Describe Your School's Match Day Ceremony

[metallo]

Thought it would be interesting to see what everyone will be doing tomorrow.

How will you find out where you matched? Any special school-specific procedures? What do people wear to the event? Who attends? Does your class do anything as a group after the ceremony? ...etc

At my school, we begin congregating about an hour before the event, which is held at the med school. We get our envelopes a few minutes before and all open them simultaneously once we're given the word. There is no dress code, so I assume people will be in anything from jeans and t-shirts to suits (I plan on being somewhere in-between). Everyone is welcome to bring a few family members/friends. In the evening, we have a class-sponsored bar crawl through the city, complete with matching t-shirts.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[doogoshly]

i'm a DO so we have no match day ceremony. which is the biggest crock ever.

 

[DrKnowLittle]

Everyone gathers with their family in the auditorium. We place money in a pot for the person who gets their envelope last. Someone explains the importance of today's match event. Our names gets called one by one. While we go up on to stage a slide is projected that has pictures that are important to us and what we are trying to match in and a song of our choice is played in the background.
We go back to our seats and open our envelopes in front of family and friends.

Lots of our faculty members are in attendance. Residency programs directors and their staff are usually on hand also, eagerly awaiting an opportunity to congratulate those who have matched at our home program with balloons and photo-ops. It's a fun time 🙂

Then we are planning to watch the NCAA tourney at an Irish Pub, eat dinner with our folks, and party the night away for Match / St. Patty's Day!

 

[lockjaw]

There's a lot of drama surrounding our ceremony this year. In the past, envelopes were carried to our mailboxes, and everyone would fall in line behind the dean as he carried them, and then make a mad rush to our mailboxes once they had been distributed. The school didn't like how much chaos there was to this, and has decided to make a more formal ceremony of it this year. So we'll be called one at a time to get our envelope, with the option of taking it and leaving or opening it and announcing it to everyone. The issue is that the students were not consulted at all about this, and some people feel like there's going to be a lot of pressure to open their envelope publicly. I personally like the change to make more of a big deal out of such an important event, but I can see their concerns.

Also, tonight we have a formal pre-match dinner hosted by the alumni association, and tomorrow evening the school has rented out a restaurant downtown for an appetizers/drinks social, which I'm sure will be followed by the inevitable St. Patrick's Day pub crawl.

 

[snowkhat]

non-existent...DO program. Totally a political thing.

 

[Giemsa]

I trained and practice in Canada, and when I graduated medical school and matched (in Canada), we all found out where we had matched by logging into the Canadian residency matching website (I think it opened at noon or something of match day).

How that sucker didn't collapse under the collective weight of two thousand medical students across the country all logging in at 12:00:01 is something of a minor miracle. But it didn't. (Maybe the time zone difference helped spread us out. I don't remember.)

And that was it. You could skulk off to the furthest corner of the urology library and use their computer, or go across to the University and log in on one of the library computers, and have a little cry (or not) in relative anonymity. For the most part the attendings were cool with their med students disappearing for half and hour or so to check their results, and even if they weren't (I'm looking at you, surgery!) somebody from your class would look them up for you.

We had a poster up in the medical student lounge so people could post where they had matched, if they wanted to. It wasn't a big class, and pretty much by the end of the day everyone knew where everyone else was headed.

 

[curlygirlie106]

For ours, a name is pulled to determine who opens their envelope first. That person opens their envelope and announces where they matched and then puts $ in the pot and pulls the next name until everyone's opened their envelope with the $$ going to the last person or couple.

Pretty standard, except our ceremony isn't just family and friends- it's in a huge atrium building where everyone and their sister comes to watch- the attendings, residents, hospital staff, you name it. Nothing like 10 floors of balconies worth of people staring down at you to add to the pressure of getting that envelope open.

 

[TShirtTime]

At my school, our match day has a theme and the majority of the class dresses up according to the theme. This year ours is Superhero's and Villains. A large number of students host breakfast get togethers at their house prior to the ceremony to start on some Mimosa's or "Kegs and eggs" to get the party started early. At the ceremony itself, we are called up individually with a song of our choosing played in the background as we walk up to get our envelope. We each donate a dollar to the fish bowl. We have a brunch following the ceremony and then are having a class party at one of our classmates house with more day-drinking and outdoor tailgate-like games: beer pong, redneck golf, etc. Our class also rented out a bar downtown for celebrating into the night. Not too shabby! Match Day is one of the things I think our Medical School does really well. Hope everyone enjoys tomorrow and good luck to all MS4's waiting to hear!

 

[TNVOL1102]

Do people who didn't match prelim and matched advanced who had to scramble for prelim. position get to attend the ceremony or even get a letter or do they have to just check theirs online.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

Do people who didn't match prelim and matched advanced who had to scramble for prelim. position get to attend the ceremony or even get a letter or do they have to just check theirs online.

I'm sure they get to attend... to "save face" and act "surprised"

 

[Gute]

I'm sure they get to attend... to "save face" and act "surprised"

i think you didnt understand his question

 

[MJB]

Everyone gathers with their family in the auditorium. We place money in a pot for the person who gets their envelope last. Someone explains the importance of today's match event. Our names gets called one by one. While we go up on to stage a slide is projected that has pictures that are important to us and what we are trying to match in and a song of our choice is played in the background.
We go back to our seats and open our envelopes in front of family and friends.

