Match, No Match

Getting out of bed, the first thing I do is to check my email. Today is the day when every state releases their internship match results. New South Wales and Victoria put all of their applicants together, so I will hear from them today. Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia will release the results for domestic students today; the riff raff like us international students will have to wait for a couple more weeks.

I am not too anxious about the results. A rumor has been floating around that New South Wales had more internship spots than they did applicants, which means everyone who applied would get a spot. If that’s true, I am fair confident about at least getting a spot somewhere. Chances are it will be somewhere outside of Brisbane, which is fine by me. After being based in Brisbane for three years, I am ready for a change of scenery. So I am very excited to fine out where I will potentially end up next year.

Being in the electronic age, that excitement of anticipation is somewhat dampened by the instantaneous access to information. Instead of checking the mail everyday for the arrival of the “fat envelope” – acceptance – and dreading the sight of the “skinny envelope” – rejection – like back in the day of college application, now I just go online and click on a few buttons. There’s no heft of the weighty brochure accompanying the acceptance letter or the flimsy one-page letter that flutter in your wave of disappointment. The results now just glare coldly back at you just the same, regardless of outcome.

With fingers flying over the keyboard, I log on to each website.

Victoria, the state with the most complicated application process, one that required the most effort from their applicants – no match.

New South Wales, with the easiest application requiring little more than demographical information on their online application – “Congratulations, you have been allocated to Network 11”. Woohoo! Where’s Network 11? A quick check reveals that it’s based in Wollongong, the third-largest city in New South Wales, just ninety kilometers south of Sydney.

Phew! I will have a job next year after all. Now I just have to sit and wait to see what kind of offers will come from Queensland, SA, and WA.

I walk out to check the mail at lunch time, and there it is – the fat envelop from New South Wales sticking out of the mailbox. Ah, the satisfying ripping open of the envelope, the reassurance of ink on paper. Thank you, NSW.

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Tonight’s dinner: vegetarian fettuccini with pumpkin sauce and grilled haloumi.