Tom Gallant '18
Deciding where to apply for residency was difficult because my partner, Ivy Co, D.O. '18 and I were hoping to match at the same place. We were going for some pretty competitive specialties so we set up a lot of sub-internships or audition rotations to try and help us figure out where we liked and also to get a foot in the door when applying for the match. I can say that this definitely helped because I was able to rotate at Georgetown and loved their OB-GYN program and was able to work closely with the current residents and attending physicians. Often times you are offered a "courtesy interview" if you do a sub-internship at a program you are applying to. Luckily both Ivy and I were able to interview at Georgetown and both loved the program so everything worked out. It was key for us to tell programs that we were couples matching because then the OB-GYN department would talk to the Anesthesia department or vice versa. We also focused on programs that had a lot of surrounding programs. For example, there are some great programs out west but it would be hard to make any combinations if most of our programs are on the east coast.
As a result of my sub-internship at Georgetown, I will be going into the field of OB-GYN. It was the first rotation I had in my third year...honestly I set it up first to be a good "warm-up" rotation for surgery but I was hooked. From deliveries to primary care to complicated surgical cases — this field really has everything. It is a field where things can change on a dime and I love that intensity. I also love how important advocacy is in this field in particular. Anesthesia and OB-GYN really complement each other well as specialties so that worked out well.
Opening the envelope on Match Day — wow, such a wave of relief! Honestly, you put in so many hours throughout medical school and you never really know if you're on the right path. I think there may have been at least a thousand times throughout our four years where we thought we made mistakes that would keep us from matching. Were our board scores good enough? Did we set up enough sub-internships? Did we do the sub-internships at the right place? Should I have sent everyone a thank you card or just the program director? The questions were endless. Opening that letter and seeing that we both got our top choice was extremely rewarding.