Medical School graduates in the Class of 2018 (at EVERY medical school) have their own brand of “March Madness” and it’s called Match Day!

When is it? March 16, 2018! At 9 am PST  all the medical students around the country open up their “match envelope” at the same time.

What does this mean? The National Resident’s Matching Day is when graduating medical students have essentially signed a contract for the next 3 to 7 years of post-doctoral education.

Wow! Every year I reflect on MY Match Day in 1995 (!) when we learned WHICH specialty and WHERE I was going to learn it. My then fiancee was also matching into a specialty and this added complexity to our joint decision.  This cemented our medical specialties of choice, family medicine.

The match changed the trajectory of our lives.   I cannot underscore what a monumental day this was for us and is for every single medical student around the country. Medical students have studied for at least 8 years after high school, incurred hundreds of thousands of educational debt, and honed their educational path to this culmination.

35,000 medical students are vying for 31,000 spots in US hospitals and health centers. (My son was horrified when he did the math and realized that 4000 medical students may not have a job).  So, looking at the math, you can appreciate that some medical students do not match into a residency program and may need to “scramble” (now called the SOAP –Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program) into an open residency position or may need to work in an associated field and apply to the match next year and be involved in Match Day 2019.

University of Nevada Reno Family Medicine Residency Program received over 800 applicants; we interviewed over 100 candidates, and have matched 10 medical interns who will start with us after medical school graduation.

It is truly an exciting time for every graduating medical student and for those in medical education. The closing of one chapter… and the opening of another. I love it!

Want to know more?  Here’s the official website…   http://www.nrmp.org/