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Hugs, high-fives, families and friends filled Turner Auditorium in East Baltimore on March 21 when School of Medicine seniors found out which residency programs they will enter after graduation in May. The Hopkins students are among more than 14,000 U.S. medical students who nervously await what is known as Match Day. Although participants in the National Resident Matching Program can learn via the World Wide Web if they have successfully matched to a program, Hopkins continues with its traditional group ritual in which students simultaneously open white envelopes with news of their matches. "Match Day is one of the most important days in a medical student's life," said H. Franklin Herlong, associate dean for students and associate professor of medicine. "Residency is the time when they develop both professionally and personally." Prior to Match Day, students interview with hospitals and then provide a rank order list of top choices. Hospitals submit a similar list indicating openings, preferred students and specialty or generalist preferences. Each applicant is matched via computer to the hospital residency program highest on the applicant's list that has offered the applicant a position. The 110 Hopkins students chose a variety of disciplines in destinations all around the country. According to the NRMP, the national data, which serves as an indicator of career interest, showed a decrease in matches to generalist positions such as family practice, pediatrics and internal medicine, and a rise in certain specialties such as anesthesiology, diagnostic radiology and physical medicine and rehabilitation.
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