URMC Medical Students Celebrate Match Day

Picture a combination of New Year’s Eve, the Academy Awards, and the day your first college acceptance letter arrived in the mailbox. That sums up Friday’s Match Day at the University of Rochester Medical Center’s School of Medicine and Dentistry.

After a jubilant 10-second countdown to noon, nearly 100 members of the Class of 2013 ripped open envelopes to find out where they are heading to begin their medical careers. They were matched to residency programs through a blind process conducted by the National Resident Matching Program.  By participating in the match, students are obligated to go wherever they are matched. Residency programs typically last from three to seven years, depending on the specialty students choose.

“It was unexpectedly emotional,” says Bonnie Choy, who was pleased to learn she’ll be pursuing pathology at the University of Chicago Medical Center.  It was her first choice – since that’s where her boyfriend lives. Like many students, she was flanked by her beaming parents at the Match Day festivities inside Saunders Research Building on the URMC campus.

More than a quarter of those matched, 27 percent, will remain at URMC to start their residencies. Internal medicine is the top program choice.