Prayer, faith in YOURSELF, and good people around you are essential to being in the health field. I pray that you continue to fight the good fight of faith and even when you are down, are able to pick yourself up through every situation.
Thanks so much for your support; it's individuals like yourself which caused us to write such a blog. Do tell your friends and loved ones about the blog as well!
God Bless You,
Ohemaa, Kukie
ahh thank you so much! sorry i just saw this reply. but i'm glad i read it. Thank you so much for the advice. Yeah i'm not too keen on biology, but on the MCAT were there questions about the boring part of biology like plants and zoology? you see i want to do well on the MCAT so that i can get into medical school, so i'm thinkng if that means deaing with boring zoology/plants in order for me to pass and finally be able to do what i love, then why not? but if zoology and that type of biology is not on the MCAT then i'll definitely look into biobehavioral health in college. sounds like my thing! now that i'm a HS graduate, college is right around the corner and i want to get things right to start off.
DeleteThanks again for your awesome advice. God Bless you all!
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