050-AP-02

MEDIA ADVISORY: 'MATCH DAY'

IN SUSPENSE-FILLED TRADITION, MEDICAL STUDENTS AT UC IRVINE--AND NATIONWIDE--LEARN WHERE THEY WILL FIRST PRACTICE AS DOCTORS

WHAT:
Annual "Match Day" for UC Irvine College of Medicine students, part of nationwide program matching students with postgraduate medical training residencies.

WHEN:
8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., Thursday, March 21, 2002
(Continental breakfast precedes match, which begins at 9 a.m.)

WHERE:
Irvine Hall patio, UCI College of Medicine

BACKGROUND:
"Match Day" is one of the most important days in a medical student's life. It is the day they learn where they'll spend the following three to seven years pursuing the next phase of their medical training. Match Day is conducted simultaneously at medical schools nationwide; about 30,000 medical students worldwide discover which of 23,000 residency positions will be theirs. Family and friends join in the excitement as students unseal envelopes containing their first notification of acceptance at hospital residency programs. Students also opt to use the Internet to find their match.

Last year, 95 percent of UCI's medical students were matched into highly competitive residency training programs, with 79 percent matching one of their top three choices. In addition, 29 students--the highest number ever--continued their medical training at UCI, in surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, family medicine, medicine, physical medicine, head and neck surgery, dermatology, anesthesiology, psychiatry, emergency medicine and radiology.

For more information on specific Match Day activities or to contact students and medical faculty for interviews, call Nancy Koehring at (714) 456-3526 or page her at (714) 506-2804.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE: A TOP-10 PUBLIC UNIVERSITY