THE PLACES THEY WILL GO

ECU Match Day set for March 16

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 Friday, March 16, in the auditorium of the Brody Medical Sciences Building. 

Esther Nissao, left, and her mother, Adele, smile at last year’s March Day after learning Esther will be going to the Medical College of Georgia for a residency in pediatrics. (Photo by Doug Boyd)

Esther Nissao, left, and her mother, Adele, smile at last year’s March Day after learning Esther will be going to the Medical College of Georgia for a residency in pediatrics. (Photo by Doug Boyd)

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 in what is usually a loud, festive event. 

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. 

This year will be the first for the new Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Programthat will replace the Scramble for unfilled positions during Match Week 2012.