Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine Holds First In-person ‘Match Day’

The first in-person event of the time-honored tradition held at campus

March 18, 2022, Nutley, NJ – Students primed to soon graduate the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine have opened the envelopes and discovered where they will be going for their residencies to start their medical careers. The doctors-to-be are on track to complete their medical education at the School, with commencement planned for June 8.

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The 63 students are roughly split between students from the inaugural 2018 Cohort who are completing the four-year track, and a contingent from the 2019 Cohort who are finishing their medical degree in three years, as part of the Phase 3-Residency (P3-R) option. The P3-R contingent will assume residencies across the Hackensack Meridian Health network later this year. 

They are all among an estimated 44,000 who found out today where they will “match” through the National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP). 

“Match Day is always rightfully an exciting day for the students - and also for the educators,” said Jeffrey Boscamp, M.D., interim dean of the School. “So much hard work goes into getting to this point, and it’s a milestone on a professional journey no one ever forgets.”

Last year was the first Match Day for the first 18 graduates in the 2018 cohort, who completed their degrees in three years, as part of P3-R, but were unable to gather in person, due to COVID-19 social-distancing recommendations. 

The students today celebrated Match Day® by tearing open their envelopes – then toasting one another with champagne flutes. 

According to the NRMP, the Program is a private, non-profit organization established in 1952 at the request of medical students to provide an orderly and fair mechanism for matching the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors. Each year “the Match” encompasses more than 44,000 registrants and 37,000 positions through its Main Residency Match, along with Fellowship Matches for more than 65 subspecialties through its Specialties Matching Service (SMS).

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine students still have to graduate. But their “matches” are across a variety of specialties, where they are expected to spend their residencies in the next step of their medical training.