The scramble

For those of you that have no experience in the medical student world, Monday, today, was when the 4th year med students found out if they matched into a residency program. You find out where on Thursday. The reason for this delay is something esoteric and humiliating known as "The Scramble."

The scramble is for those students that did not match into a program. They are then forced to try to find programs with unmatched spots. This is, depending upon the specialty, an exercise in horror. Routinely, you hear things like, "There are two open spots for ER" and they mean two open residency spots for emergency medicine in the entire country. And that's lucky. There's no such thing as open spots in derm or ortho or a lot of specialties.

I've had several friends that have had to scramble, and it's not a pleasant time. You try to steer clear of these folks because the last thing they need is someone rubbing it in their faces. Talk on campuses lulls and the gossip flies like bullets on a battlefield.

To all you 4th years out there, congrats. It's been a long road, and it's time to rest on your laurels. If you're scrambling, you have my sympathies.