Residency placement has always been a big deal. But Associate Dean for Medical Education Allan R. Tunkel, MD, PhD, whose own Match Day was 35 years ago, says it wasn’t always a party.
“They just handed me an envelope and there was really no celebration after it,” he says. “But I think it’s appropriate to celebrate—they’ve worked very hard for almost four years, and this really is the culmination of that process.”
And celebrate the MD Class of 2018 did. On March 16, when a record 118 Warren Alpert medical students matched into residency, most of them gathered at the Medical School to sip champagne in their finery with significant others and family members. As the band played and the balloons dropped at exactly noon, they opened the red envelopes that foretold their futures.
Most of this year’s graduates will stay in the Northeast, including 12 in Rhode Island; a strong contingent will head to California, and one will go north to Canada. Primary care specialties—family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics—accounted for more than a third of placements.
See the Match List to find out where this year’s class is going, or read on for in-depth interviews with three of our newest MDs.
