At 11:02 a.m., the first “WOO!” kicked off the most exciting part of Match Day at Baylor College of Medicine – the moment fourth-year medical students open their envelopes to learn where they will spend residency.

Held every March, Match Day is an important day in a medical student’s life. Fourth-year students across the country learn at the same time where they match through the National Residency Matching Program.

For many, it’s cause for celebration, relief and gratitude.

Seventy-two students, or about 40 percent of the Baylor students who matched, will begin their residencies in the primary care fields of family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, medicine / pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology or emergency medicine. Fifty-three students matched with residency programs at Baylor, and 90 matched with residency programs in Texas.

Dr. Gordon Schutze, interim senior dean of the School of Medicine and School of Health Professions, said the name on his Match Day enveloped changed the trajectory of his life and career in a positive way. He hopes it will do the same for this year’s cohort.

“Whatever name it says on that envelope, embrace it because it’s where you’re supposed to be,” Schutze said.

As soon as the two Match Day boards were uncovered by class president Aaron Pathak and others, fourth-year student Kellie Walker felt “super nervous.” But she grabbed the envelope with her name on it and ran to find her family.

“I opened it, and I saw what I wanted to see, and I was so excited,” said Walker, who matched into the emergency medicine program at Northwestern University. “(My family) all cried and were jumping. I’m so excited to go to Chicago.”

A Michigan native, Walker knows that her time spent in Houston at Baylor prepared her to “become the best emergency medicine physician” she can be.

Before envelopes were opened and cries of joy ensued, Dr. Paul Klotman, president, CEO and executive dean, gave students sound advice for the rest of their training: Do well.

“This is a place that wants you, and it’s important for you to know that where you match is the right selection,” Klotman said. “This is the right place to go because they want you.”

Being a Baylor graduate comes with a significant amount of swagger in residency, he added.

“You will be the best trained people, and you’ll be shocked at how far ahead you are in your programs,” Klotman said. “That’s part of the Baylor culture; once they know they have a Baylor graduate, they know they have a good one.”

The Baylor culture is what made Hasham Dhakwala mark the College as his first choice. He is a Houston native who graduated from Rice University, so he had a built-in set of reasons to stay for training.

But it was more than family, friends and familiarity that made Baylor his choice for a residency in neurology.

“Throughout the interview cycle, I realized that there are a lot of great places to train. But Baylor is unmatched with clinical experiences, and the people here are so fantastic,” Dhakwala said. “It was hard for me to say no.”

Couples in the Match is when two students apply to link their rank order lists in the hopes of obtaining positions at the same institution or the same geographic location, according to the NRMP. However, it’s not a guarantee that both will be selected by their first-choice program.

For Karissa Chesky, the “couples match” worked. Chesky and her partner both matched at Baylor (she in child neurology; he in psychiatry and behavioral sciences), and she called the experience thrilling and overwhelming.

“I couldn’t imagine going to medical school anywhere else. Importantly, it helped me find my lifelong calling for child neurology, which is the absolute best here at Baylor and Texas Children’s Hospital,” she said. “I’ve been so fortunate to have so many mentors, residents and fellows who have been willing to teach me and support me in my journey.”

By Julie Garcia, senior communications associate in the Office of Communications and Community Outreach