Getting Busy

...with my fourth year to-do list. (I know what you were thinking! Naughty!) Here's what I have on my plate thus far:

1. Ambulatory Medicine rotation in November--location TBD
   
2. Step 2 CS on November 5
3. December: Interviews on the 3rd, 4th, 7th, 10th; Step 2 CK the 19th, interview in Colorado on the 21st, so we're spending Christmas up there with various family afterwards
4. Sub-internship in pediatrics in January--location TBD (could be county hospital, which will be asthma, or big hospital, which will be peak-RSV season with no patient caps and HELL)
5. Submitting rank list in January
   
6. Elective in February--currently Infectious Disease, but as my senioritis increases, I will probably switch to something like Diagnostic Radiology, where the hours are more like 9-noon.
   
7. March--Required senior stuff, Jurisprudence exam, MATCH DAY!!!, etc.
8. April--CHINA!
9. May--sitting on a beach drinking. Or possibly moving, if we have a house by then.

I may cancel some of those December interviews, especially if I hear from Top Choice Program. If somehow my letters don't make it in, or I don't get an interview with them anyway, then I'll keep most of those interviews. I had planned on picking from three potential local programs; I may have to choose from the two I've already heard from. This would not be the end of the world, and if I end up in a program where I'm really unhappy I can always try to transfer next year.

My hubby and I had "The Talk" the other day. I laid it out: should I rank programs outside our geographic region, and risk matching elsewhere, which would mean long-distance relationship and hubby finding new job? Or should I only rank programs in the geographic region and risk going unmatched, which means I'd have to scramble for a PGY-1 preliminary Medicine (or Surgery, shudder) year? After some consideration, he decided that it would be difficult for him to find a job elsewhere, and likely it would not be as good a job as he currently has. Neither of us wants to do long-distance again (2.5 years was enough!), so I think the verdict is that I will only rank programs in our region (and possibly Colorado).

When I expressed my slight discomfort at the idea of only ranking 2-4 programs, he laughed at me. What I see as a risk--going unmatched--he doesn't see. It's nice that he has such faith in me, but I can't turn off the anxiety that easily. Nor can I just assume that "well, of course I'll match within those programs! Who wouldn't want me?" Thank goodness psych isn't terribly competitive, so my chances are actually pretty good of matching; faced with the same decision in urology, I was sweating bullets from about January to July. It's not the reason I switched, but it's certainly a bonus.

It is nice to make the decision, and even nicer that we could make the decision together. Look out, world, in only 7 months it'll be TS, MD!