March 18, 2024

By August Ryan

Proud faculty, friends and family joined the College of Medicine MD class of 2024 to celebrate Match Day, when fourth-year medical students learn where they will do their residency training.

Match Day takes place annually on the third Friday in March at noon nationwide. Thousands of medical students open envelopes that reveal their residency match results.

With a countdown to noon, College of Medicine students opened their envelopes and reacted to their Match Day results with cheers, hugs and even some tears of joy.

After completing a lengthy interview process, graduating medical students submit a list of programs where they wish to train, ranked in order of preference, to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). Program directors across the country also submit a list of applicants whom they have interviewed and wish to train, in order of preference. Based on these combined preferences, the NRMP uses an algorithm to determine the outcomes.

Seema Baranwal, MD, senior associate dean for student affairs and an associate professor of medicine, welcomed students to the event. Leon McCrea II, MD, MPH, Deborah J. Tuttle, MD and John P. Piper, MD Vice Dean for Educational Affairs, associate professor of family, community and preventive medicine, senior associate dean for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and program director for Drexel Pathway to Medical School (DPMS) also addressed the anxious crowd.

“Match Day is a day of joy, anticipation and reflection,” McCrea said. “It’s also a journey to finding your purpose in medicine.”

Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean and Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs Charles B. Cairns, MD, complimented the students on their commitment not only to their studies, but also to helping the Philadelphia community.

“Class of 2024, we have done our very best to mold you into outstanding clinicians, filled with compassion, a dedication to lifelong learning, and the drive to be forces for change and advocates for your patients,” he said. “At the same time, you have also been shaping Drexel and the surrounding Philadelphia community. Your outstanding community outreach efforts and work with Philadelphia’s underserved populations have helped to fulfill Drexel’s mission to be one of the most civically engaged universities in the U.S.”

Some students matched at Philadelphia-based residency programs, like Kevin Yu, who will be a psychiatry resident at Temple University Hospital. Yu said it was helpful to have roots in the community already.

“I never rotated at Temple sites directly, but I have been at a lot of Philly hospitals,” he said. “And after living in the city for the last three-and-a-half years, I feel very comfortable being here.”

Of the College of Medicine’s class of 2024, 79 students will train as physicians in Pennsylvania. The next most popular states for class of 2024 residency matches are:

• New York, with 35 students
• California, with 25 students

The specialties that the class of 2024 are pursuing the most are:

• Internal medicine, with 53 students matching
• Emergency medicine, with 25 students matching
• General surgery, with 22 students matching

Dean Cairns complimented the class of 2024’s character, considering that they entered medical school during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when things were uncertain not only in medical education but for the world.

"Your grit, adaptability, dedication and positivity in the face of both personal and academic challenges has been remarkable,” he said. “The institutions you matched with for the next stage of your training are very fortunate to have you, and I know you will make us proud.”