Annual Pub 2024 accessible 07262024 (1) - Flipbook - Page 54
K I R K K E R K O R I A N S C H O O L O F M E D I C I N E A T U N LV
MATCH
DAY
FROM EAGER ANTICIPATION
TO JOYOUS CELEBRATION
B Y PA U L J O N C I C H
espite a steady rain that fell throughout the morning,
students in the class of 2024 arrived in good spirits to
ond the Dr. Barbara Atkinson Forum decorated with
golden Mario Kart boxes 3 the theme patterned after
the Nintendo computer game. Inside each box was
news every student had been waiting for, but they
would have to wait until exactly 9 a.m. to climb the forum steps and
release the magic.
D
On Match Day, medical students nationwide simultaneously learn
where they will be spending the next three to seven years training in
chosen specialties. After months conducting in-person and virtual
interviews with residency programs, often in different parts of the
country, students must then wait to ond out with which program
they matched. The hope is to match to their top choice, but it doesn9t
always work out. According to the American Medical Association,
only 48 percent of fourth-year students from U.S. allopathic medical
schools match to their top choice, and seven to ten percent don9t
match at all. So matching anywhere is a major achievement, but
matching at your number one program is optimal. Once again this
year, every fourth-year Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV
student successfully landed in residency, many at their top choice
programs 3 putting their medical careers on a continued upward
trajectory.
Shortly after students began learning where they matched, there
were high-oves and hugs all around. Students embracing classmates,
family members, and signiocant others, there were many scenes
of triumph. Suddenly, it felt like the late nights and long hours were
worth it.
Highlights included a school record 57 percent matching locally. Nine
students matched in internal medicine, eight in family medicine, six
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in anesthesiology, four students matched in the highly competitive
oeld of orthopaedic surgery, two in dermatology, and one in pediatric
neurology.
Marielos D9Agostino-Arreaga, MD, who matched to Stanford in
pediatrics, attended Centennial High School and worked several jobs
to pay her way through the University of Oregon. She says receiving
a medical school scholarship changed her life.
