MARCH MADNESS –WITH A STETHOSCOPE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 17, 2015

CONTACT:     Suzanna Cisneros, suzanna.cisneros@ttuhsc.edu

(806) 743-2143

 Medical Students to Meet Their Match

Just as basketball fans wait every year for the tradition, excitement and upsets of March Madness, medical students await the same with Match Day. Fourth-year medical students from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Medicine will participate in Match Day at 11 a.m. Friday (March 20) at the McKenzie-Merket Alumni Center, 17^th Street and University Avenue.

Match Day is a nerve-wracking event that has played out on medical school campuses across the country since 1952. Approximately 140 TTUHSC School of Medicine students will participate in Match Day and learn where they will be for the next three to seven years for their residencies. The results are sealed in an envelope and are opened simultaneously at all of the nation’s medical schools.

“The Class of 2015 has a record of excellence in course work, patient care and community service,” said Steven L. Berk, M.D., TTUHSC executive vice president and provost and dean of the School of Medicine. “We are proud of our students’ accomplishments and share their excitement as they pursue their careers at outstanding teaching programs around the country.”

Months before Match Day, students begin applying to residency programs in their preferred specialties. Students visit sites to evaluate and ultimately rank their preferred residency programs. At the same time, administrators at each site interview applicants and rank them. The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) coordinates this process and makes the final match algorithm, which is designed to produce results for students to fill the thousands of training positions available at U.S. teaching hospitals.

Berk said although Match Day is celebrated for one day, the event is actually a week-long process. The process of Match Day is celebrated at the 137 U.S. medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. Starting on the Monday of Match Week, applicants are informed whether they have been matched to a residency program of their choice, but the student is not told the name of that program. The same day, the locations of remaining unfilled residency positions are released to the unmatched applicants.

The match was established in 1952, at the request of medical students, to provide a fair and impartial transition from medical school to residency. In 2014, the NRMP enrolled 4,735 residency programs in the match, which altogether offered 29,671 positions. A total of 58,525 U.S. and international medical student applications were submitted for these positions, 28,944 of which were from U.S. senior medical students.

 

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