Shane Rowan, left, celebrates with his classmates after matching at the University of Colorado in Internal Medicine. Match Day, held on Thursday, is an annual event in which medical students learn their residency locations simultaneously across the country. (photo by Dana Johnson)
Students learn residency locations, ready for upcoming training years
Stephanie Park excitedly waves her envelope after matching at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. (photos by Dana Johnson)
Joy Duong, who matched at Vanderbilt in Ob-Gyn, hugs her classmates Thursday during the event.
Student Tricia Rotter and husband Stephan Rotter react to her Emergency Medicine match at Brown University.
Fishbowl winner Mayur Patel, who matched at Duke in General Surgery, walked away with a lot of cash.
There are many Vanderbilt University School of Medicine traditions, but one of the longest, and most painful—if you’re a student—is the glass fishbowl full of money given to the student whose name is called last at Match Day, the day where medical students across the country find out where they’ll be spending their residency years.
But at this year’s Match Day, held Thursday morning, the agonizing wait became a little more attractive for 98 anxious students when Dean Steven G. Gabbe, dean of VUSM, tossed a $100 bill in the fishbowl after greeting the students.
“In gym class when it was time to choose teams for kickball, I was always the last person chosen,” Gabbe told the group of rowdy students gathered in 208 Light Hall for the Match Day announcement. The winner of the fishbowl full of money was Mayur Patel, who had to wait about an hour to find out he was going to Duke for a residency in general surgery.
Gabbe said when he was chairman of departments of obstetrics and gynecology for 15 years, he was always happy to see names of Vanderbilt students on the match lists. “Not only are Vanderbilt students bright and well trained, they’re just good people.”
The medical students started the process for the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) more than a year ago by formulating initial lists of medical centers and hospitals to be considered for application and review. After grueling application processes and on-site interviews, residency preference lists are prepared by the students and the various programs. The NRMP computer then matches the programs and students to give each their best choice. Match Day is the national event where the selections are revealed to medical students across the country.
Dr. Bonnie M. Miller, associate dean for Medical Students, wished the students luck, then explained the process. She would choose one envelope at a time from a wicker basket trimmed with a black and gold ribbon. The students could either open the sealed envelope containing their match location in front of the lecture hall with everyone watching, or they could “retire to a bathroom stall” to open the envelope in private, she told the laughing group. Only one student, Tricia Rotter, who will serve an Emergency Medicine residency at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, chose to return to her seat to open her envelope privately with her husband Stephan. Many students brought a spouse or fiancé to the front of the lecture hall. Chris Williams, who will stay at Vanderbilt for a residency in Internal Medicine, held the hand of his young daughter as he came forward to receive his envelope. Many returned to their seats to make phone calls on their cell phones.
Christopher Tarr, who will spend his Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Arizona Affiliated Hospitals in Tucson, was the first name called. An optimistic Tarr yelled “Arizona,” then raised his shirt to expose the word “Arizona” taped to the waistband of his boxer shorts.
For Clinton Devin and Jessica Schefter, who both matched at Vanderbilt—he in Orthopaedic Surgery and she in Internal Medicine—Match Day was the culmination of a grueling year of interviews at 14 institutions to make sure they matched in a high-quality program in the same city. The couple will be married June 1.
“We both feel that we’ll get a very well-rounded experience at Vanderbilt and we know that Vanderbilt produces very good clinicians, always leaving the option to choose a career in academics,” Devin said. “Of all the programs we looked at, Vanderbilt had the strongest combination of what we wanted.”