MEDIA ADVISORY

What:

Get ready to cheer, because it’s Match Week for the nearly 300 medical students participating in the 2021 Main Residency Match organized by the National Resident Matching Program, culminating with Match Day on March 19.

Who:

After years of hard work and determination, the future path of each member of the Class of 2021 will be revealed in the brief time it takes to open an email. From their own homes, students will count down the seconds to noon, when they will receive the email containing their residency assignment for the next three to seven years. WSU students will fill residency slots in more than 20 specialties, including Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Emergency Medicine.

Why:

Match Day occurs simultaneously throughout the United States. “To match into a residency says much about our students and about the medical education they have received, because the competition nationally for residency positions is fierce and grows more competitive each year,” said Dean Mark E. Schweitzer, M.D., who is among the speakers for Friday’s event.

Last year, WSU’s match rate – 97.4%  – surpassed the national average of 93.7% for allopathic students, with 40,084 active allopathic and osteopathic applicants applying for the first time together for 37,256 available residency positions. A total of 19,256 M.D. U.S. seniors like those at WSU participated in the 2020 Match.

Where:

The live and interactive Match Day celebration will begin at 10 a.m. on the Streamyard virtual platform because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. A link is available for media to attend, if interested. The event will feature as many of the traditional Match Day program elements as possible, including award announcements, deans’ remarks, mock awards, an open mic session, an exciting Match statistics presentation, a map of matched locations, and of course, a countdown clock.