Class of 2026 School of Medicine students gathered outside of Old Cabell Hall Friday to celebrate Match Day — the third Friday of March where fourth-year medical students find out which residency program they will enter once they graduate medical school. The reveal occurred Friday at noon, where students opened their envelopes unveiling their results.
The Match process is run by the National Resident Matching Program and this year, the Class of 2026 had 48,050 applicants, nationwide, for 44,344 postgraduate year-1 available spots.
150 students from the School of Medicine’s Class of 2026 were matched and 30 will be staying to complete their training with U.Va. Health. The students placed into 25 specialities total — internal medicine, pediatrics and anesthesiology were the three specialities with the highest placement. Additionally, of all of the matched residents, the top states of placement were Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
A medical student will typically begin their Match process in the summer before their fourth year of medical school, and after going through applications and interviews with different programs, both the students and programs rank their top choices from most preferred to least preferred. The NRMP then creates matches accordingly, deciding whether a student gets a match for a residency program or not — the amount of students who received their top choice is not publicly disclosed.
Medical student Gaby Li matched into anesthesiology at the University of California, San Francisco, and accredited the University to her academic success.
“I don’t think I even knew how to pronounce anesthesiology coming [into medical school],” Li said. “Now I’ve found lifelong friends … mentors and a field that I love.”
Marybeth Kingston, operations manager for the Office of Curriculum and Medical Education, explained how the matching celebration required preparation from both official medical organizations and the students being selected for their desired programs.
“[Match Day] is months in the making,” Kingston said. “It involves our alumni group as well as our student affairs section of the School of Medicine, and they collect all of the information about where the students match, and then they organize the ceremony.”
The Match Day ceremony occurs at the same time at every medical school across the country, and will occur next year March 19, 2027.
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