Residency Revealed

It is interview time at the hospital. All of the fourth year med students around the country are interviewing for their residencies. When they come for their interviews at UAB, they ask the current residents to attend dinners with the interviewees. It gives the interviewees a chance to ask questions about the program, the city, etc. Stephen and I have gone to a couple of these dinners in the last few weeks. Listening to the conversations and the questions that are asked makes me think about all of the common misconceptions that the rest of the world has about doctors.

Most people probably don't realize that fourth year med students have to go through a match system to find out where their residency will be. The best thing that I can compare it to is sorority recruitment. It is very similar minus all of the singing, cheering, and skits. :) Med students interview at the hospitals they are interested in, then they rank those hospitals in order of first to last choice of where they would like to end up. Then the hospitals rank all of the people who interviewed with them. A fancy computer system matches all of the hundreds of applicants with the hospitals' choices. Then, you find out where you live on match day. I can't speak for how all match days work, but Stephen's was nerve racking. All of the students names are pulled out of a bowl. When your name is called, you go up to the front of the room (in front of your med school class and all of their family and friends) and you open your envelope. Then you read out loud your name and where you have matched. That's how you find out where you are going to live for the next three + years of your life. Stephen's match was a good one, but Iowa was in the middle of his list. All that I could think the whole time I was waiting for his name to be called was how much I really really didn't want to live in Iowa. Luckily, we got Birmingham, which we love.

So, back to some of the common misconceptions. Everyone seems to think that doctors make a lot of money. What they don't realize is that it takes doctors a LONG time to get to a point in their career where they make a nice salary. Even then, doctors today don't make what the doctor's of yesterday made. I am so proud of Stephen and all that he has accomplished, but sometimes I don't like to tell people what he does for a living. A few weeks ago, someone at work made the comment, "You're married to a doctor. We all know you just work for fun." This was insulting on so many levels. The main one being that I have worked very hard to be where I am in MY career. It's not something I do for kicks and giggles. What that person did not realize is that he makes way more money than my husband, and working is not something that I could choose not to do right now. Residents make in the low $40,000 a year range. When you add a med school loan payment that is as much as our mortgage (not kidding), it takes two salaries to make it. I really don't know how people do it on one. I'm thankful that God has blessed us with two salaries to make ends meet each month with a little left over (sometimes).

Sometimes I wish that the world could hear the conversations at a residency interview dinner. Some of the questions they might hear asked would be 1) How often do you see your family (wife, kids)? 2) Are you able to afford the cost of living in this city? 3) How much is your mortgage?...Of course these questions are accompanied by lots of questions about the quality of the program, etc. etc. You get the point though, hopefully. So, next time you meet a doctor (especially a young one), congratulate them on all they have accomplished. Med school and residencies are not easy. At the same time, don't expect them or their wives to be wearing Versace or buying you expensive Christmas presents. :)

How 'Bout Them Dawgs???!!!

I am so proud to be a Louisiana Tech alum, and I'm proud of the way the Bulldawgs played against Fresno State. I wore my Louisiana Tech sweatshirt on Saturday when everyone else where I live was wearing Bama gear.

Speaking of that other game that everyone watched this weekend, I went into the weekend kind of on the Bama side. I have never been an LSU fan. I think that this mostly came from being on the sideline in Death Valley with the Louisiana Tech cheerleaders. Out of all of the places that we traveled, LSU had the meanest fans, and it was the only place where cops had to escort us in and out of the stadium. If you went to school at LSU, then by all means, you should be their biggest fan. I have no ill will against LSU fans. I am just not a fan myself.

I had an experience this weekend that made me realize that every team has those jerk fans. Stephen and I decided to order a Pizza Saturday night. We waited until after 7 p.m., thinking that Pizza Hut wouldn't be as busy after the game started. The parking lot was full, so Stephen dropped me off, and I went in to get the pizza (in my Louisiana Tech sweatshirt that was blue with red letters btw). This guy in an Alabama jersey said, "How dare you come in here wearing that?" I said, "It's a Louisiana Tech sweatshirt." He said, "It's a Louisiana shirt, why would you wear it." Now, at this point, I'm really hoping this guy didn't actually go to school at Alabama because he could not tell the difference between Louisiana Tech and LSU. I told him that I went to school at Louisiana Tech and that they were playing on ESPNU at 9:30, and I was supporting my alma mater. He replied, "Of course they're playing on that channel, all of the good teams play on the good channels." This guy was seriously an ass. Then he told me that he had money on Bama winning the game.

We went home, and I honestly played words with friends through most of the LSU/Bama game while we waited on the Tech game to come on. I have to say though that I got great satisfaction out of knowing that the Bama fan from Pizza Hut lost money when they lost. :)

Team Singing Fight Song after win at Fresno
I am so proud of Tech's team. This clip made me proud. I always made the cheerleaders and Regal Blues learn the words to the Fight Song each year. I'm glad that the football coaches do the same. :) Go Dawgs!!!