For Release: March 19, 2009
Contact: DMS Communications 603-650-1492
The Envelope, Please: DMS Seniors Match
Carolyn Presley holds the kitty and her Match letter for medicine at Yale.
HANOVER, NH—Graduating Dartmouth Medical School students celebrated Match Day, the national rite of passage when soon-to-be physicians learn where they begin residency training. For most DMS seniors, the defining moment came during ceremonies at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center when students received envelopes that revealed where they will head after their June graduation.
An auditorium overflowing with family, faculty and friends, was suffused in nervous excitement as Dr. William Green, DMS dean, and Dr. Susan Harper, assistant dean of medical education, called students in random order to receive their envelope and drop a dollar in the kitty as consolation for the last person called. The hush became a hubbub as each student shared the news, and by time Carolyn Pressley, last on the list, collected her envelope (with a match to Yale) and the kitty, anxiety had melted to relief.
Exciting opportunities lie ahead for each of them!
—Dr. Susan Harper
The most popular choice for the DMS class of '09 was diagnostic radiology, which 9 students chose, followed by anesthesiology and internal medicine, with six student each, while Massachusetts and California tied for the states that will draw the most from DMS.
"All of the graduating students who participated in the National Residency Matching Program successfully matched. This happens very infrequently and truly reflects the incredible effort that this great group of students put into this process," Harper said. "Exciting opportunities lie ahead for each of them!"
This year, 62 of the 63 DMS final year medical students participated in a record-breaking Match: almost 30,000 applicants—the most ever—vied for one of the 22,427 slots offered -a historic high, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The Match uses a computer program to pair students with residencies in teaching hospitals across the country, weighted to optimize the alignment for students where possible.
DMS requires that all seniors take step two of the USMLE that tests clinical knowledge before they graduate; this year, 75 students (including those who elect to defer graduation for additional experience) passed with scores above the national average, according to Dr. David Nierenberg, senior associate dean for medical education.
A list of specialty choices and locations follows.
-DMS-
