ECU medical students to learn residency sites at Match Day

East Carolina University’s medical class of 2005 will learn Thursday where they will spend the next several years completing their residency training.

During what often becomes a loud and celebratory event, the fourth-year students at the Brody School of Medicine participate in a nationwide rite of passage for medical students. The event will be at noon in the auditorium of the Brody Medical Sciences Building.

Medical students often bring their spouses, parents, children and friends with them to find out their residency assignments.

Match Day is organized by the National Residency Matching Program, a private, not-for-profit organization sponsored by the American Board of Medical Specialties, the American Medical Association, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American Hospital Association and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies.

The program provides an impartial venue for matching applicants’ preferences for residency positions with program directors’ preferences for applicants. Each year approximately 16,000 U.S. medical school seniors and 17,000 “independent” graduates of osteopathic, Canadian or foreign medical schools compete for approximately 23,000 residency positions.

Before they can provide direct patient care, medical school graduates in the United States must complete a three- to seven-year graduate program accredited in a recognized medical specialty.