Cheers and applause rang out as members of the inaugural class of FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine became the first FAU medical students to participate in Match Day, the national program that pairs new physicians with hospital-based residency programs. Excitement ran high at the ceremony as students, surrounded by their proud families and faculty mentors, opened envelopes containing residency assignments telling them where they’ll be spending the next three to seven years immersed in their chosen medical specialties.

Institutions that will welcome them as residents include Yale/New Haven Hospital, the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, the University of Florida Shands Hospital, Jackson Memorial Hospital, Ohio State University Medical Center, Miami Children’s Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital. One student was matched with the residency program in internal medicine that FAU launched last year in cooperation with Boca Raton Regional Hospital, Bethesda Hospital East and Delray Medical Center.

Wherever the next phase of their journey takes them, we hope they’ll continue to stay connected to FAU. They made university history four years ago when they came together as our first class of medical students and they made history again as they were matched with residency programs. I’ll have the pleasure of congratulating them in person April 24 when they receive their Doctor of Medicine degrees in a commencement ceremony held especially for them. We’re so proud to have M.Ds. in the Owl family!