Friday, March 18, is Match Day across the U.S. That includes Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine fourth-year students in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota who will be continuing on to residencies, as well as Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, which offers residency positions. A residency is a supervised position at a teaching hospital.

During this national event, which is held the third Friday in March as part of the National Resident Matching Program, medical school students and graduates from the U.S. and around the world, learn which U.S. residency program they will train at for the next three to seven years. When residency is completed and all boards have been passed, a physician can practice independently.

This is the first full match for medical students at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine ― Florida Campus.

Fourth-year medical students opened their envelopes at 11 a.m. CDT to find out their future specialties and residency training locations.

Watch: Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine students open their envelopes.

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video is available in the downloads at the bottom of the post. Please "Courtesy: Mayo Clinic News Network."

What did students have to say about matching during the pandemic?

With a shift to virtual interviewing methods due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the match process has looked a little different these last two years. Medical students participating in match typically begin the process at the start of their fourth year by applying to residency programs and follow up by interviewing in person throughout the fall and winter.

So how did this virtual interviewing affect Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine students?

"Virtual interviews were a double-edged sword. It was tremendously cost-saving, with the ability to apply very broadly geographically and save on travel. However, it's very hard to confidently choose where to spend the next four years of your life without getting the 'feel' or 'vibe' of the institution," says Anthony Kilgore Jr., a student at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine — Arizona Campus. "Finding my fit in a residency program has been extra-challenging with virtual interviews, but I believe collectively we adapted quickly and efficiently with the cards we were dealt."

"I think from the very start, we have been forced to get really good at managing stress and letting go of the things we can't control as a necessity for survival in this career," says Timothy Lee, a student at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine — Florida Campus. "But at the same time, my class has developed a wonderful sense of camaraderie and mutual support, which I hope we'll maintain as we settle more into our careers."

"We are extremely fortunate here at Mayo Clinic to have had the utmost support from our administration to safely maintain our clinical training during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Jordan Dutcher, a student at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine — Florida Campus. "As a student applying for residency virtually, I've not had the chance to travel for interviews. To get a feel for the culture of these programs, there has been a huge shift toward leveraging platforms like social media to provide insight."

"The COVID-19 pandemic has been both a blessing and curse. It has forced us to get out of our comfort zone and critically reexamine the way we approach medical education and interviews," says Kafayat Oyemade, Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine. "While all interviews this season were still virtual for ophthalmology, making it extremely cost-effective, I had the opportunity to visit sites after the interview season and prior to rank list submission. These site visits provided added comfort as I tried to finalize my rank lists during a virtual interview season."

What about Mayo Clinic as a match?

Mayo Clinic not only trains future physicians at Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, but also it is a destination for incoming resident trainees. Match Day is important to Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, as it offers residency positions across Mayo Clinic.

The school participated in another successful resident match in 2022. Sixty-three of the school's programs in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota participated in the National Resident Matching Program, and the school offered 323 positions.

Students can graduate from Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine or another qualifying institution, complete their specialty and subspecialty training at Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, and continue their professional medical career as members of the Mayo Clinic staff. Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education is critically important to Mayo Clinic's future, as the school has trained half of Mayo's current physicians.

Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science is boldly transforming biomedical education. It is one of the largest postgraduate medical education systems in North America, with more than 325 residency and fellowship programs hosting over 1,900 trainees, and educating more than 4,000 students annually in four schools:

• Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
• Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
• Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education
• Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences

In addition, Mayo Clinic School of Continuous Professional Development educates 100,000 learners each year.

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