For 171 soon-to-be graduates from the University at Buffalo’s Jacobs School of Medicine, today is “Match Day”—the next step in their medical journey.
Students knew they had been matched with a post-graduate medical center on March 17 but didn’t learn their destination until noon.
Shady Albakry, a Queens native, was overjoyed to match with his first choice—Stony Brook Medicine. He hugged his father, celebrating his future in internal medicine.
“You just sit there, waiting. You hear your name, and you never know what happens next,” Albakry said. “I didn't really get much sleep last night, so I was like, please just give an envelope as soon as you can. I wanted to be 12 o'clock, so bad.”
His girlfriend, also a Jacobs student, matched at Stony Brook as well.
Dr. Allison Brashear, Jacobs School dean, called the moment priceless.
“The students work so hard to get to this place, and this is a culmination of their lifelong dream. In many ways, this is even more important than graduation, because this is the next place they're going to go learn, to achieve their great dream of being a practicing physician.” Brashear said.
This year, 43 graduates—about 25 percent—will stay in Buffalo. Others head to medical centers in Providence, New Haven, and Miami Beach.
