Countdown to the Future: Match Day 2017

“Five, four, three, two, one!”

With that countdown, 159 fourth-year medical students converged on the long, white tables filled with carefully arranged white envelopes in alphabetical order. The future physicians quickly retreated to the center of Hiebert lounge forming small groups and opened their envelopes — some crying, others hugging, and some jumping up and down with excitement. (Go to the Facebook album to see more.)

This Match Day, the annual rite of passage that occurs on the third Friday in March, took place on Friday, March 17, and marked the moment in which graduating medical students around the country learn which residency programs they will be attending and where they will spend the next three to seven years of their lives.

“Our students should be very proud of themselves and their hard work. I want them to stop and think about what they’ve actually accomplished,”  said Associate Dean for Student Affairs Angela Jackson. “The road has been a long and hard one, and this is a moment when they can shine and look back with great pride at all of the things that they have done. The residency programs that have matched them are lucky.”

While BUSM students matched in residencies across the country, nearly one third are staying in Massachusetts (52), with New York (18) and California (17) the next most popular states. The class matched in a range of programs – 58 chose primary care specialties, which includes family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, followed by emergency medicine (15)  OB/GYN (14), surgery (13) and diagnostic radiology (12).

There’s more to Match Day than the opening of envelopes and sipping champagne.  Students braved the cold and participated in their last class picture on the steps outside the Instructional building.  They also attended the annual student awards ceremony and selected Sam Miller as their student speaker for graduation.