Amid shouts and hollers of support, fourth-year Medical School students anticipate their chance to run to the front of the auditorium "Price is Right"-style to find out if they've won a highly sought prize: admission into their preferred residency programs.
As the clock strikes noon, the anticipation explodes into shouts, hugs and tears when students rip open envelopes disclosing their residency program placements.
This is Match Day 2008. The annual ceremony, held yesterday in the old Medical School auditorium, marked the culmination of the yearly residency interview process, University Residency Match Coordinator Ginny Atwell said.
According to the Medical School Student Handbook, 127 out of 129 members of the 2008 graduating class were matched with a residency program.
Students were informed if they were offered residency with a program after the Medical School learned of the placements Monday, but were not told their specific program placements until yesterday's ceremony, Atwell said.
Fourth-year Medical student Diana Lobo said her stress was somewhat alleviated after learning Monday that she had been matched.
"It's much nicer that we know we've matched," Lobo said. "Whatever happens, we know at least we've got a job."
Almost every U.S. medical school holds a match day ceremony, said Mona Signer, executive director of the National Resident Matching Program, adding that the ceremonies are an important tradition.
While students said the match ceremony is nerve-wracking, some noted they enjoyed finding out their placements together.
"Everyone complains about the waiting, but in the end it's more fun," fourth-year Medical School student Michele Justice said.
The NRMP coordinates the matching process, during which students apply directly to their programs of choice, and the programs choose the applicants they wish to interview, Signer said. After the fall interview process, applicants and programs alike rank each other according to preference in January and February, Signer said. The NRMP then matches programs with students based on the highest preference on both sides.
Signer said the number of programs to which a student applies depends on the competitiveness of his or her desired specialty. A student in a less competitive field might only apply to three or four programs, while a student in a more competitive area might apply to 20 to 30 programs.
The University Medical School has a match rate for 2008 of 98.4 percent, which is an increase from the 2007 rate of 97.1 percent.
Signer said the increase in the national match rate was partially because of the 381 additional positions available this year in programs participating in NRMP.
She also attributed the higher match rate to a higher level of student understanding of the process.
"Students are getting smarter about how they handle the whole process," Signer said, noting that students are learning to anticipate how competitive they will be in a given specialty.
According to Richard Pearson, Medical School senior associate dean for education, between 60 and 65 percent of graduating students are traditionally matched with their top choice and between 90 and 95 percent of students are placed with one of their top three choices. He added that the interview process helps students in ranking their preferred programs.
Fourth-year Medical School student Janet Lin said she was thrilled with her placement at the University of Rochester. In her specialty, dermatology, she said, it is difficult to make a match.
While students from the Class of 2008 will participate in 21 specialties in 26 states, 23 students will remain in Charlottesville to work at the University Hospital.
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