P&S Students Match to Residencies

Tears of joy and laughter filled Bard Hall last Friday on Match Day when 161 P&S medical students opened white envelopes to learn where they will spend their residencies.

The Match uses a computer algorithm to match medical students to open residency spaces based on the preferences of the students and the residency programs. Most of the 18,000 graduating medical students in the country learned of their fate at the same time on March 18.

"It is very competitive," says Victoria North, a former professional ballet dancer who matched to ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. "No matter what you have done—research, extracurriculars, etc.—it seems someone will have done them better."

At P&S, 161 students participated in the Match. The most popular residencies were internal medicine  (36 students), pediatrics (22), psychiatry (13), and emergency medicine (11). Close to half (47.8 percent) of P&S students will do all or part of their residency in New York City (49.7 percent will remain in New York state).