UC Students Do Well in National "Match" Program

UC College of Medicine students last week were among the record 14,700 U.S. medical school seniors participating in “National Match Day.”

Of the 150 UC students participating in the Match, 57 students have been placed in residency programs locally, including programs at University Hospital.

“We’re thrilled with our Match results and very proud of our students’ accomplishments,” says Ronald Sacher, MD, interim dean of the College of Medicine. “It’s exciting to see that many have chosen to continue training right here in Cincinnati, and equally as exciting to see that our students will be moving to programs at other world-class training hospitals.”

The Match, conducted annually by the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP), uses a computer algorithm to fit the preferences of applicants with those of residency programs to fill available training positions at U.S. teaching hospitals.

U.S. medical school seniors constituted 58 percent of all applicants in the 2005 Match. The NRMP also receives applications from foreign graduates, students from osteopathic (DO degree) schools and others.

This year more than 25,300 applicants participated in the Match, and nearly 83 percent of them were placed in one of their top three residency program choices.

A total of 24,012 positions were available for medical students and 22,221 were filled. This, according to NRMP, broke previous Match records.

The Match was established in 1952, at the request of medical students, to provide a fair and impartial transition to the postgraduate training required of all new physicians.