U-M Medical School Students Make an Important Match up

Fourth-year students learned today where they'll do their residency training at Match Day celebration

ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --  It was match point for University of Michigan medical students today, as they learned where they will do their residency training at the annual Match Day celebration.

At the annual University of Michigan's Medical School Match Day celebration, held at the University's North Campus Research Complex, students received a plain, white envelope that contained their fates for the next three to seven years – a single slip of paper stating where they will do their residencies. Residencies are required for medical students to finish their training before they become physicians.

This year, 174 U-M students participated in the match. Similar to previous years, 38.5 percent (up from an average of 34 percent in previous years) will do their residencies and/or first years in Michigan, a plus for the state as it addresses a predicted physician shortage. The rest will be scattered across the country in 25 states and the District of Columbia. Other top states for placement were Massachusetts, California, New York and North Carolina.

Twenty-six percent of the students are doing residencies at U-M's University Hospital.

The number of students placed in primary care specialties  increased substantially, from an average of 35% over the last 3 years to 47.2% this year. Those specialties are Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Medicine/Pediatrics, Obstetrics/Gynecology and Pediatrics.

"Every year the match gets harder and harder because there are fewer spots available. We are proud that our University of Michigan Medical School students consistently are chosen in top-notch residency programs," says Associate Dean of Medical Student Education Elizabeth Petty, M.D.

"At U-M, we admit great students and we provide them with strong and active career counseling as well as an excellent curriculum. So every year, we can count on high demand for our students."

Petty says that all of U-M's students seeking residency found positions, the majority through the match.  The national match rate usually hovers around 94%, but as in previous years, U-M's rate is much higher.  This year, like last year, U-M's rate is close to 99%.

Although results of the nationwide matching process were posted online at 1 p.m. – so that any graduating medical student in the country could find out their residency match on their own – it is a U-M tradition that the students find out as a group and share the good news with fellow students, faculty and friends.

Students enjoyed a lunch together with faculty and alumni, highlighted by a champagne toast from James O. Woolliscroft, M.D., Dean of the Medical School and Lyle C. Roll Professor of Medicine.

"Match Day is one of the most important and exciting days in a medical student's education. We share our students' excitement and enjoy seeing them move on to the next phase of their professional training here at our own University Hospital and at excellent programs across the nation," says Woolliscroft.

University of Michigan Medical School students excitedly opened their envelopes and shared the news with family, fellow students, faculty and friends.

U-M student Latifa Sage Silski opened her envelope Thursday to find she matched at her first choice: Ohio State for general surgery. Silski said getting her training at U-M gives her an advantage.

"The University of Michigan gives you a real boost," says Silski, who added that she chose general surgery after being inspired by watching a liver transplant.

Feranmi Okalami was matched to Yale for orthopedic surgery, also getting his first choice. Okalami says he's proud to be at U-M Medical School.

"I am looking forward to starting my career as a physician, finally," he says.

The match, conducted annually by the National Resident Matching Program, is the primary system for aligning applicant preferences with those of residency programs at U.S. teaching hospitals.

During the third year, medical students select the residency programs in which they desire to participate; interviews take place in the fourth year. Then, based on factors that include interview results, student preferences and available openings, an impartial match is made through the national system.

The 2011 Main Residency Match was the largest in NRMP history, with more than 26,000 positions and almost 38,000 applicants. Slightly more than 94 percent of U.S. medical school seniors matched to a first-year residency position this year.

The Medical School was the first professional school at the University of Michigan and admitted its first class of 91 students in 1850. In the past 150 years, the Medical School has awarded over 19,000 M.D. degrees.

U-M's Medical School commencement is set for Friday, May 13th, at 3 p.m. at Hill Auditorium. Former U-M Head Football Coach and Associate Athletic Director, Lloyd Carr, will join us to speak to our graduating students, their families, friends, and faculty.

SOURCE University of Michigan Health System