IU medical students gathered with family and friends for the noon event at Scholar’s Hall at the University Place Conference Center of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus.
The day symbolizes the end of the all-consuming four years of medical school and the beginning of specialized residency training in the area the student selected for a career path. It is a time for reflection, a time for contemplation and a time to celebrate. Tradition has it that each graduating class selects a theme and dress in costume for the Match Day gathering. This year, the theme is luau so some colorful and creative getups were expected.
This year, 290 fourth-year IU medical students participated in the National Resident Match Day, which 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 residency match is becoming increasingly competitive and stressful, but IU students again did very well this year. A large number of our students will be staying at the IU Medical Center and in Indiana for their residencies, but we are also sending graduates to many other prestigious programs in the country, including Johns Hopkins, Mayo, Duke University and the Cleveland Clinic, to name just a few,” said Dennis Deal, director of Academic Records-Medical Student Affairs.
“Our students are well received nationally. The quality of the clinical training our graduates receive is highly regarded,” 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 2012, who will receive their medical degrees on
May 13, accepted residency positions in 34 states, including Indiana. Among the Match Day highlights:
• 38 percent of the students will pursue at least part of their residencies within Indiana
• 69 students will be residents at IU Hospital, Riley Hospital for Children, other IU Health facilities, Wishard Health Services and the Roudebush VA Medical Center
• 41 percent of IU School of Medicine graduates will enter primary-care programs, which includes internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, primary internal medicine and combined internal medicine-pediatrics
The IU School of Medicine, the second largest medical school in the United States with more than 1,300 students, has nine medical education centers throughout the state. 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. For more information on the school, see www.medicine.iu.edu.