Happy Match Day to our incoming UVA residents!

Today is Match Day, which falls on the third Thursday of every March, and is when the graduating medical school students all across the nation will find out what residency program they’ve matched with, where they will spend the next several years of their lives, and what City they’ll soon call home!

This is an exciting time, especially for incoming U.Va. residents, as many, many U.Va. doctors (47) have recently been recognized as the top in their fields.  Incoming residents will be in good company!

Match Day is the culmination of four years of study, and months of an intense process leading up to this moment. These students have applied to hospitals and residency programs, selecting the field of medicine they hope to work in, the city they hope to live in. They have interviewed with doctors and program directors. They have created lists ranking their top choices, as have the residency programs, submitting it to a computer program to make their match. And they have waited, wondering where they will work and train in just a few short months after their medical school graduations. Today, inside those envelopes, a fragment of a sentence on a single sheet of paper, will inform them where they will begin this important stage of their lives.

Each medical school has its own tradition as to how the envelopes are handed out—some providing a mad dash to various corners of a room where staff members have divided the piles; others using a slow, nerve-wracking yet thrilling manner of calling students to the front of the room one by one. At Eastern Virginia Medical School, students dress in costumes, lightening the mood and adding to a party atmosphere. At Vanderbilt, they broadcast the ceremony online to any friends and family unable to attend. Often, the students are not alone. Spouses wonder where they will move, and children await the reactions on their parents’ faces.

Then they open the envelopes.

At the same hour today, screams, tears, hugs, and shouts of joy will erupt from rooms across the country. Much of the future of their field will remain unknown, as the country works through health care reform. But for the country’s newest class of doctors, today will give them a little more information as to their futures as doctors. And what awaits in their immediate future are long hours of intense training, sleepless nights of residency, and the rewards and responsibilities of caring for the lives of others.

via Match Day and how each medical school celebrates.

So what does this mean for you?

If you are a home seller in Charlottesville:

If you have a home to sell near the hospital, near Downtown, or near UVA, this will be a busy couple of upcoming weeks!  If you have not listed your home yet and have thought of waiting until later in the Summer or Fall, there is still time- you may want to consider listing your home as soon as possible, if your home is a good candidate for students in any of these programs.

If you are searching for a home to buy in Charlottesville:

If you find your dream home and it is in very close proximity to UVA, the hoe hospitals, or other areas where incoming residents may be attracted, don’t drag your feet if you find the perfect home!  You will have more competition over the next couple of weeks, and while there is still more than enough inventory out there, the homes that are priced well and in excellent condition will not last long!

If you are an incoming resident:

Give me a call!  If you will only likely be here for the length of your residency, buying a home may not be a great investment unless you would be willing to hold it as a rental after you leave Charlottesville.  If you are comfortable owning an investment property, or plan to reside in Charlottesville longer, then maybe looking at making a purchase is right for you.  Give me a call to discuss your options!  I am well-versed in helping residents and doctors find homes that will suit them in Charlottesville, and I can make the process seamless while saving you lots of time!

If you’d like to start your search now, check out my home search tool!  You can pull homes up on a map and check them in proximity to a specific point of interest.

http://www.storyhousere.com/homesearch

I look forward to a busy couple of weeks!