With a St. Patrick’s Day theme and a festive atmosphere to match, the College of Medicine held its largest-ever Match Day ceremony Thursday afternoon.

The event moved from its traditional setting in the College of Medicine auditorium to the newly renovated Ruby Diamond Concert Hall on the Florida State campus. The move was necessary to accommodate the 114-person Class of 2011 along with family members, friends, faculty and staff.

One College of Medicine tradition remained unchanged: More students matched in primary care specialties than in all other specialties combined.

“I am pleased that the top choices for our students continue to be family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, general surgery and obstetrics-gynecology, consistent with our mission of creating the kind of doctors that Florida needs the most,” said College of Medicine Dean John P. Fogarty, who wore a tuxedo with green cummerbund and a green top hat for the occasion.

In all, 61 students matched in primary care (including family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics-gynecology). Another 18 matched in general surgery. The next-most popular choice was emergency medicine, with 10 students matching. Pediatrics equaled general surgery as the top overall choice.

Students also matched in anesthesiology, neurology, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, pathology, psychiatry, diagnostic radiology and urology.

Another, less desirable tradition also continued: More students are leaving Florida for residency training than are staying in-state. It’s one reason the College of Medicine continues to push for more residency slots in Florida, and continues to try to develop programs in conjunction with its partners across the state.

The College of Medicine will serve as the institutional sponsor for a new internal medicine residency program at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. That program could begin accepting applications as early as this fall and could bring in its first class in the summer of 2012.

“The only negative with our match this year is that 68 percent of our students are going out-of-state,” Fogarty said. “That’s more than last year [60 percent] and highlights the need in the state to create more residency programs for the expanding numbers of medical school graduates. Partnerships like the one we just established with TMH are critical for the future.” 

Twelve students matched with Florida residency programs affiliated with the College of Medicine, eight of those in primary care fields. North Carolina (11), Texas (9), New York (6) and California and Tennessee (5 each) benefited most from Florida’s rank as the sixth-worst state for per capita number of available residency slots. Those were the top out-of-state destinations.

Regardless of location, College of Medicine students appear to be benefiting from the medical school’s reputation for producing outstanding resident physicians. To date, 30 percent of eligible College of Medicine graduates have achieved chief resident status.

The interest in College of Medicine students was especially apparent at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. Six members of the Class of 2011 matched there in three specialties (three in pediatrics, two in internal medicine and one in anesthesiology).

Similar interest could be found at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., where three students matched (two in family medicine and one in obstetrics-gynecology). At Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, four students matched in four specialties – family medicine, surgery, pediatrics and emergency medicine.

“I’m very pleased that once again, our students have matched well at excellent programs throughout Florida and the rest of the country,” Fogarty said. “We are producing great students who are sought out by the best programs."

College of Medicine Residency Match Day results from 2005-2011