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On Friday, March 18, graduating School of Medicine students will receive letters telling them where they will begin practicing medicine, as seen here on Match Day 2015. |
The School of Medicine Class of 2016 will gather with family, friends, faculty and fellow students on Match Day, Friday, March 18, to learn where they will begin their careers as doctors. Match Day is the annual, nationwide pairing of graduating medical students with postgraduate residency training programs.
Graduating medical students nationwide each receive a sealed envelope containing their residency destination on Match Day. The matches are made through a complex algorithm that is administered by the National Resident Matching Program that takes into account the preferences of the students and the residency programs to which they have applied. While Match Day logistics and traditions vary from school to school, the NRMP mandates that envelopes containing the matches cannot be opened by students before noon on the third Friday of March.
In what has become a tradition at UMass Medical School, all members of the class open their envelopes in unison, making for a communal and emotion-packed moment of truth. The School of Medicine has enjoyed excellent match results over the years, with more than 50 percent of students consistently entering primary care residencies, fulfilling a key part of the school’s mission to train primary care doctors.
Last year, 62 students, comprising 51 percent of the class, chose careers in internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics. Including those who matched in obstetrics & gynecology and emergency medicine, 66 percent of the class entered primary care specialties. Forty-eight of them began practice in Massachusetts, including 12 who stayed at UMMS.
This year 128 students are expected to match in primary care and specialty residencies.
All members of the UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial community are invited to attend Match Day 2016, beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the Faculty Conference Room and new Medical School lobby.
Related links on UMassMedNow:
Class of 2015 med students have another outstanding match
WCVB-TV’s Chronicle gets inside look at UMMS on Match Day 2015
