2 weeks Ago
Liz Smolenski held a torn letter in her hand as she hugged family and friends. The mangled letter told her she was headed to Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.
, to begin her residency in obstetrics/gynecology. It was her top choice. "I love the people in D.
C.," Smolenski said as she and classmates at the Medical University of South Carolina celebrated Match Day, when they learned where they will spend the next several years training as a doctor in their chosen specialties. "It's very busy.
And there are lots of opportunities to help people." Students had to wait until noon before they were allowed to open the sealed envelopes that contained their residency assignment. Smolenski was in a rush to find out and the envelope wasn't cooperating.
"She was so excited," said her father, Allen, who held a corner of the torn letter. Medical University of South Carolina deans perform the dance from *NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” music video during a Match Day event at Charleston Music Hall, Friday, March 21, 2025. Every year, graduating medical students across the country and overseas apply to different residency programs around the U.
S. where they will refine their craft in a specialty. The students then rank their choices, and the residency programs that interview them submit their preferred list of students.
A computer at the National Resident Matching Program finds the best match between student and program. The results are given to the schools, which put them in a sealed envelope students must wait to open. Many schools, like MUSC, gather their class for a big party so they find out together.
This year's theme for MUSC was Y2K, the much-ballyhooed potential crash of all the world's computer at the turn of the century that never materialized. Most of the class was born right before or right after 2000, said Dr. Terrence Steyer, dean of the MUSC College of Medicine.
The annual event is also a chance to don costumes, but this year's theme had him stumped. He and other faculty ended up dressing as members of the boy band * NSYNC and took the stage to perform a semi-synchronized dance routine to the group's hit "Bye Bye Bye," which sparked frenzied cheering from the crowd. This year, a record-breaking number of more than 52,000 students chose to go through the process nationally, ultimately competing for 43,237 positions, the matching program said.
At MUSC, 98.8 percent of its 175 graduating medical students found a residency in the match. In fact, many at MUSC got their top picks, including Jake Sossamon, who announced, "We're switching coasts," before donning a Stanford University cap in front of his cheering classmates.
Sossamon will do his neurology residency there. Medical University of South Carolina student Elizabeth Smolenski (left) hugs Tommy Strei after finding out she’ll be doing her residency at MedStar Georgetown University during a Match Day event at Charleston Music Hall, Friday, March 21, 2025. The accessory was actually the work of his parents, who secretly bought the hat and a Stanford foam finger, and then smuggled them into the ceremony in a bag to surprise him.
"We weren't telling anybody," said his mother, Nina, who was confident Jake would get in. "He wanted it so bad and he worked so hard." Quite a few of his classmates will be staying in the state, Steyer said.
About a quarter of the class — 45 students — will train for their residencies in South Carolina. Many of those will be at MUSC, including positions at its Florence and Lancaster facilities. Residency has a strong influence on where a young doctor ends up practicing, with 54.
1 percent staying in that state, according to a study by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The percentage goes up to around 75-80 percent if the doctor also went to medical school in the same state, Steyer said. The state legislature is trying to help increase that.
There is now $3.5 million set aside for a loan repayment program for students who do a residency in an underserved area in South Carolina, which is nearly every county, Steyer said. Because it was new, only six students could take advantage of it this year, but the faculty and administration are talking it up.
"We think that's going to be a new opportunity for us to be able to recruit more students to stay in South Carolina and do primary care," Steyer said. Some don't need the extra incentive. Dressed as golfer Rickie Fowler in his trademark orange, D.
J. Jimenez got his top choice to go to Duke University for his internal medicine residency. But his long-term plans are to return to Charleston, where he grew up and where his wife works as an occupational therapist in the Berkeley County school system.
"We fully intend to set up roots in Charleston after training," Jimenez said..
