Mar. 19, 2026
The WSMA Celebrates Match Day! The Best Is Yet to Come
By Graham Short
Friday, March 20 is Match Day! On Match Day, we celebrate the next step in a medical student's training to become a trusted healer and advocate for their patients. This day reminds us that working with patients is the reason physicians become physicians: to heal and save lives, a core theme of our Your Care Is at Our Core campaign to restore the trust at the heart of the patient-physician relationship.
Celebrating Match Day at the WSMA is also celebrating two key demographics in our membership: our medical student members and our resident physician members. On Match Day, medical students learn which residency program they will join, marking the transition from student to physician-in-training. Students and physicians-in-training are intimately involved at the WSMA, informing policymaking (all members have a voice through our reference committees), serving on our board of trustees and House of Delegates as a trustee, delegate, or alternate delegate, and informing the WSMA on its resources for students and residents through the WSMA Early Career Sections. As a sign of our commitment to supporting students and residents on their journeys to becoming physicians, membership in the WSMA is free.
Match Day is a reminder that medical students are a crucial part of not just the WSMA but of the health care ecosystem. They're tomorrow's physicians but today's eager learners and explorers—as such, they inform and teach the older generations of physicians, creating a two-way street of inspiration, information, and integration, making a stronger, united health care workforce.
Match Day memories
For this year's Match Day, the WSMA turned to its executive physician leadership—once and always former students themselves—to jog their memories of Match Days gone past. In them are lessons and insights for today's new cadre of physicians-in-training. Enjoy these memories and have a happy Match Day!
Bridget Bush, MD, WSMA president:
"I did the military match in December, so I already knew where I was going for the March Match Day. That being said, it was the first time since Katrina I got to see my classmates as we gathered in Houston. In fact, it and Graduation Day in May were the last days I saw most of them including my dear friend Adam who we lost to suicide in 2021. I have my 20th medical school reunion this April and it seems crazy to have been so long from that [Match] day!
"I loved seeing my classmate's faces as they opened their envelopes. The sense of pride at how awesomely we had all done (I was continuously impressed by the quality of doctors my classmates were becoming). I felt grateful to be a part of the class and the community, even though touched with a tinge of envy as I was only matched to an internship in the Navy (you must apply again for residencies during your internship in that branch).
"Some of it was bittersweet as I knew this was a milestone on our paths forward signifying that our medical school journey was nearly complete. I felt more acutely the loss of the time in New Orleans because of having to leave with Katrina. Fourth year was supposed to be the year I explored the city more, enjoyed more of its offerings in music and culture and food. Maybe that explains why I feel I have to go back there every few years."
John Bramhall, MD, PhD, WSMA immediate past president:
"Medical school is a bit of a tasting menu where you have the opportunity to watch what happens in a variety of clinical settings and then absorb your feelings. Probably because of my experience of working in big technical research labs embedded in large academic systems, I found a natural affinity for the operating room—filled with equipment and very team-based—gravitating to anesthesiology as likely to be an enjoyable career choice.
"I was attracted to the way in which clinical anesthesiology practice had been refined and taught at Virginia Mason and so I applied for residency in Seattle. At that time, Virginia Mason was a center of excellence in regional anesthesia, and the training was almost exclusively based on physical anatomy. The attendings were enthusiastic, the little hospital was cheerful, and the teaching ur-text was by Andreas Vesalius! I thought it was all rather esoteric, and I was delighted when they accepted me into their program.
"I recall being very happy to have got into my chosen program, but I do think it was useful for me to be more than a little open, emotionally, to the possibility of only getting into one of my lower-ranked locations. I do, also, remember that my faculty advisor at UCSD was vaguely disappointed that I had chosen anesthesiology over 'real medicine' that he thought I would be 'good at,' so having to turn to an alternative cognitive specialty would have at least made him happy, and I liked him, so possibly I would have been happy too!
"I have no advice, other than the obvious—don't apply for anything that you predict will make you miserable!"
Bindu Nayak, MD, WSMA vice president:
"When your whole life seems to be building up to this moment that will decide the next step in your journey, emotions are high as you anticipate receiving that news that will change everything. This pivotal moment is something I hope you will treasure and look back on with joy. Whatever path you land on will take you to amazing places, life experiences and the reality of finally making it to your goal of being a physician. Enjoy every minute and know that wherever you go, you will do amazing things.
"Growing up in Louisiana, I put all my hopes and dreams into matching in internal medicine in Washington D.C. to follow my heart and my dreams. My fiancé (now husband) had already been in residency there for two years. Match day would determine if we would actually live in the same place. I loved D.C. and when I received the news that I did get my top choice, Georgetown University Medical Center, for my residency, I was overjoyed and it felt like so much more than just a residency falling into place. It felt like the first day of my dreams coming true."
John Scott, MD, WSMA secretary-treasurer:
"My advice to students is: be open and be present. There is this uncertainty that it's a little maddening, and even if you don't get top choices, there are so many excellent programs. I have friends who had an unexpected match day that in the long run worked out very well for them. Be there for your friends and classmates and their range of emotions that they will be feeling. Oh, and enjoy the last few months of 4th year because you’re going to work harder than you ever have for the next 3-7 years. Good luck!
"I matched into internal medicine at Stanford back in 1998. I was very happy because it was my #1 choice and I would be going back to where I grew up. I did the couple's match with my wife so we had applied to 20 different places all over the country, and we really had no idea where we were going to end up. She matched into the primary care pediatrics program at University of California, San Francisco, and made some amazing friends and got excellent training. I remember feeling relief that we were going to be in same city, and I was blown away by my classmates and the amazing places they were going to. And also, a little bit sad because I probably wouldn’t see some of these folks again or at least for many years."
Happy Match Day, graduates!
Graham Short is WSMA's director of communications.