Medical Students Learn Residency Plans at Match Day

By ChaseYavondaC

UAMS Match Day 2016

UAMS College of Medicine students pinned the map to indicate where they would be heading for their residencies.

The annual Match Day ceremony brought the class of 2016 to the Embassy Suites in Little Rock on March 18. Students were called randomly to the podium in groups of five to 10. An eager crowd of family and friends filled the ballroom to watch the students, one by one, reveal where they would complete their residencies.

Each March, 145 medical schools across the United States simultaneously announce the results of the competition for residencies through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP). Students in their fourth year apply to programs, interview and then send a ranked list to the centralized matching service. Residency programs also submit a list of preferred candidates, and an NRMP computer, using an algorithm, reconciles the lists as best as possible.

Richard Wheeler, M.D., executive associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Medicine, has coordinated Match Day at UAMS for almost three decades, but the experience never dulls.

“Even after so many years being involved with Match Day, it’s always an incredibly momentous event,” said Wheeler. “It’s a day that has an immediate impact on our students’ professional and personal lives.”

Seniors Asa and Kelsey Shnaekel received the good news that they will be staying at UAMS for their residencies; Asa in orthopaedics and Kelsey in obstetrics and gynecology.

Asa and Kelsey Shnaekel will be staying at UAMS for their residency programs.

Asa and Kelsey Shnaekel will be staying at UAMS for their residency programs.

“We have so many family members here, so we were excited to match with UAMS,” said Kelsey. “Through medical school, UAMS has become like part of our family so we didn’t want to leave.”

A lot of the pressure of Match Day was relieved Monday for the Shnaekels when they found out they would, indeed, be matched to a program.

There was a bit of added pressure for Asa and Kelsey, who instead of facing the possibility of heading off to programs at separate institutions, possibly across the country, opted to either be matched at the same institution or not be matched at all.

“Receiving that email Monday that we matched relieved a lot of stress and anxiety,” said Asa.

“It’s not something I would recommend to other married couples,” said Kelsey. “It made for a stressful month, but it worked out.”

The couple have been “partners in crime,” as Kelsey puts it, since their first day of college. Their first meeting came during a required class for biology majors when the teacher asked a question of the class and Kelsey’s hand shot up. Before the teacher could call on her to answer, someone in the back of the class blurted out the answer. It was Asa.

UAMS Match Day 2016

Adrianne Hatchett reveals her match to the family medicine program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

What came from that encounter between strangers was a lifelong bond that grew stronger and stronger until the couple married during their second year of medical school in 2013.

Now, those “partners in crime” will continue their journey together — along with their two Corgis — in residency, which is exactly how they wanted it.

“I’m lucky to have Asa to go through this with me,” said Kelsey. “We’ll always have each other no matter what, and we’ll go through it all together.”

Senior Chelsea Jones said she was excited to start a dermatology residency at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.

“I would have been happy with any of the programs I applied to, but I’m glad to be staying close to Arkansas and my family in Fort Smith,” she said.

Much like the Shnaekels, Jones has been able to relax following Monday’s news that she matched.

“Since then, it’s been a lot of excitement,” she said. “We’ve had events every day this week with fellow graduates and we’ve all been feeding off each other’s happiness and excitement.”

UAMS Match Day 2016

Richard Wheeler, M.D., executive associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Medicine, holds the envelopes containing the Match Day results.

As a former college basketball player at Purdue University, where she majored in biology and was a consistent Academic All-Big Ten student, Jones is no stranger to high-pressure situations.

“I believe my basketball experience helped a lot throughout the interviews and waiting,” said Jones. “Basketball taught me how to balance a lot of things at once and compartmentalize.”

Even though she’s experienced the big games with high stakes, it still falls short of the pressure-packed situation of Match Day.

“In the end, this is something that affects your entire life,” she said. “With basketball, it’s only one game and there’s always another in a couple of days.”

Jones, the daughter of two dentists developed a love for the medical field early. After shadowing several physicians her parents knew, she began to focus on dermatology. Her interest in that specialty grew once she was able to work at clinical settings at UAMS.

“I realized these were the type of patients I wanted to treat and the type of people I wanted to work with,” she said. “I knew it was something I wanted to do and something I would love every day.”