NEWS

 CHAPEL HILL -- On March 16, some 140 graduating medical students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will learn where they’ll spend the next several years completing their residencies.

The annual placement event – called Match Day – is when medical school seniors nationwide learn which residency program they will enter.

Last year, 84 percent of UNC-CH medical students were matched with one of their three top choices during the computerized process. Sixty-four percent received their first choice.

Match Day is eagerly anticipated by the graduating students, who bring their parents, spouses, children and friends with them to celebrate their good fortune or, in fewer cases, commiserate their disappointment.

"As a group, our students are incredibly accomplished and talented people, and Match Day is just one more manifestation of their achievements," said Dr. Georgette Dent, associate dean for student affairs at the UNC-CH School of Medicine.

"Traditionally, our students have done very well with regard to getting good residencies; last year, the percentage of our students who got their top choice was higher than the national average," she said. "That says UNC is doing a great job educating these students, and as a result, they are considered excellent recruits by other programs."

Match Day is organized by the National Resident Matching Program, a private, not-for-profit organization sponsored by the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Medical Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Hospital Association and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies.

Each year, the program provides an impartial venue for matching applicants’ and programs’ preferences for each other consistently. About 16,000 U.S. medical school students and 19,000 "independent" applicants compete for 23,000 available residency positions. (Independent applicants include former graduates of U.S. medical schools, U.S. osteopathic students, Canadian students and graduates of foreign medical schools.)

Before they can provide direct patient care, medical-school graduates in the United States are required to complete a three- to seven-year graduate program accredited in a recognized medical specialty.

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Note: Medical students are expected to receive residency information around noon on March 16, and media representatives are invited to cover or photograph the event. Call Karen Stinneford at 966-6047 to make parking and escort arrangements to UNC Hospitals’ fourth-floor Clinic Auditorium.

School of Medicine contact: Karen Stinneford, (919) 966-6047