They have arrived

Yesterday I was talking to one of my medical school buddies. He called to ask about my application status for residency. He had told me the week prior that his board scores were supposed to be in. He hadn't mentioned anything about them since then, so I asked last night. His response to me was, " It wasn't good, I don't want to talk about that." I was thinking, oh shit. I hadn't got my scores back yet and now wasn't looking forward to it. He didn't say if he actually passed or not, but either way it wasn't good. He had taken his boards about one week before I had, so I expected my scores to be in sometime this week.

This morning during a short break between patients I checked the boards website on my handheld. All scores from Step 2 boards taken on or before September 20th were now posted. I quickly shut off the handheld and went to see another patient. I didn't work up the courage to look at the site again until almost 1:00. I PASSED!!!!!!! The score wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be, but I scored above the 80th percentile on Step 1, so all I needed was a pass this time around. It was all I could do to keep from running around telling everyone in the Rheumatology clinic this afternoon.

I mentioned earlier that I finally submitted my application for residency last Thursday. My school finished uploading my transcript and letters of rec yesterday. Today I got my first request for an interview. There is something psychological about getting the first one out of the way. Now I can relax a bit and wait for a few more to come in. Even better is the fact that this first one is in the city where I live so I will at least have 1 shot at staying here.

1 down 14 to go. I am looking forward to traveling a bit for the rest of my potential interviews. The hard part will be deciding if I want to stay here or try a new city for three years or so. Wish me luck.