2017 Match Day
It wasn’t just a lucky St. Patrick’s Day at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. The hard work of the school’s fourth class – it’s final “founding” class – paid off in a big way with 100 percent of the Class of 2017 being matched in residency programs, continuing the trend set by the first three classes.
[Narrator]: Forget graduation, matchday takes the cake for medical students. It's the day they find out what kind of doctor they will train to be and where they will live for the next three to seven years.
[Silpa Thaivalappil, class of 2017]: It's been really surreal so one part of it you're in limbo cuz you don't know where you're gonna be for the next three years or even longer. You know, like all of our hands are shaking and hearts are pounding it's just I mean this is what it all comes down to even more than graduation like this is about really you know is the next step for us.
[Audience]: Three, two, one!
[Narrator]: At noon Eastern Time on match day, medical students from around the country open envelopes that reveal what residency program they will attend. Preparing to match starts during your fourth year of medical school. Students apply to programs and then get interviewed at some, much like a job interview. They ask questions, you ask questions. You are then ranked by the program as well as you rank the program. A computer puts the rankings together and voila a match is made. But a match isn't a guarantee. Every year out of the over 35,000 medical students from around the world who want to practice in America, almost a quarter of those will not match.
[Student]: I'll be going for emergency medicine to Cook County in the Windy City Chicago Illinois
[Narrator]: Fortunately Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine has a better average. Every single student who has or will graduate has matched. A 100% success rate.
[Aubrey Knight, associate dean for student affairs]: So we're very fortunate in the way that this school, Carilion Clinic, have set our students up for success so it's been just an amazing ride.
[Narrator]: And for the class of 2017 the ride will take them from California to Vermont, the Mayo Clinic to Yale, and many places in between. It is indeed an amazing ride
The Class of 2017 celebrated the news in a packed auditorium filled with friends, family, fellow classmates, school employees, and guests on Match Day 2017. At noon EST, students at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine as well as students in other medical schools across the country opened up envelopes to see where they are headed for residency.
The 40 members of Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine’s Class of 2017 will go programs representing 13 specialties in 16 states. The most represented specialties include internal medicine, pediatrics, and general surgery.
A snapshot of programs where students will go includes Carilion Clinic-Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, the University of Virginia, Emory University, Baylor University, Georgetown University, University of Pittsburgh, Ohio State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin, and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Three students will stay in Roanoke for full residency programs with Carilion Clinic-Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. Another student will do a preliminary year here before continuing to another program to finish residency.