At UC, matches wait in sealed envelopes for the medical students. Each student opens his or her own envelope to reveal the name of a hospital match site. John Hutton, MD, dean of the College of Medicine and Robert Suriano, PhD, associate dean of the College of Medicine will begin the event with opening remarks. Every year, senior medical students across the nation anxiously await match day to learn their destiny. When each student applies for residency training in his or her specialty, hospital program and location of choice, they hope to be matched with their preferred teaching hospital for a three to five year period.
Students apply to desired programs and then rank their application sites in order of preference.
The programs review the applications and also rank their applicant choices to fill open residency positions. Then, a matching algorithm uses the preferences submitted by applicants and programs to place individuals into positions. The matching process starts with an attempt to place each applicant with his or her first choice. If the applicant cannot be matched with the first choice, an attempt is made to place the applicant with the second choice program, and so on.