Annual Match Day coming Thursday

Josh and Becky McKinnon react after learning they will be going to St. Vincent Hospital Center in Indianapolis for residencies in internal medicine-family medicine and family medicine, respectively. 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 17, 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 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.