On the third Thursday of every March, medical students across the country learn their residency fate. After four years of 80 hour work weeks, intense training courses, and countless up-all-nighters, students submit their top residency picks to an all-powerful computer in Washington, D.C., which, much like the Wizard in the Emerald city, eventually churns brief letters announcing placements of the anxious students. Unlike the Wizard, these placements are decided through a sophisticated algorithm system that considers variables like class rank, grades, and recommendations from residency programs where the students interviewed earlier in the year.
For many, this is one of the most important moments in their life. It can mean separation from friends, family, or a long term boyfriend, girlfriend, and even spouse. It will determine what the students will practice as doctors and shape the way they live the rest of their lives.
Extreme emotions circulated through the crowd. Alas, the final person to learn his match broke the tension with a giant leap in the air, happy to know his residency, perhaps even more excited about the added cash bonus he received for being last in line!
