This year, 273 IU School of Medicine soon-to-be graduates participated in Match Day, a program that coordinates thousands of medical students’ and U.S. hospital programs’ preferences. During their senior year, students apply and interview for their preferred residency positions throughout the nation; their selection is administered through the National Resident Matching Program of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
“The National Match Day program is a time to celebrate for fourth-year students,” says Dennis Deal, director of Academic Records-Medical Student Affairs. “It’s a rite of passage for the students, much like commencement, although with a little more anxiety. Finally, after all the hard work of medical school, students will find out where they will be and what they will be doing for the next three to six years of their lives.
“It also is a time for medical schools to reflect on the quality of their educational program. We’re very happy that many of our graduates will be pursuing residency training here at IU and in the state, but we’re also sending graduates to many very prestigious hospitals and programs throughout the country. Our students are very well received nationally. This speaks highly of the caliber of IU medical students and the training they receive here,” Deal said.
The National Residency Matching Program, with the results released each year during the third week of March, is the main pathway by which most medical school graduates enter their residency training under the supervision of veteran physicians.
Students in the Class of 2009, who will receive their medical degrees on May 9, accepted residency positions in 38 states, including Indiana. Among the Match Day highlights:
The IU School of Medicine, the second largest medical school in the United States with more than 1,200 students, has nine medical education centers throughout the state for first- and second-year students. The programs are: the IU Medical Sciences Program (Bloomington), IUSM- Evansville, IUSM- Fort Wayne, IUSM- Muncie, IUSM- Northwest, IUSM- South Bend, IUSM- Terre Haute, IUSM- West Lafayette, and on the main medical education campus at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
All IU School of Medicine students complete their final two years of study at the IUPUI campus. Students receive clinical training in that time, in addition to further classroom and laboratory studies.
Additional information the National Resident Matching Program can be found at www.nrmp.org.
For photo highlights of the day, see…