WSU School of Medicine students were among the 14,700 U.S. medical school seniors who applied for residency positions through the National Resident Matching Program this year -- the highest number in almost 20 years. More residency positions were offered and filled in the 2005 Match than ever before: a total of 24,012 positions were available, and 22,221 of them were filled. Seventy-eight percent of all applicants matched to a first-year residency program; nearly 83 percent of the matched applicants were paired with one of their top three residency program choices. As in previous years, U.S. medical school seniors enjoyed a higher success rate than other applicants; nearly 94 percent matched and more than 86 percent of those students were assigned to one of their top three choices.