Lots of our faculty members are in attendance. Residency programs directors and their staff are usually on hand also, eagerly awaiting an opportunity to congratulate those who have matched at our home program with balloons and photo-ops. It's a fun time 🙂

Then we are planning to watch the NCAA tourney at an Irish Pub, eat dinner with our folks, and party the night away for Match / St. Patty's Day!

Seriously?


They sent a survey to us asking if we'd be willing to wait and open an envelope, etc...

I diddn't even fill out the survey after that. All I could think was "um, hell no, just send me the damned email so I can move on".

🙂


Have fun.

I plan to open my email and crack a beer and not waste any more time so as to watch some bball.


I think our school is having some sort of reception in a couple weeks.

 

[TNVOL1102]

Thanks for answering part of my question.

I guess what I am confused about is whether the match letters were sent/faxed to the schools after the scramble or on the day of match(Monday). Or do the schools print out all the NRMP match result letters on thursday after everyone has matched.

 

[metallo]

Seriously?


They sent a survey to us asking if we'd be willing to wait and open an envelope, etc...

I diddn't even fill out the survey after that. All I could think was "um, hell no, just send me the damned email so I can move on".

🙂


Have fun.

I plan to open my email and crack a beer and not waste any more time so as to watch some bball.


I think our school is having some sort of reception in a couple weeks.

Really? I would have assumed that every U.S. allopathic school would have some type of ceremony. Just checking your e-mail seems a little anti-climactic after four years of hard work.

 

[jenesaispas0005]

Really? I would have assumed that every U.S. allopathic school would have some type of ceremony. Just checking your e-mail seems a little anti-climactic after four years of hard work.

I think everyone, allo and osteo, has a different opnion on how match day should be done. Some people like the pomp and circumstance of a real ceremony and some prefer things to be low-key and private. I'm more of the latter type, so I'm glad we don't have a match ceremony at my school. But I can see the point that it can seem disappointing to not have a ceremony. I just don't think having a ceremony is all that meaningful, personally. That's just me.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

I probably would've been cool with a match day celebration ONLY because it would have allowed me to take a day off from my inpatient medicine month... do I really want to check my results following lunch while in the hospital? Eh... I'll probably delay looking at where I matched till I get home around 6pm 🙄

 

[DrKnowLittle]

From what I've seen from past classes, even people who had to struggle through the scramble really enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate for one day with their classmates, residents and attendings.

It really is a great atmosphere.

I believe at the University of Miami they have to actually announce where they are going once they get up to the front of the stage. That seems like it could be a recipe for disaster. Rather than putting a big spotlight on the event and all of the students it puts a spotlight on each individual student. Scary!

 

[Eat Oatmeal]

From what I've seen from past classes, even people who had to struggle through the scramble really enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate for one day with their classmates, residents and attendings.

It really is a great atmosphere.

I believe at the University of Miami they have to actually announce where they are going once they get up to the front of the stage. That seems like it could be a recipe for disaster. Rather than putting a big spotlight on the event and all of the students it puts a spotlight on each individual student. Scary!

We do that at our school also. We get our names drawn out of a lottery drum, one by one. We go up (with chosen background music) and open our envelope and announce it to everyone. Then we pitch in a dollar for a raffle that goes to charity. Then a reception afterward. Later that night we go to a local bar that has a reserved space.

I have been to two of these at my school and its a blast. I am sure it would make some people nervous but quite frankly you are happy for everyone, regardless of where they match. If they get an awesome spot then you are like "pfft..damn" and then you move on. Hands down, it is fun.

 

[MJB]

I probably would've been cool with a match day celebration ONLY because it would have allowed me to take a day off from my inpatient medicine month... do I really want to check my results following lunch while in the hospital? Eh... I'll probably delay looking at where I matched till I get home around 6pm 🙄

If I could have, I would have prevented the school from ever knowing what I was doing, or where.

 

[SalseraDoctora]

If I could have, I would have prevented the school from ever knowing what I was doing, or where.

I totally agree! I think it's a private moment, except of course that your school and the residency program all know before we do. I totally did not announce to my entire high school class which college I got into, and this feels pretty much the same.

 

[deuist]

I believe at the University of Miami they have to actually announce where they are going once they get up to the front of the stage. That seems like it could be a recipe for disaster. Rather than putting a big spotlight on the event and all of the students it puts a spotlight on each individual student. Scary!

Yep, that's exactly how we did it. We also videoed the Match and streamed it live over the Internet so family and friends not in attendance could watch. The video is then archived so others can watch at a later time. There are some memorable moments---people screaming for joy, people crying, the one girl who punched a wall and broke her hand...

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

If I could have, I would have prevented the school from ever knowing what I was doing, or where.

This I totally agree with. I'm so over their shenanigans... 👍

 

[IMnerd]

I thought that we were tortured by listening to our faculty ramble on for 30 mins, until 9am PCT when they unleash the Kraken. The monstrous mob of MS4s rushes to a wall covered 160 envelopes in alphabetical order. Paper goes flying, tears falling and beer drinking.

 

[JabsterL]

everyone puts in a dollar in the bowl as they're called up to open the envelope and read where they matched at the podium (almost all don't open their envelope to peek beforehand though given the opportunity to make it more fun/draftlike). The last person called to read where they matched gets to keep the money til afterward where they must use it to buy everyone "soft drinks" at the local bar frequented. The sites get pinned on a map. The whole thing is on a podcast playin currently.