Match Day, one of the most exciting days in a medical student’s life, represents a new start in their journey to becoming doctors. It is the culmination of their sacrifices, hard work and dedication to becoming physicians. On March 18, 70 fourth-year medical students at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), as well as other medical students throughout the country, found out which residency program they will be training at as new physicians for the next three to five years of their medical careers.
JABSOM’s close-knit class made a pact not to open their emails or envelopes until the clock struck 7 a.m. Hawaiʻi Standard Time, along with other graduating medical students across the country.
“Match Day is such a momentous day for any graduating senior medical student across the country,” said Jester Galiza, MD 2022 class president. “It’s the day all medical students dream of when they start medical school.”
This was the second year that Match Day was celebrated as a hybrid event for JABSOM students, with some students opting to join their class virtually so that they can celebrate at home with loved ones. Students attending Match Day in-person learned of their placements with their classmates in the auditorium at JABSOM, while their guests watched with excitement at a different location on campus.
64% matched into primary care-front line specializations
For another year, the majority of JABSOM students chose primary care specialties, including internal medicine, family medicine, emergency medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics-gynecology. The students of this year’s graduating class were matched into 17 different specialities.
This year saw the highest number of students (10) going into emergency medicine, while internal medicine remains the top choice among this year’s JABSOM students, with 20 students going into that practice.
An overwhelming number of students are either staying in Hawaiʻi; or on the U.S. west coast for their post-medical school training (Hawaiʻi: 20, California: 27, Oregon: 3, Washington: 1).
Breakdown of students by specialty:
- Internal medicine: 20
- Family medicine: 3
- Pediatrics: 5
- Psychiatry: 3
- General surgery: 2
- Obstetrics-gynecology: 5
- Emergency medicine: 10
- Anesthesiology: 3
- Child neurology: 2
- Medicine-pediatrics: 2
- Neurosurgery: 2
- Ophthalmology: 2
- Orthopedic surgery: 3
- Pathology: 3
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation: 1
- Radiology: 2
- Radiology-interventional: 1
- Research year: 1
For more information, go to the JABSOM website.
This event is an example of UH Mānoa’s goal of Enhancing Student Success (PDF), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Strategic Plan (PDF), updated in December 2020.
