By Daria Kadovik | Cronkite News
The countdown ended.
Phoebe Chang, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Arizona College of Medicine,cwearing a tight grin, ripped open the ribbon on a box holding her future.
Blue and red balloons were attached to a gold satchel that contained the news of where she will spend the next four years of her residency. About 80 boxes lined the perimeter of the courtyard at the UA college’s Phoenix campus on Friday morning.
Chang opened the satchel. She gasped. Then she turned around and hugged her family.
She got her first choice.
Chang will pursue emergency medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.
“I love emergency medicine because I love the variety,” Chang said. “I get to take care of anyone who walks through the door, the emergencies and not-so-much emergencies.”
Others erupted as they got their own news on Match Day, named after the match up between a graduating medical student and the medical program where they will spend their residency. The annual ritual happens at medical schools at the same time all across the country, following five months of filling out applications and flying around the country to be interviewed as students arrow down and submit their choices for residency programs, according to the university website.
“Oh my God!” shouted students around Chang as they read their results. “No way!”
