At exactly noon on Friday, approximately 45,000 fourth-year medical students across the country will find out where they will be placed for residency training, the next step in their medical careers. That includes approximately 160 fourth-year students at Upstate Medical University’s Norton College of Medicine.

Match Day is a highly anticipated and precisely choreographed event in which students open a sealed envelope containing their residency placement information as it is released by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). 

Upstate students will gather at the OnCenter in downtown Syracuse, joined by their peers, family,  friends, and members of the Upstate community to celebrate this milestone, which will also be live-streamed here. Upstate students usually match at a rate of  98 percent or better which means they earned a place in a specialty program of their choice at one of the schools on their rank list.

“There’s no other way to say it and it’s not hyperbole, but Friday at noon is life-changing for these students,” said Robert Ruiz, interim vice president for Educational Services and dean of Student Affairs.

Though the event’s high point happens in seconds, the march to Match Day started a year ago for these students as well as for Ruiz and the Student Affairs team.

In the spring of their third year, students get an orientation on the residency process. Next, they start considering their specialty, such as dermatology or neurology, and meet with specialty advisors. Over the summer, they meet for their medical student performance evaluation—a credential package Upstate prepares for every student that includes grades, board scores and activities.

In June, students start working on their residency applications, personal statement, and faculty recommendations. They submit them in September and in October, schools start reviewing their applications and scheduling virtual interviews. In the winter students visit their top choices and in early March they submit their ROL—rank order list, which is their list of preferred programs in order. This gets submitted to the national clearinghouse and at the same time, residency programs rank their applicants and submit it. Then using an algorithm, applicants get matched with programs.

Matching doesn’t simply mean you get your first choice. Ruiz said if you match in your chosen specialty at any of the programs you ranked on your list, that’s a match.

On the Monday before Match Day students find out whether they matched or not—they just don’t know where. If they don’t match, Ruiz’s office works with the student to reapply for supplemental offers to find a match by Friday. Between Monday and Friday there are as many as four rounds of new application cycles and Ruiz said his office won’t know until 10 or 11 p.m. Thursday night the final numbers for Upstate students.

He said this week is highly stressful for those students and his office. Then early Friday his team starts printing letters and sealing them into envelopes.

Friday’s program starts at 11:15 a.m. with announcements and awards. Members of the Student Affairs team are stationed around the room with letters alphabetized by last name and students are instructed to pick up their letters at about 11:56 a.m. They have three minutes to get back to their seats where they have gathered with friends and family.

At 11:59 and 50 seconds, the countdown begins and a noon Ruiz will make the announcement, “It’s noon, open your envelopes and good luck.”

“The students are nervous, they’re anxious, they’re excited,” Ruiz said. “We’re nervous, we’re anxious, we’re excited. It’s a very joyous event. We hope that they all get exactly what they want, where they want. That’s what we work towards.”

Students will then get an electronic notification around 12:02 after they have opened envelopes.

Last year, 15 percent of Upstate graduates stayed for residency training in Syracuse  and over half matched in New York state

“Selfishly, we want these students to stay here in New York and at Upstate, finish their residency and then become faculty members and practice here and take care of people in Central New York,” Ruiz said.