‘Sort of Surreal’: Harvard Medical School Students and Families Celebrate Match Day

Fourth-year Harvard Medical School students crowded anxiously Friday morning with friends and family to open their Match Day letters and learn where they will complete their clinical training.

Last Monday, students learned whether they had successfully matched but not yet where. Four days later, in the Tosteson Medical Education Center atrium, students found out exactly which residency programs they will jet off to next year.

Eli R. Patt, who matched into internal medicine, said in an interview before letters were opened that he felt “probably more nerves right now than excitement.”

“Definitely a lot of nerves, yeah,” Patt said. “I don’t know if that was the case 24 hours ago.”

Malini M. Gandhi, who also matched into internal medicine, said that “I logistically know what’s going to happen,” but that she was “emotionally not quite prepared.”

As students opened their letters, the pall of anticipation quickly shifted into joy and excitement.

“I’m really excited to be able to fight for reproductive justice in the south,” said Christina M. Boulineaux, who will complete an OB-GYN residency at the University of Alabama.

“That’s always my dream,” she added.

For Sachin L. Naik, who matched into radiology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the day “felt sort of surreal, out of body.”

Micayla N. Flores — who will be an internal medicine resident at Massachusetts General Hospital — reflected on the experience of opening letters alongside fellow graduating students.

“I felt like it was just a great way to go out with a bang and have everyone’s joy come together,” Flores said.

As matches were revealed, students rushed to celebrate with the friends and family who joined them in the hall.

Charles Stearns, whose son received his match Friday, said he was “excited for him to know his future.”

“He’s been looking for this for a long time, since he was just a little kid,” Stearns added.

Dorien O. Villafranco, the husband of a matching student, said, “I think we're all just hoping she gets what she’s looking for, and we're all going to be supportive no matter what happens.”

Ayah Al-Zubi ’23 praised her sister, who matched on Friday, for being “the trailblazer of the family.”

“It’s a Match Day technically for her — but to be honest, it’s for all of us,” Al-Zubi said, “for all our family members back home and around the world.”

Match Day celebrations also offered graduating students the chance to reflect on their futures as clinicians.

“They gave a speech today where I feel like usually the rhetoric is being selfless and caring for the patient,” final-year HMS student Kanika Kamal said.

“But now they’re realizing that we are also suffering,” she added. “They’re like, ‘Remember that your mental health is important.’”

Soumyaa Mazumder ’19, who is graduating from the Medical School this year, said “the lectures today have just been the weight of what it means to be a physician in this day and age.”

“That’s definitely hitting,” she added.

Still, Mazumder said, there is plenty of “excitement of actually having responsibility, as terrifying as that’s going to be.”

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.

—Staff writer Akshaya Ravi can be reached at akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @akshayaravi22.