Graduating Wright State medical students learn where they will pursue residency training at 2025 Match Day celebration

A graduating class of 119 medical students at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine learned where their journeys as future doctors will continue during the annual Match Day celebration on March 21 in the Student Union.

Match Day was filled with cheers, tears of joy and heartfelt moments as students opened their envelopes at noon, revealing their residency placements and specialties. Some took a moment to read their match letter privately, while others announced their residency programs from the Apollo Room stage.

Depending on where they matched, 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 after graduating from Wright State on May 3.

Malika Day, who matched in obstetrics and gynecology at Wright State, expressed her excitement about staying in the Dayton area, where she was raised by her single mother.

“To know that I’m going to be there for mothers just like my mom was there for me and just like doctors were there for her when she was giving birth to me, it means the world,” she said.

A longstanding tradition at medical schools nationwide, Match Day marks a pivotal point in students’ medical careers as they transition from medical school to residency programs to receive advanced clinical training in a residency program.

Match Day was filled with cheers, tears of joy and heartfelt moments as students opened their envelopes at noon, revealing their residency placements and specialties. (Photos by Erin Pence)

This year, 52,498 total applicants from all medical school types, including nearly 20,865 from M.D. medical schools in the United States, vied for residency positions at institutions nationwide.

Wright State students matched in outstanding programs in Dayton, throughout Ohio and across the country, including at Wright State University, the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Michigan, Duke University, Northwestern University and the Mayo Clinic.

During their residencies, 56% of the Wright State graduates will remain in Ohio, and 24% of the class will remain in Dayton, including at the Boonshoft School of Medicine, Premier Health, Dayton Children’s, Kettering Health Network and Wright-Patterson Medical Center,

Twenty-three graduates will complete their residencies at Wright State University.

Raj Mitra, M.D., dean of the Boonshoft School of Medicine and chief academic officer at Premier Health, said many of the students who matched will help address a physician shortage in Ohio.

“For Wright State University and Premier Health to work together and have many of our students stay in the state and many stay right here in Dayton is really a big deal,” he said.

Nearly half of the class (47%) will enter a primary care field with 17.6% entering Family Medicine, 16.8% in Internal Medicine, 11.8% specializing in Pediatrics, and 0.8% entering Internal Medicine/Pediatrics.

The rest matched in 17 other specialties: Anesthesiology: 5% Dermatology: 0.8%; Emergency Medicine: 10.9%; Interventional Radiology: 0.8%;  Neurology: 5.8%; Obstetrics and Gynecology: 3.4%; Ophthalmology 0.8%; Orthopedic Surgery: 2.5%; Otolaryngology 0.8%; Pathology: 0.8%; Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation: 0.8%; Plastic Surgery: 1.7%; Psychiatry: 11.8%; Radiation Oncology: 0.8%; Radiology: 2.5%; Surgery: 2.5%; and Urology:0.8%.

Six medical students matched for competitive military residencies: Ophthalmology and Emergency Medicine at Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Washington; Otolaryngology at Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu; Emergency Medicine at UNLV Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; Pediatrics at Wright State-Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Emergency Medicine at Wright State-Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

A complete list of matches is available at medicine.wright.edu/match.