One of my favorite games growing up was The Game of Life. In today's gaming lingo, "the graphics were stunning and the game-play intense" (for a board game). You got your own station wagon, you picked up color-coded plastic kids along the way that looked like mushrooms, and the whole dizzying game board was crowned with a noisy roulette-like number wheel nestled in a peaceful mountain valley of green plastic. As the serious gamers might recall, the game begins with landing a career. Right off the bat you are faced with a choice: Either off to college, or bypass the co-eds and get a quicker crack at the rest of your future. If you wisely choose college, your future job and subsequent earning potential is determined by a lucky (lawyer) or not-so-lucky (Wal-Mart associate-equivalent) spin of the rainbow colored number wheel. Countless spins, scenic plastic mountain passes, and a station wagon or two full of peg-kids later, the game culminates in retirement: Go for the glory of the mansion or peacefully wile away the rest of your days in a modest jungle hut as a philanthropist. In the end, it always seemed the outcome of the game was determined by the career choices made so many spins ago.
All of this reminiscing has a point. Brianna and I are quickly approaching the crossroads of making what feels like one of those big life decisions. The residency match program deadline deciding where we will spend the next 3-6 years is just around the corner (our rank list is due in February, Match Day is March 17th). The reality that the decisions we make now will have lifelong ramifications adds a feeling of almost solemnity to the decision making process. We haven't felt like this since I somehow convinced Brianna into marrying me! However, it is an extremely exciting time as well. We have the luxury of getting to chose (or at least get a bit of say) in what part of the country to call home. I have finished interviewing at all the programs and now it is decision time.
So we are taking votes. In no particular order other than alphabetical order by state, we are considering (affiliated university in parenthesis):
1. Diamond Children's Medical Center (University of Arizona) in Tucson, Arizona
2. Phoenix Children's Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona
3. Brenner Children's Hosptial (Wake Forest University) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
4. Nationwide Children's Hospital (The Ohio Statue University) in Columbus, Ohio
5. Doernbecher Children's Hospital (Oregon Health Sciences University) in Portland, Oregon
6. MUSC Children's Hospital (Medical University of South Carolina) in Charleston, South Carolina
7. Primary Children's Medical Center (The University of Utah) in Salt Lake City Utah
8. Univeristy of Virginia Pediatrics (University of Virginia) in Charlottesville, Virginia
9. Children's National Medical Center (George Washington University) in Washington DC
Check out my nifty residency map below for geographical reference or to check out the hospitals logos (Note...you can't judge a residency program by it's cover).
Thoughts, advice, warnings, and (for Lance) bribes in favor or against any of the programs are welcome and accepted!
In the end, I think the genius lesson found in Milton Bradley's board game masterpiece will apply: It really is all about just enjoying the ride and the view of the green plastic mountains, regardless of how the spins come out.
So we are taking votes. In no particular order other than alphabetical order by state, we are considering (affiliated university in parenthesis):
1. Diamond Children's Medical Center (University of Arizona) in Tucson, Arizona
2. Phoenix Children's Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona
3. Brenner Children's Hosptial (Wake Forest University) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
4. Nationwide Children's Hospital (The Ohio Statue University) in Columbus, Ohio
5. Doernbecher Children's Hospital (Oregon Health Sciences University) in Portland, Oregon
6. MUSC Children's Hospital (Medical University of South Carolina) in Charleston, South Carolina
7. Primary Children's Medical Center (The University of Utah) in Salt Lake City Utah
8. Univeristy of Virginia Pediatrics (University of Virginia) in Charlottesville, Virginia
9. Children's National Medical Center (George Washington University) in Washington DC
Check out my nifty residency map below for geographical reference or to check out the hospitals logos (Note...you can't judge a residency program by it's cover).
Thoughts, advice, warnings, and (for Lance) bribes in favor or against any of the programs are welcome and accepted!
In the end, I think the genius lesson found in Milton Bradley's board game masterpiece will apply: It really is all about just enjoying the ride and the view of the green plastic mountains, regardless of how the spins come out.
16 comments:
Primary Children's, of course!!!
East Coast! Come join the librul elites!
Brenner's - it's closest to us!
It looks like you can't go wrong :) Wherever you two end up, I hope you love it!
West is good (wink, wink), not to mention full of hugs, slobber, and major noise from some fun nieces and nephew. ;)
looks like ya'll have some great choices. The whole match thing almost seems like guessing to me, actually, because you won't necessarily get your first choice is they listed you 4th or whatever. Trying to decide what they would rank you is equally elusive as trying to decide where you would rank them. Best of luck! I'm sure you'll thrive at any of these destinations!
Phoenix Arizona! Phoenix Arizona! Phoenix Arizona! Phoenix Arizona! Phoenix Arizona! I think you get the point!
Wow there are a lot of similarities between our lists! It's fun to imagine so many different places, isn't it? (until it gets closer to the deadline and then it's just plain stressful!) I've vote for Virginia - my parents both had glowing reports of Charlottesville and it sounds like a lovely place to live. Not to mention close to so many other things on the east coast (and you guys are the adventurous type who would take advantage of that!). Can't wait till March!! YAY
Portland. It's a beautiful city and Oregon is a particularly fun choice for outdoor lovers such as yourselves. We love it here. If you need a vacation on the coast, we have a guest apartment. In fact, Come now, it might help you make these life directing decisions...
When playing Life I always tried to become the artist:) guess I still am...good luck.
Because I am a selfish person I want you to match at Children's so we can still be close by! But in all honestly I want whatever is best for you....even though you will be missed! Can't belive it's almost match time....seriously I can't believe it!
I had to delete my first message to remove a grammatical no no.
Hmmm... Well you don't want to go to SLC because you'd feel like you're going back in time. You don't want to go to Arizona because it's just too hot! Your two best options are Washington DC because I'm sure it would be a really exciting place to live (imagine the day trips), or Seattle, where you could potentially work with Derek Shephard.
Phoenix! I may be biased though and just want you guys here in Az!
Portland. So we can actually see you on occasion. No residencies in Alaska, eh?
well if i knew where we were going it would help but based off of the school we applied to i would say as far as the states go , ohio, dc, or utah. however i also do know that uof a has a great medical program my cousing went there for med school or some part of residency and enjoyed it good luck we cand wait to see where we all end of up.
You know where! and You know Why! Lets be Utes together. and if you are in in DC when I'm not...all I can say is in the words or Lance, RUDE!
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