The wait is almost over for students who will soon graduate from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine: At noon on Friday, March 16, they will come together and open the envelopes that let them know where they will spend the next chapter of their lives training for careers in the medical field of their choosing.

The annual Match Day event is a rite of passage for graduating medical students, who will advance to a three- to seven-year residency program, getting hands-on experience in a specific discipline.

Johns Hopkins’ annual Match Day celebration will take place on the second floor of the Anne and Mike Armstrong Medical Education Building at 1600 McElderry St. in Baltimore, Maryland. The students, along with family members, friends and mentors, will gather at 11 a.m. for a brief program leading up to the big moment at noon, when students will learn which hospital and specialty program have accepted them for their residency. At that moment, students from medical schools around the United States will be doing the very same thing.

Prior to Match Day, students complete lengthy paperwork and on-site interviews with hospitals, then provide a ranked list of their top choices. Hospitals submit a similar list, indicating openings, preferred students, and specialty or generalist preferences. Each applicant is matched via computer algorithm to the hospital residency program that is highest on the applicant’s list and has offered the applicant a position. Johns Hopkins students are often matched with their first- or second-choice sites.

Couples who are interested in going to the same city can have their applications linked. They will be matched based on the location they ranked highest and where each was offered a residency at a local hospital.

The National Resident Matching Program was started in 1952 with the goal of maximizing happiness by matching the top choices of both residency programs and medical students to ensure universal satisfaction. The program calls its method the “algorithm of happiness.”

Members of the media interested in covering the event should contact Archana Nilaweera ([email protected]) for information about parking, any other questions or to be put in contact with students who are matching.

To read more about our Match 2018 students, click here.