Med students learn residency assignments on Friday

Future doctor? Three-week-old Waylon Winship White, son of College of Medicine Class of 2018 President Anthony White, right, and wife Breanna, will be on hand for Match Day festivities. (Photo courtesy Ashlie Klindt Photography)

There will be lots of noise, smiles and hugging at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 16, when senior medical students open their envelopes on cue and find out where they will train after graduation. It’s one of the most exciting and anxious times in medical school.

During Match Day, 122 students in the College of Medicine class of 2018 will learn where they will do their residency training — a period of three to six years of training depending on their chosen medical specialty. Match Day is a national event held at the exact same time across the U.S. The information is secret until 11 a.m.

Earlier in the year, students entered their choices for residency training locations into a national computer database.

The event will be held at the Truhlsen Events Center in the Sorrell Center, with the ceremony starting at 10:30 a.m. UNMC College of Medicine Dean Brad Britigan, M.D., Gerald Moore, M.D., senior associate dean, College of Medicine and Anthony White, class president, will provide opening remarks.

After they open their envelopes revealing their residency assignments, one-by-one, each student will go to the stage and share their residency location with fellow students then place a pin on a U.S. map where they will do their residency.

This year’s class may break a Match Day record of having the most children — it’s estimated that the graduating class has between 50 and 60 children. Many students will bring their children and take them up on the stage when they announce to the class where they will do their residency. Class president, Anthony White, and his wife, plan to have their first-born, 3-week-old son, Waylon, in tow.

All are encouraged to share about UNMC’s Match Day festivities on Twitter and Instagram with #UNMCMatch18. Family, friends and others can watch the ceremony live on UNMC’s Facebook page or here. The live stream will be broadcast in Room 1005 in the Sorrell Center as an overflow room.