YuLin Zhen, Photography Editor

In September 2024, 87 School of Medicine students began applying to residency programs. Last week, each of them learned they had successfully matched. 

Associate Dean for Student Affairs John Francis celebrated the class as a “clinically astute and prepared group of students who have matched into exemplary training programs across the country.”

Match Day — a national milestone for graduating medical students — marks the culmination of months of applications, interviews and decision-making.

On Friday, all 87 doctoral and dual/joint degree students opened envelopes revealing where they will be training for the next stage of their medical careers.

“We are so very proud of them; they are among the best of the best,” said Francis. 

Amber Acquaye MED ’25 matched into psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She began her application process in late September, submitting through the Electronic Residency Application Service, a centralized system used by most programs. She likened the system to the Common Application used for college, noting it required uploading personal statements, meaningful experiences and recommendation letters.

She emphasized how costly the application process could be. While psychiatry applicants typically apply to about 30 programs, she said some peers applied to as many as 150 programs, each with a fee.

After submitting applications, students began the long wait for interview invitations. Acquaye said she felt the real stress of the process during this period, when she constantly checked her phone hoping for an interview email. The uncertainty and competitiveness of the invitation stage, she said, made it the most emotionally draining part of the process. 

Students then submitted a ranked list of programs, which the match algorithm uses to determine placements. Programs also submitted rankings of applicants. Acquaye found ranking programs more difficult than waiting for the final match result. She described the ranking decision as a process of intense self-reflection, weighing priorities like location, institutional culture and professional development.

“I felt that making my rank list was more stressful than waiting to see where I was going to end up, because it’s just so much, there’s just so many details,” Acquaye said. “At the end of the day, programs start to [look] kind of similar, and then you start to think, ‘Oh, my goodness, this is my life? What if I like this program more, but I like this city better?’” 

Acquaye was drawn to Brigham and Women’s for its strong academic psychiatry offerings and emphasis on nurturing scholarly interests. She saw a clear alignment between her goals and the mission of the program, which made her confident in her decision, even though she had initially hoped to be in New York.

For Brian Fleischer MED ’25, the preparation for Match Day began well before fourth year. In the summer before his final year, he completed research and away rotations that helped him shape his specialty decision. By the time interviews rolled around, he had already finished the required Step One and Step Two licensing exams and finalized his letters of recommendation.

Fleischer applied to primary care programs and completed many of his interviews remotely while conducting research in Ghana. He noted that virtual interviews allowed him to avoid travel costs and maintain his research schedule, a flexibility that had not always been possible in previous years.

He explained that the match algorithm uses the rank lists submitted by both students and programs to optimize mutual preferences. If a student ranks a program highly and is also ranked highly by that program, the likelihood of a match is strong. This process, he said, helps ensure that both sides end up with a good fit.

Like many applicants, Fleischer experienced a mix of anticipation and anxiety leading up to Match Day. He had ranked Yale’s Primary Care program highly, in part due to his longstanding connections at the institution and the strength of its global health resources.

Originally from Ghana, Fleischer has pursued research focused on primary care access in both the United States and abroad. During his time at Yale, he completed global health rotations and worked on public health interventions, building strong relationships with mentors in the Primary Care program.

He said that Yale’s institutional support and global reach ultimately made it a natural choice. The alignment between his professional goals and the program’s offerings confirmed for him that it was the right place to continue his training.

Match Day, he noted, brought a mix of emotions. 

“I was surrounded by lots of close friends. They all knew where I really wanted so much,” Fleischer said. “When I saw the match, I knew it was a match made in heaven.”

YSM students matched into 21 specialties. Internal Medicine, including primary care and combined programs, was the most popular, drawing 23 students. Nine students matched into Anesthesiology, seven into Psychiatry and six into Emergency Medicine. A total of 24 students matched into surgical specialties, including Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Plastic Surgery and others.

According to Abigail Roth, associate director of communications at the School of Medicine, 21 students matched at Yale New Haven Health programs and 19 matched at Harvard-affiliated institutions. Other matches included Johns Hopkins Hospital, Stanford Health Care, New York Presbyterian, Duke University Medical Center and the University of Washington. 

Dean Nancy Brown called Match Day a reminder of the school’s mission. 

“I remain proud of our students and grateful to our faculty and community for helping them reach their goals,” Brown said.

Acquaye reflected on how far she and her peers had come. 

“We started as med students, you know, being on Harkness Lawn, [seeing upperclassmen] opening those envelopes and seeing their peers and where they’re going to all be going and imagining, ‘Oh, that’s gonna be me,’” she said. “And just like the full circle nature of it, all of us finally being in that position … seeing the completion of our journey.”

The 2025 National Match Day was March 21.