Match Day 2024: U of M Students Reflect on the Past as they Prepare for the Future
Match Day 2024: U of M Students Reflect on the Past as they Prepare for the Future
Match Day is the culmination of four years of medical school, marking both an ending and a beginning for fourth year medical students.
March 15, 2024, marked one of the most exciting days of our fourth year medical students’ careers: Match Day. On this day, fourth-years across the country gathered with their families, friends, and classmates to open an envelope at exactly 11:00 a.m. CST and find out where they will spend the next three to five years of their lives. The moment is the culmination of four years of medical school, where all the hard work, grit, determination, and dreams come together to determine where students will begin their careers with their coveted MDs.
As students found out where they matched, they reflected on their time at the University of Minnesota Medical School and what it meant to them in shaping the rest of their lives.
Miller Balley From St. Paul, MN, matched at the University of Colorado, Denver Health Track, in Family Medicine. She is also a BA/MD Scholar and completed the Metro Physician Associate Program.
Miller views mentorship as a pivotal part of her journey to residency and says that mentors at the U of M have been present even before she officially began her medical education.
“The U of M Medical School has been helping me since undergrad in the BA/MD Program. Initially, they had weekly seminars with Family Medicine doctors,” she recalled. “They helped me get mentors right away and then continued that mentorship throughout my medical school experience.”
Davante Delbrune From Moorhead, MN, matched at the University of Wisconsin in Urology
Malique Delbrune From Moorhead, MN, matched at the University of Colorado in Internal Medicine
For twin brothers Davante and Malique Delbrune, the support from faculty members was key to their success, helping them be their best even when times were tough.
Davante said, “I cannot be any more thankful for the University of Minnesota Medical School. They have truly prepared us the most with the most supportive faculty. Even when we were going through family struggles with my dad’s kidney transplant, they were so helpful and just great all around.”
“I will echo that,” Malique chimed in. “The support here is amazing. I was between so many specialties, hence why I ended up in Internal Medicine because I love learning about everything! But even as I was going through just getting connected with mentors. The support in every aspect of life is second to none.”
Alyssa Welle From Alexandria, MN, matched at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Internal Medicine. She also completed the Rural Physician Associate Program.
As Alyssa interviewed with residencies in the winter, she found that one part of her time at the U of M Medical School, Duluth campus made her stand out among other applicants: the Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP).
“Starting off on the Duluth campus and having that small cohort of classmates and really great faculty that were really supportive in what goals we wanted to achieve was helpful,” Alyssa says of the most impactful part of her medical education. “And then the RPAP program, getting to do that in rural Minnesota really solidified my dreams of medicine and caring for patients and having those relationships. The RPAP program really just boosted me up and gave me a really strong part of my application that was talked about a lot in residency interviews.”
For these and all of our fourth year medical students, the U of M was a pivotal part of growing into their role as future physicians. We wish them nothing but the best and know that each and every one of them will make a difference in the lives of patients!