Match Day 2010 - My wife was a medical student at Wayne State Medical School. If you aren't familiar with how med students match in to residency programs, it's crazy. They fly all over the country and interview at a number of institutions. This is an expensive and time consuming process and extremely competitive. Certain specialties are more competitive than others and you tend to see the same faces on the "interview trail". After interviewing, the student compiles a "rank list" and puts there top choices in. The hospitals/institutions also put together a rank list of their favorite candidates. Then, the lists are somehow scrubbed against one another and you are "matched" with a specific program. You have to wait until a specific date to find out where you matched. This is called "Match Day".

Match Day at her University consisted of all the med students sitting in a room in chairs with envelopes that they weren't allowed to open until all speeches etc finished. Scattered around the students, packing the room were friends and family. People like myself.

We had ranked Duke #1 and were hopeful that we would get it. I knew that I could transfer with my company to NC but if she was to match at Pitt or even Michigan, I wasn't guaranteed a job. It was a huge moment. Luckily, when we opened the envelope it said "Duke" and all was well in our world, but still it was a crazy, stressful moment.

There was such a feeling of tension in that room, you could literally smell it. Some strange pheromones were abound. The vast majority of the people there were happy with what they got but there were definitely some tears too. One of my wives friends walked out, head slumped down and when we caught up to him he said one word "Ohio". -A sad word indeed.

This moment definitely changed our lives and has had a direct impact on what I'm doing professionally and personally. I left many friends and family in Michigan to come to NC but I've made some fantastic friends here. But it all came down to one moment.

So how about it, any moments like that for you guys? When in one instant something as mundane as opening an envelope dictated so much?

Perhaps a letter from a college or program you applied to?