WSU Boonshoft School of Medicine class of 2011 participates in national Match Day event

Graduating medical students in the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine learned today which residency programs they will enter after receiving their medical degrees in May.

A long-standing tradition at medical schools across the country, Match Day is a highly anticipated event that represents the beginning of the next phase of a medical student’s life: the day they learn where they are heading as a new doctor to receive advanced clinical training in a residency program.

Gathered with family, friends and other supporters in the Medical Sciences Auditorium on campus, the students took part in a national event that has become a rite of passage for those on the brink of becoming physicians.

Each year, the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) analyzes the preferences of roughly 16,000 U.S. medical students, 15,000 other applicants and 4,200 residency programs with 24,000 open positions. Based on this analysis, the NRMP determines who will fill each position, and the results are released nationwide at the same time.

Depending on where they match, students will spend the next three to five years as residents receiving advanced training in a primary care field or one of dozens of medical specialties. Wright State students matched in outstanding programs in Dayton, throughout Ohio, and across the country, including the Mayo Clinic’s Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Nearly half of the Wright State graduates will remain in Ohio during residency, and 44 percent will enter a primary care field such as family medicine, internal medicine or pediatrics. One quarter of the 60 open positions in the Boonshoft School of Medicine residency programs will be filled by Boonshoft students who chose to stay at their alma mater for their residencies.

Nationally, the total number of positions in the Match exceeded 26,000 for the first time, according to the NRMP. Overall, U.S. seniors’ participation in the Match also increased with 16,559 applicants—489 more than 2010.

For more information on the Boonshoft School of Medicine Match Day results, visit: http://www.med.wright.edu/whatsnew/2011/match.