April 9, 2004

Match Day matches best of the best

It may still feel like winter, but spring has sprung for medical students across the country who recently learned where they'll be going for their residency training. March 18 was Match Day, when more than 25,000 residency applicants nationwide learned which programs they will enter for graduate medical education (GME) training through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP).

The NRMP uses a computer-based program to match applicants to available training positions at U.S. teaching hospitals such as the MGH. The "match" is based on how each applicant ranked the training programs and the programs' rankings of the applicants.

Candidates consider many factors in evaluating and ranking residency programs, including the institution's clinical resources, cost of living and other geographic issues, and how highly the program is regarded nationally. This year, 245 positions in 17 MGH and MGH-BWH integrated residency programs were filled through the NRMP and other national matching programs in a broad range of specialties, including Emergency Medicine, Radiology, Plastic Surgery, Psychiatry and Anesthesia.

As in past years, many outstanding applicants interviewed at the MGH. "We were very pleased with this year's match," says Georgi Bland from the MGH Office of GME. "We attract the very best candidates, and the match results show that most of those who were ranked highly by our programs also put us at the top of their lists."

Many of those who matched last month will begin their internships in June and July in programs such as Medicine, Surgery and Pediatrics. Others, who matched to residency programs such as Neurology and Dermatology, may not arrive until next year after they have completed an internship at another institution.