My Match Day Secret: A Special Article Written for Match Week

Next Friday is Match Day. I will never forget mine.

In honor of this momentous day, I want to tell you the secret story of how I didn't follow the advice of my mentors and deans and what that ultimately meant for me on Match Day.

But first, for those who don't know:

Residency Match Day is one of the most defining moments in a physician's life. It is the day graduating medical students across the US learn where they will train as residents. It represents the culmination of more than a decade of preparation.

Every year, Match Day occurs on the third Friday of March, when thousands of students simultaneously open envelopes revealing the hospital and specialty where they will spend the next 3–7 years of training.

The story

I did not know I wanted to be an ENT doctor when I applied to medical school. I didn't even know what ENT was. I wanted to be a pediatrician. And since you all follow my newsletter, you know that what I truly prioritized was my time. But, ENT is one of the most competitive specialties in medicine and up to 33% of students applying into competitive specialties take a research gap year to bolster their application — and yes, this includes US MDs!

I was not looking to take gap years or "research years." And with ENT, especially coming from a school that had no residency or formal department at the time, it was almost expected that I would. I was the only applicant to ENT my year and my mentors and deans told me I would absolutely have to take a gap year if I wanted to do ENT. I didn't listen to them.

Medical training in the US is already too long. Even from high school, I approached the entire process with one guiding principle. Efficiency. I wanted to move forward without unnecessary delays. I wanted every step to count. That mindset shaped almost every decision I made along the way. It's even why I created Fast Track to MD!

And this reason is also why I did something I was told over and over not to do: I applied to two different specialties.

Now, if you know anything about applying to competitive surgical specialties, like ENT, then you also know that it is very discouraged to dual apply. You have to "know" beyond a shadow of a doubt that you want to do ENT. And ranking committees better not hear that you "dual applied" to a different specialty or you could risk not matching at all. That's why I kept it a secret until I graduated.

It's the same mentality for other competitive specialties like orthopedics, urology, dermatology, ophthalmology, etc. This insider "club" mentality that scoffs at students who want to ensure they have options.

But the issue with that mentality is that it forces students to decide what they care about more, their own timelines or their future career.

Many students buy into the mentality. And when they don't match? They end up in a gap year, maybe 2. Maybe they never match into that specialty at all. Maybe they end up in a completely different specialty after wasting 2–3 years and they realize they would have been just as happy in this different specialty if they had landed there the first time, but now they have spent time and cost they will never get back. How do I know? Some of those students are my personal friends and colleagues.

And the members of those competitive ranking committees that the student wanted so desperately to join? They're off living their lives, using their attending salary, building their futures.

The cost of not matching only hurts the applicant. It is my firm belief the applicants should apply with their own best interests at heart, whether that's to med school or residency.

So here's my hot take: when you're applying to residency, or even medical school or undergrad. Be a little selfish.

I didn't buy into the mentality that I should ignore myself and my timeline. So I dual applied into both ENT and pediatrics.

I actually ranked some pediatric programs above a couple of ENT programs because I wanted to be happy where I matched and some ENT programs clearly were not the type where that would happen.

Please don't misunderstand. I am very passionate about the field I chose. ENT is one of those unique disciplines that combines pediatrics, neurosurgery, oncology, endocrinology, facial plastics, and so much more. The head and neck contains some of the most intricate structures in the human body. And the impact on patients can be immediate. When you restore a child's airway or hearing, you are literally changing the trajectory of their development.

But no matter how passionate I was about ENT, I knew that I had the ability to be just as happy in a different pediatric specialty. So when trying to choose between ENT and my timeline, I chose myself.

On the Monday of Match week, I found out I matched, but I did not know if I was going to be a pediatrician or an ENT doctor. Friday brought an incredible revelation for my future.

Before we opened our letters, the dean of our medical school stood on the podium chanting the numbers of students who matched into each specialty.

"General Surgery — 7. Emergency Medicine — 8. Internal Medicine — 25. ENT — 1."

Before I even opened my letter, the pit in my stomach disappeared.

The lesson for future Match Day students

The path to medicine is rarely as linear as people imagine.

You may start out wanting one specialty and end up in another. You may end up completing programs you never even knew existed. You may discover interests that completely reshape your career.

And that is okay. In fact, that flexibility is part of the journey. What matters is building systems that keep you moving forward.

You cannot leverage pathways you do not know exist.

That principle applies far beyond college admissions or medical school. It applies to careers, specialties, and opportunities throughout medicine. The future version of you may be practicing in a field that you have not even heard of yet.

For the students opening match envelopes this week, congratulations. You have reached a milestone that only a small percentage of people ever achieve.

And for the students earlier in the journey, remember this: Your destination may change. But if you build the right systems and stay intentional about your time, the path will keep unfolding in ways you never expected.

As for me? I am a very happy PEDIATRIC ENT doctor and surgeon and I couldn't have imagined a better outcome.

Wishing you all the same happiness.

Happy Match Week!

— Dr. Ruwaa Samarrai, MD