On Friday, March 15, 2013 at noon, fourth year medical students at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania will learn where they are headed for their residency training, marking the transition from medical school into a lifetime of healing.
This year, students Jon and Martha Kole will be sharing their thoughts and perspectives during this exciting week of their lives! Married and matching, they have a unique perspective on this major stepping stone into a doctor’s future. We'll check back with the Koles throughout the week!
On Tuesday, September 29th 2009 we sat next toeach other for the first time at a Phillies game sponsored by the School of Medicine AlumniOffice. We were both 1st year medical students at the PerelmanSchool of Medicine. Jon, playful and optimistic, and Martha, passionate andpragmatic, couldn’t have been more perfect for each other. Sparks flew and wewere engaged 12/12/10, married 4/14/12 and on 3/15/13 we will ‘Match’ together,hopefully in a city that starts with the letter P. Jon hopes to match in a Triple Board program which will allowhim to be certified in Pediatrics, Child Psychiatry and Adult Psychiatry.Martha’s dreams are to provide for women within the field of Obstetrics andGynecology. But until March 15th, we will continue to keep ourfingers (and our toes) crossed!
The process has been long, tiring, expensive, and anxietyprovoking (Martha) while exciting, engaging, educational, and enriching (Jon).As with any married couple, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Our‘Couples Match’ journey started on September 15th at 10:01am as wesat in bed frantically pounding the submit buttons on our computers. At 10:11amour applications were officially sent to a combined 47 programs at 16 citiesacross the United States. The waiting game began.
But it didn’t last long! As interview offers began pouringin, the initial excitement was soon replaced with the daunting complexity ofour shared calendar. Our initial hopes of traveling together and exploring eachcity was no longer a reality. Jon in Cleveland while Martha is in Seattle, NewYork and Chicago, Durham and Iowa City… we were lucky to be in the same timezone. In the month of November we were together in Philadelphia for a whopping2 days. Jon has never spent so much timeon the phone.
Removing our interview garb for the final time inmid-January, we could both celebrate our good fortune at having visited so manyexcellent programs. We would have to make some tough choices. Jon’s 100 pointscoring system went head to head with Martha’s thorough reflective essays. Thekitchen table was covered in Post-its, Excel sheets and housing pamphlets.After two weeks of dining on the couch, decisions were made and a list wassubmitted.
Now, days before we open our envelopes, we distractourselves however we can. Matineemovies, mid-day lectures, and manuscript writing rounds out our days. Marthamight enjoy browsing apartments on Craigslist if she didn’t feel the need tolook in 5 different cities for fear of ‘jinxing it.’ And Jon may have learnedeverything one can know about Income-Based Loan Repayment.
The truth is we are honored and privileged to have had theopportunity to interview so broadly. The process has taught us a great dealabout medicine, our future fields and ourselves. We hope we can secure aposition at one of our top choices, but if not, we have the thing that is mostimportant of all. Each other.
-Jon and Martha Kole