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AAMC Reporter: April 2008U.S. Medical School Seniors Enjoy Most Successful Match Day in 30 Years
On March 20, fourth-year medical students nationwide were full of excitement and happy tears at their Match Day ceremonies, where they discovered where they would spend the next phase of their lives as resident physicians. More than 94 percent of a record-high 15,242 U.S. seniors matched to a first-year residency position, according to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), which administers the Match. This was the highest percentage in three decades. Of these students, 84.6 percent were paired at one of their top three choices. The 2008 Match also was the largest ever with respect to the number of residency positions, with 25,066 first- and second-year positions. "This Match has been a remarkable success," said NRMP President Henry J. Schultz, M.D. "The record size of the Match this year and the favorable outcomes for students are certainly reasons to celebrate this important rite of passage along the path to becoming a doctor." Another reason for the large 2008 Match was the increase in international medical school graduates (IMGs): 7,335 non-U.S. citizen IMGs and 2,969 U.S. citizen IMGs participated in the Match, up from 6,992 and 2,694 for each respective group in 2007. According to NRMP Executive Director Mona M. Signer, IMG participation in the Match is continuing to rebound after a decline following the 1998 Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates requirement that they pass a clinical assessment. As for specialties, Match results show a renewed interest in family medicine as a career. Of U.S. medical school participants, 1,156 (7.6 percent) were paired to a family medicine position, up from 1,096 (7.2 percent) in 2007. There also were more family medicine positions available this year, reversing what had been a steady decline since 1998. In total, 2,387 family medicine slots were filled. According to Signer, these numbers offer hope that family medicine will become a more popular specialty in the coming years. Other fields also fared well. Among participating U.S. seniors, 2,660 (17.4 percent) matched to internal medicine residency positions. General surgery, dermatology, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, and radiation oncology continued to be popular and competitive specialties, all filling about 99 percent of their available residency slots. Obstetrics-gynecology filled approximately 99 percent of its positions for the second consecutive year. While these numbers demonstrate overall success on the part of Match Day participants, they do not convey the feelings of soon-to-be residents when they learn they received their first choice for residency training. Nerves and excitement momentarily prevented Kathryn Lazure, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, from truly taking in what her Match results letter said: that she had matched to her number one choice, the University of Nebraska Medical Center internal medicine program. "There isn't much written on the page, but I had a hard time finding what I was looking for," Lazure said. "I felt like I was pausing on the stage. But when I saw it, I just felt excitement and total relief." An anxious Cesar De Paz, a senior at University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine hoping to match in psychiatry, could not initially bear to open the envelope himself. But when he passed the letter to his mother, she couldn't do it, either. "I opened it and saw the words 'medical branch' and knew I had gotten my first choice," he said. "It was just a rush of emotions." De Paz said he was able to celebrate with his classmates, the majority of whom matched to their first or second choice. "Most of us were just really excited," De Paz said. "We were all thinking 'this is it.' This is what we were working so hard for these last four years. This is the culmination of all those moments." University of Alabama School of Medicine seniors Maria Garcia and Michael McLeod had extra reason to celebrate. After the pair walked on stage to discover they were both headed to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, McLeod dropped to one knee and presented Garcia with an engagement ring. "The crowd erupted with applause," McLeod said. "The adrenaline was so overwhelming—I was shaking when I was placing the ring on her finger. She was flushed beet red when she said yes." He said the two of them are still digesting all the good news. "It was a surreal experience," McLeod said. "It couldn't have turned out any better." For more information on the Match, see the AAMC's News Release of March 20, 2008. —By Elissa Fuchs |
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