Fourth-Year VCU Medical Students Learn Their Fates on National Match Day

By Sathya Achia Abraham

When the clock strikes noon on Thursday, March 19, fourth-year medical students from Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Medicine will gather for the tradition of National Match Day to learn where they will spend the next several years of their lives.

The event will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 19, at The Woman’s Club of Richmond, Bolling-Haxall House, 211 E. Franklin St.

The 174 VCU School of Medicine students will be among thousands of fourth-year students from medical schools across the United States who will receive sealed envelopes that contain the name of the residency program to which they have been matched. The match process is coordinated by the National Resident Matching Program.

In December and January, the students interview at institutions around the country. By the end of February, they have ranked their choices in order of preference, and the hospitals have done the same with their top candidates. The submissions are then matched by computer in Washington, D.C., and the results are delivered to students around the country on the third Thursday of March.

The National Resident Matching Program was established in 1952. It matches graduating medical students with hospitals for internships and residencies. Each year approximately 16,000 U.S. medical school seniors and 15,000 graduates of osteopathic, Canadian or foreign medical schools compete for approximately 23,000 residency positions.