On Friday, March 16, graduating medical students around the country found out where they will spend the next three to seven years as medical residents in their chosen specialties. At UW School of Medicine, 217 students participated across the five-state WWAMI region. Of those, 35 percent matched into residencies in the WWAMI states. Here are some thoughts from UW School of Medicine graduates as they wrap up this phase of their medical training.
“One of our advisors told us that med school was like ‘drinking water from a fire hose.’ He was not kidding.”
“I think one of the greatest strengths of UW School of Medicine is the huge variety of practice settings that we are exposed to during our clinical years. I’ve been in a jam-packed ER that serves kids from five states, cared for patients from newborn to age 96 in a small family medicine practice in a town of 10,000, and run into moose while doing home visits in the midst of an Alaskan winter. Instead of each new rotation being just another wing of a big academic hospital, I’ve gotten to see a few of the countless different ways that physicians can both practice medicine and live rich lives outside of their work.”
—Stephanie Han Yu Liou | Pediatrics – University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
“It’s been continually humbling and inspiring to see the great things my classmates have been doing to improve their community, from researching new AIDS treatments to helping the homeless or advocating for their patients. I’m excited to see what great things my classmates are going to accomplish.”
—Paul Craven | Emergency Medicine – West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
“I remember during our first year of med school, one of our advisors (and a genuinely amazing person) Jamey Cheek told us that med school was like ‘drinking water from a fire hose.’ He was not kidding.”
—Shoaib Fakhri | Internal Medicine – University of Colorado, Aurora, CO
“As clichéd as it sounds, I am going to miss the people the most. First and foremost my classmates, who are all talented, motivated, intelligent, hard-working, and most importantly nice individuals. They made me a better person, and I cannot speak highly enough about them.”
—McHale Anderson | Internal Medicine – University of Colorado, Aurora, CO
“It’s difficult to imagine being referred to as ‘Doctor’ in just a few months.”
“I think I’ll miss being in the learner role. I’m definitely feeling ready to move on to residency, but I know that it’s only more and more responsibility from here on out, and I think I will miss being able to play the student, to soak in information and help as I am able, but to not necessarily be the ultimate decider.”
—Jesse Paulsen | Psychiatry – University of Washington, Seattle, WA
“What I will miss the most about med school is being able to work with Native American tribes throughout the WWAMI region.”
—Aaron Misakian | Pediatrics – Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
“I’ve made a lot of really great friends during my four years of med school and will definitely be sad to see them scatter across the country.”
—Scott Kirkpatrick | Internal Medicine – University of Colorado, Aurora, CO
“I am both excited and nervous to begin the next stage of my training as I know that it will bring deep fulfilment in addition to great challenges. It’s difficult to imagine being referred to as ‘Doctor’ in just a few months, but it is a title whose expectations I hope to live up to and that I will carry with pride. I am excited to see the amazing things I know we will all accomplish in the future!”
—Isaye Barton | Internal Medicine – University of Illinois, Chicago, IL
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