Emory University School of Medicine students from the Class of 2012 gathered today to find out where they are headed next on their journeys to become physicians. At the stroke of noon they simultaneously opened small white envelopes during the suspenseful Match Day ceremony as friends and families looked on in anticipation.

The Emory students were among thousands of graduating medical students across the nation who applied for residency positions at U.S. teaching hospitals through the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) that annually matches students with residency programs.

Of the 115 Emory graduating seniors, 114 participated in the NRMP. One student chose to defer residency. Some of the most popular specialties chosen by Emory's graduating seniors included internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine and general surgery.

Training will occur at a variety of institutions including, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University, Stanford and UCLA. Thirty-three students will spend all or part of their residencies in the State of Georgia in Emory's Affiliated Residency Training Programs.

The Match was established in 1952, at the request of medical students, to provide a fair and impartial transition to the graduate medical education experience. A computer is used to match the preferences of applicants with the preferences of residency programs in order to fill the available training positions at U.S. teaching hospitals.

Each year, approximately 16,000 graduates from U.S. medical schools, along with 15,000 graduates from osteopathic or foreign medical schools, compete for approximately 24,000 residency positions at U.S. hospitals.