Match Day!!!!

The countdown is over and it's official! Eric matched with the anesthesiology program at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, GA. This was Eric's top pick and he is thrilled he will be training there. So this means he will complete his intern year at St. James in Olympia Fields, IL beginning in July and then we will move down to Augusta for Eric to complete his residency.

How exciting! I am so proud of Eric's hard work and determination to complete medical school and to get into a program he loves.

I wanted to explain how Eric came to get the position at St. James because it is truly remarkable. As I noted before, it was very difficult to get ahold of anyone at the places he was scrambling to on Tuesday an there was a max set for the number of places the students could apply. Eric concentrated on trying to find a spot near Augusta as he was fairly confident that is where he was going to match. However, according to a listing provided to the students, there was still a spot open at St. James. This listing was aged as of the day of the DO match (so February sometime), so Eric didn't even know if it was accurate, but he went ahead and sent in his application online.

Well, most of the day went by after sending out his application and Eric was trying to wait to hear back from somewhere. He had a phone interview with a place in Chino Valley, CA, and was told he would receive a phone call back. Eric was in a mindset that he would take the first position offered since most of the day had already gone by. Then, a director from Midwestern came into the conference room where all the "scramblers" were and asked if there was anyone who needed just an intern year (most hadn't matched for anything, but Eric just needed an intern year spot). Eric said yes and this guy told him he'd just gotten off the phone with the person at St. James who managed the intern hiring. He gave Eric his cell phone number and told him to call right away.

Eric had a phone interview with the St. James guy that went really well and was told Eric was first on the list to get the position, but that he needed to see his application first (apparently he was already on his way home for the day). He told Eric he would call him first thing in the morning. This really put Eric in a pickle! He was in a mindset that he would take the first position offered and Chino Valley was going to call back any minute!!

The St. James guy called the Midwestern director back as a reference for Eric and the Midwestern director raved about Eric. Eric then got a call back from St. James and was told that they didn't want to lose him and he was offered a contract!!!! How "convenient" everything worked out in the nick of time. Hmmm...funny how things work out like that!