{"id":140,"date":"2023-03-16T21:37:35","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T21:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/?p=140"},"modified":"2024-11-14T17:41:07","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T17:41:07","slug":"match-day-a-defining-moment-for-every-future-physician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/2023\/03\/16\/match-day-a-defining-moment-for-every-future-physician\/","title":{"rendered":"Match Day: A defining moment for every future physician"},"content":{"rendered":"
Match Day.<\/p>\n

For medical students, those are two words that have been in the back of their brains since their first day of classes. It\u2019s the day when they find out where they\u2019ll do their residency. The day they find out what medical facility will be guiding them as they really get down to business with those two letters \u2014 Dr. \u2014 in front of their names.\u00a0 The day they find out what city they\u2019ll be living in for the next few years, and what kind of hands-on training they\u2019ll get after four years of hard work.<\/p>\n

\n\t“Match Day is the goal you work toward from the first day of medical school. It feels almost unattainable at times when you\u2019re studying for boards and taking endless exams. The excitement is unlike anything I\u2019ve ever experienced.”<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t- Dr. Kadi Harvey<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

It’s a big deal. And for fourth-year students at Marshall\u2019s Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, that day is Friday, March 17<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kaitlan Harvey, better known by her family and friends as \u201cKadi,\u201d remembers well the feeling that Match Day brings and that moment when, as an aspiring physician, you find out the path where your dreams will be taking you. Today, she is a resident physician in Marshall\u2019s family medicine residency program. Last year at this time, her future was unknown.<\/p>\n

“Match Day is the goal you work toward from the first day of medical school. It feels almost unattainable at times when you\u2019re studying for boards and taking endless exams. The excitement is unlike anything I\u2019ve ever experienced.”<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Kadi Harvey with her match day envelope.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The preparation for that day is intense, Dr. Harvey said. It involves researching, interviewing and ranking the places you want to spend the next years of your life, she said. Meanwhile, the programs have to rank their list of applicants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no guarantee where you will end up,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce you submit, you\u2019re stuck anxiously waiting until the day you open your match letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeading up to Match Day, I was so anxious. I really wanted to stay at Marshall for residency, but I knew there would be many other applicants, not only from Marshall, but from all over, that would have a lot more to offer the program than I could. I couldn\u2019t wait for the day to finally come so I could have a plan for where I would be training for the next three to four years. I had a couple of other programs I had applied to that I would have been happy with as well, but my heart was set on staying here to train at Marshall.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was one of the fortunate medical students who opened her letter to find that she would get her first choice, and her family was there by her side when she did.<\/p>\n

\n\t“It\u2019s so surreal, to realize everything you\u2019ve been working for has all been worth it, all of it for that exact moment.”<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t- Dr. Kadi Harvey<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n

\u201cOn that day, my husband, parents and two younger brothers were there with me,\u201d Dr. Harvey said. \u201cThe way it works is they called our name, and we each walked up on stage to receive our letter with the results \u2014 but we couldn\u2019t open it yet. Once we all had our letters and were seated with our families, we opened them together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember quickly scanning the first few lines for \u2018Marshall\u2019 and the joy and relief that washed over me once I saw it. It\u2019s so surreal, to realize everything you\u2019ve been working for has all been worth it, all of it for that exact moment. As soon as it registered, I immediately scanned the room to see my friends\u2019 faces in an attempt to anticipate their results as well. I couldn\u2019t wait to hear where they would end up!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Class of 2022 celebrated together afterward for the rest of the day, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy classmates felt like my extended family. Four years of medical school with all of the ups, downs, triumphs and tribulations creates a strong bond, for sure. I\u2019m so proud of the class I graduated with and everything that they\u2019re doing. It was so incredible to celebrate so many futures in one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Dr. Harvey, who grew up in the small town of Fort Gay in Wayne County, West Virginia, it was a milestone in a lifelong journey of caring for others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always had a passion for taking care of people in their time of need,\u201d she said. \u201cEven as a child, when my cousins and I would be playing outside, for example, if someone scraped their knee, I jumped at the opportunity to comfort them and get the wound cleaned and bandaged.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing compares to the feeling of making a difference in someone else\u2019s life, especially when they\u2019re at their most vulnerable. Over time, as my interests grew, I realized that medicine would be where my passions and my heart for people would best align.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jennifer
Dr. Kadi Harvey with Jennifer Plymale, associate dean of admissions and director of the BS\/MD program at Match Day 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At 18, she was among the first group of students accepted into Marshall\u2019s accelerated B.S.\/M.D. program, a streamlined program that allows students to get their bachelor\u2019s and medical degrees within seven years.<\/p>\n

It was \u201can absolute blessing,\u201d Dr. Harvey said. \u201cIt gave me a chance to reach my dream of being a physician \u2014 something that would have been nearly impossible without their support. People in my family and community rarely go to college, let alone medical school. No one in my family ever had a career in health care at all and it was all brand new to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s glad she chose Marshall for other reasons as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe support you feel from the community and faculty is phenomenal. You know the school actually cares about your mental and physical health as well as your success as a student and is there to help and encourage you every step of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Residency has been the most difficult but most fulfilling thing she\u2019s ever experienced, and despite the long hours, Dr. Harvey said she knows she\u2019s where she\u2019s meant to be.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Kaitlan Harvey, Resident Physician, Marshall Family Medicine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI feel such a deep satisfaction when working with my patients. The feeling is truly incomparable,\u201d she said. \u201cI can feel myself growing and learning immensely as a physician throughout this year so far. The faculty spends a lot of time discussing our growth and making sure we have what we need to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Huntington area is home, she said, and though she loves to travel, her heart is with the people of West Virginia, Huntington and Marshall University, and she hopes to serve them throughout her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to a career in which I will continue to learn and hopefully teach as well. Having the privilege of being a physician is such an incredible honor and responsibility, and I do not take it lightly. If anything, I am motivated even more, each and every day, to be the best physician I can be for my patients.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Match Day. For medical students, those are two words that have been in the back of their brains since their first day of classes. It\u2019s the day when they find out where they\u2019ll do their residency. The day they find out what medical facility will be guiding them as they really get down to business […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moments"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":883,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions\/883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/moments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}