2019 Match Day

From Anxiety to Sweet Relief 

Erin King sat at a table in the middle of the room among fellow medical students, families and friends at the McKenzie Merket Alumni Center for Match Day 2019. She wasn’t smiling. Even as Michelle Tarbox, MD, professor in the Department of Dermatology told silly jokes while calling out students’ names to come and get their match envelopes, she was stoic. “What do you call a doctor who fixes websites?” Tarbox asked. “A URL-ologist!” The crowd tittered with nervous, distracted laughter. They were all anxiously awaiting 11:00 a.m. when they could open their envelopes and learn their destiny. 

View the 2019 Match List

King just sat there. Staring straight ahead. Occasionally looking at her phone. Finally, the faculty members who have been taking turns at the mic announce it is time to open the envelopes. King’s hands shake as she struggles to open hers. She pulls out the card, glances at it and collapses in tears. She’s been matched with her top choice of residency: University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Pediatrics. All at once, the pressure and adrenaline that’s felt like a heavy weight on her shoulders releases and deflates like a balloon, and she celebrates with her friends.