Chicago Medical School enjoys successful Match Day
Rosalind Franklin University's Chicago Medical School celebrated a successful Match Day on March 17, when CMS students achieved a 96 percent residency match rate - topping the national rate of 94 percent - during the rite of passage orchestrated by the National Residency Match Program.
CMS seniors matched to residencies in a diverse range of specialties at some of the best institutions in the country, including at Mayo Clinic, Brigham and Women's Hospital, UCLA, Yale-New Haven, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Cleveland Clinic, Henry Ford and Emory.
They also matched to highly recognized residencies in Chicagoland, including at the University of Chicago, Cook County-Stroger, Advocate, Northwestern, Rush and University of Illinois at Chicago.
"It's no surprise to us," CMS Dean James Record said of the school's outstanding match. "It again confirms that the residency program directors know where the quality is: it's at Chicago Medical School."
The nationally-synchronized opening of envelopes by 186 CMS seniors, along with more than 17,000 senior medical students across the nation at 11 a.m. CST, revealed where and how they will spend their residency training.
At Rosalind Franklin University, it was celebrated by students, their friends and family, and the RFU community in the Rothstein Warden Centennial Learning Center.
Monica Branch, who will graduate with the CMS Class of 2017 on June 2, was surrounded by family as she ripped open her envelope to discover that she will spend the next four years in Chicago training in physical medicine and rehabilitation; one year at University of Illinois Hospital and three at Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital on the city's West Side.
"I feel relieved, overjoyed," Branch said, wiping away tears. "It's an opportunity to serve the people who need me most - my people."
Branch completed a clinical rotation at Schwab, where she saw many spinal cord injuries among shooting victims, she said. She has been recognized for student leadership at RFU, where her efforts have helped inform strategies around diversity and inclusion.
She has also worked with local youth to raise awareness about making healthy choices and careers in the health professions.
Constance Cherry, Branch's mother, said her daughter became interested in medicine after she injured her knee while going in for a layup during a middle school basketball game in her native Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
"It's been a wonderful journey," Cherry said. "Watching Monica develop and evolve and to see her achieve what she came here for makes me incredibly proud."
For more information about Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, visit www.rosalindfranklin.edu.
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