Match Day

Match Day turned out to be very different than I thought it would be. Kip and I ended up matching in Milwaukee, WI. I'm really happy that we matched together, but I wanted to either go to Phoenix or stay in Columbus and definitely didn't want to go anywhere colder that Ohio. I feel really bad that I had 4 years to make that happen and I failed and that I let Kip down. I really did enjoy the program when I visited so I am glad about that, although I honestly didn't learn that much about it because I didn't think there was any way I would end up there. I'm getting more used to the idea now and I'm sure everything will work out fine in the end. We'll enjoy buying our first house together and exploring a new city. Milwaukee is only a cheap Skybus flight away from Columbus so that'll be good. I'll miss Columbus!

My comment on a post on a fellow gay med student's blog

I've recently found a blog that I find very interesting and well written and today I posted the following comment on one of his posts so I include here for you to read:

"I always enjoy reading your blog and this post especially hit very close to home for me as I too am going through the application/interview process for residency(Radiology) and happen to be gay. I am couples matching with my boyfriend and it got very tiring explaining that Kip was in fact a boy, not a girl like everyone assumed(has anyone ever heard of a girl named Kip anyway?) and eventually I just stopped correcting the interviewers because I got tired of them not understanding(with one interviewer I had to say it three different ways before he finally got it). If I could do it all again I would have been more clear expressing myself and not letting them make me feel uncomfortable for being gay but at the time I just let it slide because I didn't want them to look upon me negatively."

I think one of the main reasons most of the interviewers assumed that I was straight was because they all knew that I was Mormon-being from Utah, going on a mission and graduating from BYU-so that made them assume that Kip would have to be a girl. I found it rather impossible to let people know that I am no longer a Mormon so it was very frustrating to have to carry that misconception around just because I'm from Utah. I will find out on March 20th where I matched so it will be interesting to see how this all plays out especially since the program director at my #1 choice is Mormon.