The Headache Relieved

So I told you that I've had a headache. It's from the stress. On days that I'm busy, the headache goes away. But most days I'm on my computer... for hours and hours and hours. In class. Doing research. Always on the computer. I watch that little Gmail tab, waiting... And waiting. And waiting.

Yesterday, though, my headache was relieved. For good. In the same way that I felt about three inches taller when I got my first acceptance to medical school, everything was right with the world. I got one of the "big ones." Not necessarily my number one (because there really isn't a "#1" until you've interviewed at all the schools ), but it could be. I received an invitation to interview at a program that makes me feel like everything is going to be okay. One these programs where I say, "Hey, if they'll interview me, anyone will." So now my headache is gone. And then a few more rolled in. They have generally been trickling in at about a rate of one every other day.

Usually, the more I stare at my computer, the less likely one of these "noreply" emails is likely to show up. But right in the middle of my Writing class, I clicked on the "Inbox (1) - rswendim..." tab in Google Chrome, and there she was. Beautiful. Wondrous. Headache-relieving. In my head I did a little dance (a solid C-walk, or the "Not My Baby" dance), and I may or may not have swore out loud (though not loud enough for the professor to hear, fortunately). I worded the acceptance email so so so carefully, making sure the spelling was just perfect.

I have to be care, because in my excitement, I've already make a couple mistakes on the salutations. As embarrassing as it is to say, I've incorrectly addressed one program coordinator as "Mr." instead of "Ms.", and for an invite I received recently, I put "Dr." because I could not figure out who I was replying to (it was at night, I only had my cheap Windows phone, and the Google search function was being ornery). No bueno.

As you can see, I'm barely keeping it together. Each day is an emotional roller coaster.

Over the next few weeks I will finalize my list. Each specialty has the golden match statistics - ideal number of programs to apply to and interview with to match (on average - obviously it is different per person). For General Surgery, the target number is somewhere around 22 programs and 11 interviews. I applied to 26 residencies, and I think I want to interview at about 10 places total. My programs are very spread out across the country, so there will be a lot of flying. Ten's a good number; I like ten. I like ten. And I've started repeating things (repeating things).

Okay, no more stress posts. Next stop, the interview trail!