Match Week has arrived for the Wayne State University School of Medicine's nearly 300 students who make up the Class of 2017. They join thousands of medical school students and graduates in the United States and around the world who will learn the specialty and location of the residency programs in which they will train for the next three to seven years.
Activities related to the National Resident Matching Program's 2017 Main Residency Match begin March 13 at 11 a.m., the day applicants learn if they have matched. Through Thursday, unmatched applicants participate in the Match Week Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program to try to obtain an unfilled position. The week concludes with the annual Match Day celebration at noon March 17, an event recognized by U.S. allopathic medical schools around the country, including WSU.
WSU's students have a historically high match success rate. In 2016, 95.8 percent of WSU students matched with their preferred residency sites. (Read our 2016 Match Day report here.)
The School of Medicine's Match Day event will be held at the MGM Grand Detroit's Grand Ballroom.
To celebrate Match Week, the NRMP, American Medical Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges will host joint online Match Week celebrations on Tagboard and Storify. Match participants and the medical education community are encouraged to celebrate by posting photos and congratulatory messages. The hashtag #Match2016 was one of the top trends on Twitter on Match Day 2016.
Results of the national Main Residency Match are watched to predict future changes in physician workforce supply. The NRMP expects the 2017 Main Residency Match to be the largest in history, exceeding the more than 42,000 applicants who registered for the 2016 Match.
The Main Residency Match process begins in the fall of the final year of medical school. After interviews from mid-January to late February, applicants and program directors rank and submit preference lists to NRMP, which processes them using a computerized mathematical algorithm to match applicants with programs.