Medical students and their families packed into the atrium of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Friday to sip champagne, mingle and wait to find out where they’d spend the next four to six years for their residency programs.

“Medical school teaches you about anatomy and physiology but in terms of what you learn, what you need to know to be a doctor, all those things you learn in residency,” said Dr. Michael Leitman, the dean of graduate medical education at Mount Sinai.

It’s called Match Day, and it was the first in-person celebration of it at Mount Sinai since 2019. Students got the news in the form of a message in a bottle — tucked into gift bags with other goodies and opened after a countdown to twelve noon.

What You Need To Know

  • Medical students around the country found out which residency programs they will attend on Friday

  • At noon Friday, students at Mount Sinai in Manhattan found out where they'll continue training, and what their specialty will be.

  • Students spend four to six years in residency programs

The reveal led to lots of cheers, hugs, and happy tears. Taylor Harrell got her first choice — emergency medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.

“A little anxiety of not knowing, rushing to open the letter but when I saw it, just feeling like that was exactly where I am meant to be, and where I can explore everything that I will be as a doctor,” she said.

It’s not only a big day for the students, it’s also a big day for their families, including Harrell’s.

“My family is very excited. I am the first doctor in my family so this is a huge moment for us,” she said.

She said her residency would allow her to make an impact in the community she will serve.

“It also seemed like such a great opportunity to be involved in social emergency medicine which to me is critical and important. Not only seeing a patient in an emergent situation, but being able to make referrals, being able to get them to a place where they get sustainable care over time,” Harrell said.

Mount Sinai has a class of 140 set to graduate in May. Most will head elsewhere for residency. But fifty to sixty will stay, including Allen Zheng, who has been at Mount Sinai for eight years as part of an M.D. and PhD program and who matched with Sinai for a residency in thoracic surgery.

“My heart was racing a little bit just trying to envision where the next six to eight years of my life will be is a huge moment, and when I read that piece of paper I was so relieved, so happy,” Zheng said.