s future doctors learn their fates

? Aroop Pal held the envelope that would determine where he and his fiancee would make their first home.

Pal, a Lawrence native, will graduate from Kansas University Medical Center in May, the same month he will get married.

But he didn’t know until a ceremony Thursday where his first residency assignment would be. Turned out the paper inside the envelope said the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz. Â his first choice.

“You’re very nervous,” he said. “I was shaking.”

Pal, who will specialize in internal medicine, was one of 175 students who learned Thursday at the school’s annual Match Day where they would spend the first three to five years of their careers.

One by one, the students opened envelopes prepared by the National Resident Matching Program and read their placement to their fellow medical students. The decision is made by a computer at the residency program that weighs program openings with students’ preferences and strengths to decide placements.

The students, who will average $80,000 in debt as they start their careers, had ranked their hospitals in order of preference. Eighty percent of the KU students were matched with their first choice.

That included Lisa Scheer, who was so confident she’d get her first choice  the University of Hawaii  that she wore a lei and grass skirt to the ceremony. She’ll specialize in psychiatry.

“I already have a plan of care,” she joked. “I’ll say, ‘Open your windows, stick your heads out and be healed.'”

For Jon Freeman, happiness wasn’t news of a big move  it was learning he’d stay at the KU Med Center to learn internal medicine. He and his wife both have family in the Kansas City area.

“It’s a tremendous relief,” he said. “It’s the culmination of efforts over many years, and you hope you’re happy with where you’re going. There’s the potential for great disappointment.”

Malaika Woods fell into the disappointment category. Her first two choices for her gynecology specialty were the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Duke University in Durham, N.C. Instead, she’ll work at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

“I had my heart set on going to North Carolina,” she said. “But I believe what was meant to happen happened. It’s a little bruise to your ego when you don’t get what you want.”

She said she watched movies late Wednesday night so she would sleep late Thursday. But nerves had her up at 5 a.m. anyway.

“That’s the kind of torture they put us through,” she said.

If that’s torture, Scott Corcoran had it the worst. His envelope was the last drawn during the ceremony. He’ll be in the emergency department at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. Â his first pick.

Corcoran won a pot of $86 collected by the medical students for the last student picked. But he figured he’d actually end up the day in debt because his classmates all would make him buy them beers at a reception after the ceremony.

Corcoran will celebrate with two of his classmates today by driving to Madison, Wis., for tonight’s KU-Illinois basketball game.

He said the long wait to learn his fate didn’t bother him.

“I wasn’t too nervous,” he said. “I was confident.”