Or might go...

Today, I submitted my application to the 10 residency programs I am applying to.  It's a little terrifying!  I now have it narrowed down to 10 places I could be living in this time next year.  And they are a bit all over the place...  There are over 400 family medicine residencies in the country, so picking 10 out of that mix that had something the others didn't was a challenge.  I looked at programs with sports medicine fellowships, because I'm confident that's what I want to do eventually, and want to have exposure in residency (as I've been able to have in medical school!).  I ruled out places I don't want to live (re: places likely to be hit by natural disasters of some form), and community programs that I hadn't heard GREAT things about.  I nixed cities I wasn't interested in living in.  I checked off programs that had LOTS of driving to get from clinic to clinic.  And then I just started throwing darts. 

That's a lie.  I wanted to make sure that each program I'm applying to offers something special that others don't.  What exactly that is varies from program to program.  But each of the 10 are programs that I think fit all the criteria I have, plus offer something else that others don't.  I'm very pleased with the final list, and anxious to hit the interview trail!  It looks like I'll be doing a bit of traveling during my vacation in December, which I'm very excited for (I miss airplanes.)

I love me some Dr. Seuss.  So I pulled out "Oh! The Places You'll Go!" and read it earlier this week.  Most of it made me think that Dr. Seuss must have at some point been a resident, because I most of it is, to the T, what I imagine intern year will feel like.  But, one paragraph struck me at that particular time in my life...

"Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting." 

So, now I wait.  Hopefully interview invitations will come in, then interviews, then waiting, then match lists, then more waiting, then the match in March, and I'll know where I'm going :)

Until then, who knows where I'll go!