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Like everything else, Match Day is different this year

Date: Friday, March 20, 2020

Today is still Match Day – the day when graduating medical students across the country find out where they will do their residency training. But with the COVID-19 pandemic up ending everyday life across the country, it may be the most unusual Match Day ever.

The medical students still learned where they matched all at the same time, 11 a.m. (CT), but the event was virtual for most. At the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, the graduating students received their results by email, without any of the usual in-person festivities.

“We are all disappointed that we can’t gather together with our students, their friends and family, and teachers, to celebrate this milestone. But we are extremely proud of our graduating class. We know they will be amazing physicians and we wish them all the best in the next phase of their career,” says Christopher Cooper, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education at the UI Carver College of Medicine.

Of the 156 students graduating this year from the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, 80 students (51%) chose primary care specialties. Fifteen students matched in family medicine programs, 38 in internal medicine, 11 in obstetrics and gynecology, and 16 in pediatrics.

Forty-three Carver College of Medicine graduates will remain in Iowa for their first year of residency training, and 32 of these students will train next year at UI Hospitals & Clinics.

Geographically, the most popular states after Iowa were Texas, with 11 graduating students receiving their first year of residency training there, followed by California with nine students, and Minnesota with eight.

Most of the students who will earn medical degrees at the UI this year (153 of 156 students) obtained their match through the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP), a private, non-profit organization that matches the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors. Two students secured their residency outside of the NRMP, and one student deferred residency training.

This year's match results, including individual results by name, state, and specialty, will be posted at: https://medicine.uiowa.edu/md/student-support/match-week.