Fourth-year Medical Students Learn Residency Match Results
March 21, 2022
By Lisa Ryan
On Friday, March 18, joy and excitement filled the Drexel University Main Building’s auditorium as fourth-year medical students gathered to learn where they would be spending the next three to seven years of their lives.
Match Day takes place at noon every year in March nationwide, when thousands of medical students open white envelopes to learn where they will do their residency training.
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, a limited number of guests were permitted at the in-person event; a live feed was available for students’ friends, family and College of Medicine faculty and staff.
After a lively countdown to noon, students cheered, hugged and some shed tears of joy upon learning their residency matches.
View Photos from Match Day
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 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 match outcomes.
Prior to the opening of the envelopes, Interim Vice Dean for Educational Affairs, Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Curriculum, and William Maul Measey Chair in Medical Education Donna Russo, PhD, welcomed attendees.
Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Dean, and Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs Charles B. Cairns, MD, FACEP, FAHA, also addressed students and their guests.
“Each of you was accepted to Drexel because we saw something extraordinary in you, and in your commitment to community service and your passion for the art and science of medicine,” he said. “Your class has exceeded our expectations both in and out of the classroom and clinic. The envelopes you are holding contain the names of institutions and programs that are truly lucky to have you."
The majority of the College of Medicine’s Class of 2022 will train as physicians in Pennsylvania. The next most popular states for Class of 2022 residency matches are:
- New York, with 37 students
- California, with 19 students
The specialties that the Class of 2022 are pursuing the most are:
- Internal medicine, with 52 students matching
- Emergency medicine, with 26 students matching
- Family medicine, with 23 students matching