For Geisel School of Medicine students Jessica and David Fried, the road to Match Day— a national annual event where fourth-year medical students discover where they will start their residency training after graduation—was unique compared to the average Match Day experience for Geisel’s Class of 2015. They were the only married classmates at Geisel matching this year.
“One of the most challenging things is just that we’re both really busy,” says David. “Especially during the third and fourth year where we’re doing different things… I think one of the hardest parts was just getting our schedules to link up and being able to spend quality time together. We actually ended up getting married in our third-year of medical school and that was in the middle of being apart for six months, then back together, so I think those are probably the biggest challenges.”
Despite the challenges of the rigorous medical school curriculum and spending time apart on rotations, both Jessica and David had a successful Match Day. David will be attending the Internal Medicine program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and Jessica will be spending her preliminary internship year at Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood, PA followed by a residency in Diagnostic Radiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the most prestigious academic radiology programs in the U.S.
“We’re really excited,” says Jessica. “Philadelphia is actually the city where we fell in love…it’s a really special place for us and we love it there, so we’re excited. One of the things that I was nervous about matching as a couple is that I have to do a preliminary year first, and that’s not attached to everything else, so we were a little nervous about not matching together that year, but we did. I actually got my first-choice for that year, so I’m super excited.”
When asked if they had advice for future medical students applying to residency programs, Jessica reflected on some of the same reasons that she and David decided to apply to medical school at Dartmouth.
“For some people living in the middle of the woods in New Hampshire is not gonna be their number-one priority or goal in life,” Jessica says. “I’m from Los Angeles originally and I was really looking for a different pace a life, a place where I could learn the art of medicine but be very comfortable doing it and be in a supportive, warm and relaxing environment when I wasn’t in the pressure of studying for an exam. That was what attracted me to Dartmouth. So I think there’s a different shoe for every person, and you have to figure out what fits for you. When you apply it’s just as much about you interviewing the school as it is about them interviewing you and that’s true for residency, too.”
