What is Match Day?

A medical degree is wonderful. However, before MDs can treat patients on their own, they must complete additional training to become a practicing physician in their chosen medical specialty. This specialty-specific training is called a residency. The first year of a residency is called the intern year, or internship.

Medical students complete interviews during their fourth year of medical school, and rank programs they wish to attend, based on the medical speciality they hope to pursue. Then the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) uses a computerized algorithm to align the preferences of applicants with the preferences of program directors in order to produce the best possible outcome for filling training positions available at U.S. teaching hospitals.

The letter to the student is very simple. It includes the name of the teaching hospital and the specialty program where the student matched.

After Indiana University School of Medicine students open their red envelopes, they have the option to go up on stage in front of all their classmates, professors and loved ones to announce where they matched.

Medical students throughout the U.S. (and worldwide for international medical students who hope to attend residency training in the U.S.) open their envelopes at the same time on Match Day. Tens of thousands of young doctors find out their fate at the same time.

As soon as students figure out where they’re going, they start planning where they will spend the next three to seven years of their lives. Some go to a new city; some stay close to where they completed medical school. Residency positions typically start in June or July, so planning is crucial for young doctors. However, residency programs guide their new residents through the whole process.