Another Climactic Match Day

At the announcement of “three minutes,” the crowd packed into the Maurice J. Stone, MD, Commons erupted in a loud cheer. At “two minutes,” another reaction, but this one was more subdued, the tension becoming almost palpable.

The intensity returned at “one minute” and collected momentum as the final 10 seconds were counted down in unison. And then, an abrupt silence as the 222 students from the Lewis Katz School of Medicine’s (LKSOM) class of 2018 opened their envelopes to reveal their futures.

Welcome to Match Day 2018, the day when all fourth-year medical students across the country learn where they “matched” for their residencies. It’s one of the most important – and emotional – days in a student’s journey to becoming a physician.

The matching process has been compared to “rush week” for fraternities and sororities: students and teaching hospitals first try to impress each other, then they rank each other in order of preference. A computer sorts through tens of thousands of preferences and makes the matches. Then, on the same day and at the same hour, tens of thousands of students throughout the United States find out if they matched with one of their top choices.

LKSOM Dean Larry Kaiser, MD, FACS, stood on a podium in the center of the commons taking photos of the crowd with his phone. Above, students lined the concourse railings, many of them holding red and white balloons that they dropped in celebration of the reveal.

Ryan Hughes and his fiancée, Emily Arevalo.

Ryan Hughes may have been the most nervous person in the building, even though he learned his fate late last year. Military matches are announced in December, and Hughes is headed to the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, for his emergency medicine residency. But he kept that a secret from his girlfriend, Emily Arevalo, who stood anxiously by his side.

When the time came to open his envelope, Hughes handed it to Arevalo and asked her to open it. He was too nervous, he said. Instead of his match, he’d enclosed a letter in which he asked Arevalo to marry him. She said yes.

“It was a long time coming,” said Hughes, who spent the last month hatching his plan.

Around the commons, it was enough—more than enough—for everyone else to digest their matches. Brad Wiekrykas, in the minutes right before he opened his envelope, said he’d been up all night in anticipation of the approaching moment. With a minute left, his mother and sister teared up and his mother leaned in and hugged him. As it turned out, Wiekrykas won’t be headed far; he’ll be staying at Temple for his orthopaedic surgery residency.

Drew Zebley, who’ll be doing his general surgery residency at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington, DC, seemed oddly at peace about 10 minutes before his life would take a sudden turn.

“I’m feeling nothing but happiness right now,” he said. “I’m happy wherever I go.”

His mother, who lives just outside of Philadelphia, was settling nicely into the idea that her son would be only a couple of hours away. “This is such a relief,” she said, turning to face her son. “Are you happy?” she asked him. “I’m happy,” he said.

Top specialties

• 43 – Internal Medicine
• 26 – Emergency Medicine
• 22 – General Surgery
• 19 – Family Medicine
• 19 – Anesthesiology
• 15 – Pediatrics
• 15 – Psychiatry
• 15 – Neurology/Child Neurology
• 11 – Orthopaedic Surgery
• 10 – Radiology-Diagnostic