Key Takeaways
- What is Match Day for medical students? It’s the day you find out where you’ll train after medical school. At Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, 168 students opened their results at MetLife Stadium and learned their next step.
- Where are students going after graduation? Students matched into many fields like psychiatry, surgery, and emergency medicine. Some will stay in the Hackensack Meridian Health network, while others head across the country.
- How does the matching process work? The National Resident Matching Program pairs students with residency programs based on ranked choices. It includes over 50,000 applicants and about 39,000 positions each year.
- Why does this matter for patients and communities? There’s a growing physician shortage, especially in primary care. New Jersey has one of the lowest numbers of family doctors, so these graduates help fill real gaps in care.
- What’s unique about this class? Some students finished early through a three-year track and will start residency sooner. It’s one way the school is trying to move doctors into the workforce a bit faster.
AI generated.
The envelopes are open, and the matches have been made. The promising students from the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine now know where they will begin their medical careers after graduating.
The time-honored tradition of the annual Match Day® for the School was held at MetLife stadium - and the students from the cohort of 168 opened their envelopes to have their first professional steps revealed. The nationwide rite of passage involves thousands of medical students nationwide, each and every year.
“Our School of Medicine continues to blaze new trails, and it shows through milestones like Match Day,” said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, chief executive officer of Hackensack Meridian Health. “It’s confirmation of how exceptional the institution is, when we see the map showing where all these exceptional talents will impact the future of medicine across the country in the years to come.”
The School’s commencement, including the awarding of degrees, is planned for June 4 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.
“Match Day is a true culmination of everything our School works toward,” said Jeffrey Boscamp, M.D., president and dean of the School. “We are thrilled to watch the exceptional students launch toward their careers in healing in our network, in New Jersey, and beyond.”
Each year, the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine aims to address the growing physician shortage. The United States will be short by about 68,000 primary care physicians by the year 2036, according to a federal estimate. New Jersey already has the lowest concentration of family physicians, at about 17 doctors per 100,000 residents of the Garden State.
The 168 students expected to receive the M.D. degree in 2026: 129 from the 2022 cohort cohort completing the four-year educational track, and 39 from the 2023 cohort who are finishing their medical degree in three years, as part of the Phase 3-Residency (P3-R) option. Students in the P3-R group will enter residencies across the Hackensack Meridian Health network later this year.
They are among tens of thousands across the United States who found out today where they will “Match” through the National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP).
This is the sixth Match Day for the School, which admitted its first students in 2018 and received its full accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) in February 2023. Students from the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine have previously matched at prestigious institutions across the country. Students have entered psychiatry, emergency medicine, general surgery, anesthesiology, neurology and obstetrics/gynecology, among a wide range of other fields.
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 50,000 registrants and 39,000 positions through its Main Residency Match, along with Fellowship Matches for more than 77 subspecialties through its Specialties Matching Service (SMS).