Gina Porter, MS 6, remembers how she broke down during the interview process to get into the UMKC School of Medicine six years ago.
“I started crying at the interview I was so nervous,” she said. “It was awful.”
Fast-forward to the School of Medicine courtyard on Thursday, March 17, Match Day for medical students across the country. The uneasy tears were replaced by unbridled elation as Porter celebrated the news that she had matched to her first choice of residency positions — emergency medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Ga.
For Porter and her classmates, the day was a highlight of their journey through medical school.
“This is where I’m going, my number one choice — Emory,” Porter screamed. “I’m from New Orleans, 9th Ward born and raised. My parents are going to be so proud.”
Porter’s parents weren’t alone. Before the Match envelopes were handed out, School of Medicine Dean Betty Drees, M.D., pointed out the success of this year’s class that participated in the National Resident Matching Program.
“We have 100 percent of our students matched at this time,” Drees announced to a chorus of cheers.
“This has been a very successful match for our students,” she said. “We think you are all going to go on to great programs and a wide variety of programs in the United States.”
Drees pointed out that 51 percent of the class had matched in one of the primary care specialties, mirroring a nation-wide increase in the number of medical students going into primary care fields, according to a press release from the NRMP.
Twenty-six of the members of the class will remain in Kansas City for their residencies, including 19 in UMKC programs and four at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics. In all, 40 members of the class will do their residencies in a program in Missouri.
For the School of Medicine’s complete 2011 Match list, go to https://www.med.umkc.edu/sa/match_2011.shtml.
To see more photographs from Match Day, visit the School of Medicine’s Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=10150127159239450&id=156658154449&aid=294304.
