Years of hard work and sacrifice came to joyous fruition today at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine’s inaugural Match Day celebration, as members of the Class of 2024 learned where they have been accepted for residency training after graduation.
Surrounded by family, friends, and loved ones, the students celebrated receiving the news they had long been awaiting, which revealed where they will receive immersive training within their chosen specialties at hospitals and medical centers across the U.S. Match Day marks a major step in each fourth-year medical student’s path to becoming a physician, and students said waiting for the final decision to arrive in their inbox on Friday morning was both exciting and nerve-racking.
“I went to sleep at, like, 3 a.m. and I woke up at 6,” said student Samir Fierro. “We have 10 people staying at my house – that was my social support. We ate breakfast, we cracked lots of jokes, and I had that angst and turmoil and anxiety that I know this email is coming at 9 a.m., which is a feeling that I wouldn’t wish upon any of my enemies. But it was also filled with anticipation and excitement.
“The realization of this is where you’re going to go, and the shock and the reality – now you know where you’ve matched and what your life is going to be like,” Fierro added. “That’s quite a feeling and quite a reality that sets in, all before your second coffee of the morning.”
Among the graduating class, 62% of students will remain in California for their residencies, with 19% of students matched to a Kaiser Permanente residency program for all or part of their training. The top three institutions with the most matches for our students are University of California Los Angeles, University of California San Francisco, and University of Washington. Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Family Medicine are the top three most matched specialty programs, and 38% are matched into primary care specialties, including Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics.
