Match Day to be Thursday

Kyle Geissler and her parents learn her match at Match Day 2009. Photo by Cliff Hollis

GREENVILLE, N.C.  — Graduating East Carolina University medical students will learn where they will spend the next few years as doctors-in-training during the annual Match Day at noon Thursday, March 18, in the auditorium of the Brody Medical Sciences Building.

Before they provide direct patient care, U.S. medical school graduates normally complete a three- to seven-year residency program accredited in a recognized medical specialty. Medical students all over the country will be learning their destinations Thursday.

The National Residency Match Program, a private, not-for-profit organization, provides a method for matching applicants for residency positions in the United States with residency programs at various teaching hospitals. Applicants and hospitals rank each other in order of preference, and a computer matches them based upon those rankings.