Anxiety gave way to applause today as 166 fourth-year University of Toledo medical school students learned where they’ll serve their residency in a scene filled with whoops and cheers that played out simultaneously across the nation.
“Match Day” is the thrilling, grand-finale for medical students. It’s when they find out where a computerized program run by the National Resident Matching Program has placed them to fulfill their residencies, which take three to seven years to complete depending on the student’s specialty.
Among the UT students who learned their residency match results today was Sonya Naganathan, daughter of UT’s interim president Nagi Naganathan, who will go to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, among her top choices.
Mr. Naganathan addressed students at Stranahan Theater just before they rushed from tables decorated with blue and gold balloons to the front of a room, where they picked up envelopes containing their results. He compared the excitement to the day his daughter was born.
“I wish you all the very best, but you will always be part of the Rocket Nation,” he said.
PHOTO GALLERY: Click here for more photos from the ceremony
Students were joined by family and friends at the event, stopping to snap photographs and confer with other students after ripping open, or sometimes hesitantly unsealing, their envelopes.
So many hugs ensued.
“That’s my No. 1,” said Jessica Chang, a medical student originally from Washington D.C., as she displayed the letter informing her she will train at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center. “I’ve never been out west before. I’ve been midwest. I’ve been south. I’ve been northeast. California, California, baby.”
Sixty four UT College of Medicine students will stay in Ohio, including 15 who will remain in northwest Ohio, and eight who will serve at the University of Toledo Medical Center.
Students will go to 29 states, with 19 traveling north to complete their residency in Michigan.
The Ohio State University in Columbus will receive the largest number of students from the former Medical College of Ohio. Ten students placed with that institution, followed by Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, where nine students matched. Seven students will train at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo.
Contact Vanessa McCray at: vmccray@theblade.com, or 419-724-6065, or on Twitter @vanmccray.
First Published March 20, 2015, 5:53 p.m.
