In the minutes leading up to Match Day, Alex Sims, a fourth-year medical student at the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), was a mixed bag of emotions — nervous about possibly matching with a residency program far from her family, sad to leave the place she had called home for the past four years, and, most importantly, excited for her future.
Held on March 15 this year, Match Day is the transition point between medical school and residency. “Match Day is a phenomenal day in the life of a medical student,” said Jeffrey S. Akman, M.D. ’81, G.M.E. ’85, vice president for health affairs and dean of SMHS. “Our students match with some of the leading medical institutions in the country.”
As the noon deadline, when medical students across the country get the news on their matches, neared, SMHS students filled Ross Hall to celebrate.
Cheers, tears, hugs, and laughter followed as SMHS students received and opened their envelopes from the National Resident Matching Program, a nonprofit corporation established to provide a uniform date of appointment to positions in graduate medical education in the United States.
Fighting back tears, Sims opened her letter. “I feel so lucky to get my first choice,” said Sims, who matched in pediatrics–primary care at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Across the room, Siobhan Hartigan and Christal Achille, both fourth-year medical students at SMHS, couldn’t stop smiling after being matched. Best friends since middle school, Hartigan and Achille have always been there for each other. “It means a lot to me to have someone I know from home be by my side as I go through this process,” said Achille. The girls will be apart for the first time in years as Achille, a Long Island, N.Y., native, is going back home to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where she matched in pediatrics. Hartigan matched in urology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.; Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md.; and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., are just some of the leading institutions that SMHS students matched with this year. Thirteen students will continue their training here at GW . [caption id="attachment_3170" align="alignleft" width="400"]
