At precisely noon on Friday, March 20, fourth-year medical students at Emory University School of Medicine participated in Match Day 2015, joining their peers across the United States as they dashed across the room, ripped open envelopes and simultaneously learned where they are headed next on their journeys to become physicians.

The Emory students were among thousands of medical students receiving positions at US teaching hospitals through the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) that annually matches students with residency programs. Residents are licensed physicians who care for patients under the supervision of attending physicians.

"Finding out where you’ll spend your residency is a memorable day in the life of a medical student," says J. William Eley, MD, MPH, executive associate dean for medical education and student affairs, Emory University School of Medicine.

"The Emory School of Medicine Class of 2015 has achieved wonderful results in this year’s match.  We are excited that they are going to outstanding medical centers to continue their training," says Eley.

Of the 137 Emory graduating seniors, 133 participated in a match program. Prior to today’s NRMP match, four students had gained matches in Ophthalmology, and two students had matched in Urology.  

Some of the most popular specialties chosen by Emory's graduating seniors in the Emory match included:

• Internal Medicine (36),
• Pediatrics (21),
• General Surgery (14),
• Orthopedic Surgery (9),
• and Anesthesiology (8).  

Twenty-eight graduating students will spend all or part of their residencies in Emory's Residency Training Programs.

In addition to Emory, residency training will occur at a variety of esteemed institutions including:  Harvard, UCSF, Northwestern, Cleveland Clinic, University of Washington, University of Pennsylvania, Mayo Clinic, Cornell, Columbia, Yale, Brown, Duke, Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt.

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.

After students spend months interviewing at residency programs across the country, they rank their top institutional choices. Those academic medical institutions rank their top student choices and a computer program, administered by the NRMP, is used to match the students and residencies together.

According to the NRMP, last year more than 40,000 applicants vied for over 29,000 residency positions at institutions across the country and the 2015 Match is expected to be even larger.

For more information on Emory School of Medicine’s Match Day event, please visit: storify.com/emoryhealthsci/emory-match-day-2015.