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| On March 15, fourth-year School of Medicine students will gather with faculty, family and friends to open their National Resident Matching Program envelopes and learn where they will be serving their residencies. |
Graduating students from the School of Medicine will gather on Friday, March 15, to learn where they will begin their careers as doctors. They will gather with faculty, family and friends in the Medical School lobby for Match Day. The crowd will be emotionally charged as Match Day is the culmination of years of study.
The ceremony begins at 11:30 a.m. and at noon sharp, in a longstanding UMass Medical School tradition, students will simultaneously tear open the envelopes from the National Resident Matching Program that will reveal their residency placements. NRMP administers the matches, which are made through a complex algorithm that incorporates the preferences of both students and residency programs following the months-long application process. While Match Day logistics and traditions vary from school to school, the NRMP requires envelopes containing the matches to remain sealed until noon on the third Friday of March.
At UMMS, each matching student places a dollar in a basket when they are randomly called to receive their envelopes. The last student called receives the pot of money, often spent celebrating with classmates.
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, 44 UMMS students matched in internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics. Fourteen students went into emergency medicine and five into obstetrics & gynecology. Fifty-seven members of the class stayed in Massachusetts, including 14 at UMMS, fulfilling the medical school’s mission to care for the citizens of the commonwealth.
The event will be broadcast via Facebook Live. Look for additional coverage of the event on UMassMedNow.
