The sound of ripping envelopes echoed through George Hall at noon on March 15 as fourth-year students at the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership opened their letters for Match Day.
Inside each envelope was a personal letter revealing where the student will be pursuing his or her postgraduate medical education.
“We have had a decade of Match Days here at the Medical Partnership, and we are pleased to announce that every student from the Class of 2024 matched into a residency program,” said campus Dean Dr. Shelley Nuss. “This is the second year in a row we have celebrated a perfect match rate.”
Medical student Pascal Acree celebrates with his mother Mary Acree and uncle Bobby Mortazavi after finding out he matched with his first choice of Stanford Health Care during Match Day. (Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker/UGA)
An annual event, Match Day takes place after students participate in interviews and visits to residency programs in Georgia and across the country. To determine the postgraduation assignments, the students ranked residency programs where they would like to complete their training, at the same time the residency programs ranked the student applicants. The lists are then submitted to the nonprofit organization National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) in Washington, D.C., which uses an algorithm that aligns the choices of the applicants with those of the residency programs. Most students were matched via the NRMP, but some students participated in smaller match programs, including ophthalmology. The final pairings are announced simultaneously across the U.S. at noon on Match Day.
Medical student Scarlett Kim hugs classmate Madeline Wetterhall after they found out where they matched for their residencies during Match Day. (Andrew Davis Tucker/UGA)
“The accomplishments of these 50 MCG students have landed them at top-tier residency programs across the nation,” said Nuss. “Thank you to the faculty, administrators, staff and physician mentors in our community who have devoted their time and efforts to educating our future physicians.”
The students will be going to 22 states plus Washington, D.C., in 19 specialties, with 58% staying in the southern United States, and 54% joining primary/core care programs. Thirteen will begin their residency careers in Georgia.
Some of the most popular specialties from the Medical Partnership Class of 2024 included family medicine (7), internal medicine (5), ophthalmology (4) and OB-GYN (4).
