The traditional ringing of a gong kicked off the UW's participation in the National Resident Matching Program on Thursday, March 18, as the 164 graduating seniors from the School of Medicine were matched with residency programs around the country.

Of those 164 students, 71 prospective residents were matched with programs in Seattle area hospitals, including 45 who are headed to UW-affiliated hospitals. Nine students matched to one-year or categorical programs within the WWAMI region outside of Seattle.

Twenty-one students matched with traditional internal medicine programs, up from 17 last year. Twenty students are bound for pediatric programs this year, an increase from 13 last year, and five students matched with pediatric internal medicine compared to none last year. Twenty-three students were matched with family medicine programs this year, a drop from 26 last year.

The Match Day ceremony, which was held in the lobby of the Health Sciences Building, took place at the same time as the more than 20,000 other medical students nationwide received their residency match results.