Chicago Medical School (CMS) fourth year students (M4s) achieved a 96 percent residency match rate — topping the national rate of 94 percent — during its annual National Residency Match Program (NRMP) rite of passage on March 17. 

CMS M4s 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. CMS students 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 M4s along with more than 17,000 M4s 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. The event is a crescendo of emotion, a culmination of years of hard work into a single sheet of paper that signifies a definitive career path. 

CMS M4 Monica Branch, surrounded by her family, 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," Monica said, wiping away tears. "It’s an opportunity to serve the people who need me most — my people." 

Monica completed a clinical rotation at Schwab, where she saw many spinal cord injuries among "young black males who have been shot and are now paralyzed," 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, Monica’s mother, said her daughter became interested in medicine after she injured her knee while going in for a lay-up during a middle school basketball game in her native Milwaukee, WI, 

"It’s been a wonderful journey," Ms. Cherry said. "Watching Monica develop and evolve and to see her achieve what she came here for makes me incredibly proud."