Medical students ready for annual Match Day on Thursday

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 20, in the auditorium of the Brody Medical Sciences Building.

Before they can provide direct patient care, U.S. medical school graduates are required to 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. At ECU, the event is always a raucous time of celebration.

The National Residency Match Program, a private, not-for-profit organization, provides a method for matching applicants 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.