How nervous were you on Match Day waiting for the clock to strike 12:00 PM?
I was so nervous! I had a glass of champagne which helped (but the future physician in me obviously condones this method of coping with stress). It was that good type of nervous that makes you feel alive and proud of everything that has happened to get you to that point.
What were your initial reactions when you learned your results? How did you share them?
From the videos I had seen from Match Days of years past, it looks like everyone is 100% blissfully happy. When I learned my results, I experienced a whole mix of emotions. Mostly what I felt was joy, relief, excitement, and an enormous sense of pride. However, I also felt terrified that this was all becoming so real, and deeply saddened by the fact that I was going to have to move so far away from my family. I think its ok to feel every emotion on the spectrum when you learn your results, and I don’t think anyone should feel that they have to or should feel a specific way. My advice would be to just allow yourself the patience and kindness to feel whatever emotion that comes upon you without judgement, because it’s such a life-changing event.
What excites you about your residency program?
I am excited to finally live my dream! Being a medical student is exciting in its own way, but to me it has always felt like a stepping stone to actually being able to practice medicine and take responsibility for the health of a patient. I sometimes felt in the way as a medical a student, so I’m looking forward to being a stronger contributing member of the health care team. I am also really looking forward to joining the Mayo Clinic and learning more about how it has gotten the reputation it has. I could get a sense of it on my interview day, but I am excited to experience it firsthand, on a day-to-day basis.
Max Cohen, DO ‘20
Where did you match?
Brown Family Medicine!
What factors went into selecting your residency choices?
I sort of started with some initial screening criteria. I really wanted to be somewhere in the Northeast, relatively close to family and where I see myself practicing in the future, and I really wanted to go to a program with an academic feel and lots of teaching opportunities, so I focused on programs with academic affiliations. I applied to a ton of these academic, northeast programs and saw where I got interviews. I went to almost every interview offered because I felt like this was an essential piece of information in deciding the "feel" or sense
of "fit" that people talk about. After interview season, I took my top 7 programs and checked them off against a list of about 20 highly specific criteria, like extent of program involvement in policy and advocacy, the quality of the sports medicine training, commitment of the program to social justice, and whether there is a rock climbing gym nearby.
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