Match Day 2022 returns to an in-person celebration

Match Day 2022 will be held in Kresge Auditorium Friday, March 18. While the event will be similar to pre-pandemic Match Days, with students celebrating in person rather than virtually, there will be some differences that will make this year’s event unique.

About half the 174 graduating students participating in the Match voiced a desire to open their envelopes at the same time at noon rather than come up to the stage individually to announce their match, says Kristy Wilson, academic program director in Student Affairs, who coordinates the event. So this year, following a countdown reminiscent of New Year’s Eve, some students will simultaneously open their envelopes at the stroke of noon to learn where they are going for their residencies.

“Our class as a whole wanted to celebrate the Match a little differently and we wanted to accommodate those who wanted to find out as a group with friends or family or other loved ones,” says Mia Power, who with Ashton Huey serves as co-president of the Class of 2022.

The remaining students will anxiously await their names to be selected at random, race up to the Kresge stage accompanied by preselected walk-up music and open their envelopes in front of an expected full auditorium. Aurora Bennett, MD, associate dean for student affairs, and Bruce Giffin, PhD, associate dean for medical education, will be selecting student names.

“It is exciting to have Match Day back in person and have something to come together and celebrate as a class, especially given how isolating the past two years have been,” Huey says. 

Despite recent changes in mask requirements (see next story), everyone attending the Match Day celebration is required to wear a face mask because of the number of people expected. Students will be permitted to remove their masks while on stage. Each student will be permitted to bring two guests with them into Kresge Auditorium. Medical Sciences Building Room E-351 will be used for overflow and will have the ceremony livestreamed. Others may watch the event online beginning at 11:45 a.m. by visiting the Match Day page on the College of Medicine website. A recording of the event will be added to the page following the event. 

Students this year will use their traditional Match Day T-shirts to also celebrate the Cincinnati Bengals’ Super Bowl season, Huey says. The theme featured on the student-designed shirts is “Match Dey.”

Nine of the 174 students already have learned their Match results. Students matching into ophthalmology, urology and the military receive their results prior to Match Day. The college has four students matching in ophthalmology, two in urology and three in the military (one in the Navy and two in the Air Force).

Anyone celebrating Match Day on Twitter should use the hashtag #CincyMatch2022.

Featured photo at top from the 2019 University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Match Day celebration. Photo/Colleen Kelley/UC Creative + Brand