Match Day Festivities

At Brad's school "Match Day" (when all the 4th years find out where they matched into a residency program) is a big deal! I have heard other schools hold a really formal event where everyone dresses up all fancy, and I must admit, before match day I found myself wishing that was the tradition here at Brad's school. However, after being a part of match day here, I'm glad they don't do it any other way! The tradition is for everyone to dress up in costume based on a theme the class picks for the year. The theme Brad's class picked was "Characters Welcome", based on the USA channel tag line. Anyway, all of his classmates dressed up as various characters and went all out in costume. It was so laid back and fun--which is totally needed with all the stress that can accompany this day and med school in general.

Each med student makes a slide representing their character of choice and picks a theme song to accompany it. Then as each student's name is called they come up on stage to their theme song, perform any way they want to and get their "match" envelope. Finally, after everyone has gone, and the clock strikes 1pm, eastern time, they all get to open their envelope at the same time and find out where they will be training for residency.

Our family dressed up as Napolean Dynamite characters. Here is the slide Brad created for us:


And after we all walked up on stage in costume, here is what Brad--er, Napolean--did. . .

The sound quality (and video for that matter) is pretty poor, but you get the idea of what went down!

Some more pictures of the fun. . .
(I have been waiting to do this post until I got a group picture back from those who took them of us, but I am still waiting--so you will have to stay tuned to see what I looked like as Pedro, black mustache and wig and all!)


With the match envelope


A sampling of some costumes and decor


Our good friends, the Millets, in the Lord of the Rings attire


Ella as Deb

Maggie as Tina, the llama

Ella and Callie (Rosy Cotton)

It sure was a lot of fun--I'm glad Brad didn't let me talk him out of going all out and dressing up.

Oh, and a special thanks to Brad's parents who came out for the event and entertained Maggie--without which we surely wouldn't have been able to enjoy ourselves as much!