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Health and Medicine

Match Day: The end of the beginning

Match Day represents the culmination of years of hard work and in many cases the realization of lifelong dreams. It also marked the beginning of a critical new chapter for 168 UNC School of Medicine students.

On Match Day, medical students from across the country find out where they will be going to complete their residency training. For the last several months students have crisscrossed the country, visiting and interviewing at different programs. The students rank their top choices; the residency programs do the same. Then, the National Resident Matching Program matches students and programs based on these rankings.

Since students have rated their top destinations, they have a sense of where they might be going, but they don’t know for sure until they run down the stairs of the Medical Biomolecular Research Building auditorium, jump onto the stage, and get the blue envelope with their Match results.

Students walk into the hallway to find some privacy in this big moment. Or, they go back to share the result with their families.

Here’s what the UNC School of Medicine Class of 2018 found in those envelopes:

  • 168 Students matched into 24 specialties
  • Students will complete their residency training in 30 states and the District of Columbia
  • 67 students, more nearly 40 percent of the class of 2018 will complete their residency training in North Carolina
  • The most popular specialties: Internal Medicine (34 students), Family Medicine (32 students), OB/GYN (14 students), Pediatrics (14 students), Emergency Medicine (13 students)

“Congratulations to you all on this memorable occasion,” said Wesley Burks, executive dean of the UNC School of Medicine. “You’ve thought for years about the type of doctor you would like to become and now you are here ready to begin the next phase of your training. This is a day you will always remember.”

Read the Match Day experiences of four UNC School of Medicine students.