Match Day

For students nationwide, Match Day is the culmination of four years of hard work, and many consider it the most exciting day of their medical school experience. The third Friday in March, graduating medical students across the country discover where the next phase of their medical training will occur. At exactly 12:00 p.m. EST, each student opens an envelope that contains their residency match the name of the institution where they will complete their residency training program.

Students spend months interviewing at hospitals and medical centers across the nation to find their ideal training institution. Students rank their top choices and medical institutions rank their top student choices. When all the ranking is done, the National Matching Program puts it all together to determine the match for all of the graduating medical students throughout the country.

Match Day is an exciting and dramatic day filled with joy, laughter, relief and sometimes a few tears.