In 2024, Aaron Craft, MD, stood in a ballroom on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, with an unopened envelope in hand, waiting to learn where he matched for an otolaryngology residency.

“You stood there and waited with the answer in your hand,” he recalled. “[The announcer says], ‘At 12 o’clock, we’ll all open these together.’ It’s exciting and fun, nerve-wracking because you have the answer and you’re trying to be calm and not look early.”

The anticipation is all part of the annual Match Day tradition.

A Tradition Built on Anticipation

Match Day, each March, is the day when matched applicants learn where they will begin their medical training.

The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) pairs graduating medical students with residency programs using a computerized algorithm introduced in 1952. Students and programs submit ranked lists, and the system attempts to align preferences to produce the best possible matches.

Over time, the mechanics of the match gave rise to ritual. Medical schools began organizing ceremonies where students received sealed envelopes containing their results and opened them simultaneously in front of classmates, faculty, and family. In 2025, 52,498 applicants registered for the Match, the largest in NRMP history . Videos of Match Day celebrations are often posted on social media, allowing the world to see students’ reactions as they open their envelopes.

“It’s a big day of celebration,” Karlos Manzanarez Felix, a fourth-year medical student at the University of California, Irvine, told Medscape Medical News. “It’s a time for us to come together and find out where you’ll be training in the specialty of your choice.”

The Logistics of Match Day

While the envelope ceremonies take place on a single day, the mechanics of Match Day start much earlier.

Match registration opens in September, and medical school students can spend up to 4 months interviewing with potential programs before submitting their rankings in February. Students learn whether they matched, but not where, on Monday of Match Week, this year, March 16-20, 2026. On Friday, they learn where.

“I think that’s one of the first big hurdles,” Craft added. “Just knowing that you had a spot somewhere is exciting, and that takes a little edge off of the nervousness [of Match Day].”

Craft believes that the Match Day tradition has endured for 74 years because it marks a rare pause in an otherwise relentless medical school journey. “It’s the end of a really long road, but also the beginning of another really long road,” he said.

Craft was excited to participate in Match Day but admits that the shared experience comes with a downside.

“In that gathering on that Friday, at least two of my friends matched but matched somewhere they weren’t expecting or didn’t really want to go,” he recalled. “As you walk around, you 100% see people that maybe aren’t as excited, and…you’re trying to navigate how do you support this person…while also having this excitement and joy inside of you? I think that is a challenge and a little bit of a gamble that people take to do it in large groups.”

A Shift Toward More Personal Moments

While traditional envelope ceremonies are held on Match Day, a growing number of schools are offering alternatives to high-pressure, public envelope openings for medical school students who prefer alternatives to the public reveals. The options range from email notifications and virtual Zoom events to small group gatherings and private envelope openings.

At schools such as the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena, California, and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, students can opt to receive their match news in a private setting. But traditional Match Day ceremonies remain the most popular option.

Felix plans to strike a balance between tradition and intimacy. He and his partner, who is also attending medical school at UC Irvine and participating in Match Day, intend to open their envelopes privately before participating in the broader celebration. With matches in hand, the couple plans to host brunch for their family and friends.

“Although there may be unintended outcomes for some students… [Match Day] highlights the incredibly difficult work that is done within the last 4 or 5 years for students,” he said. “It’s more about students feeling fulfilled that they got to the end, and it gives them an appreciation of their accomplishments while also giving a reason to have their families around and to remind them that they are supported as they start an incredibly challenging part of their careers with residency.”

While a growing awareness of the emotional complexity of Match Day has led to alternative options for students, public envelope ceremonies are unlikely to disappear.

Felix believes the celebrations honor the hard work that students put in during medical school and mark a tradition that is as much emotional as it is professional. The ceremonies create space to celebrate during a brief pause between the end of classes and the start of residencies.

Match Day ceremonies also fulfill a deeper need, according to Craft.

“We love to gather, and we love to celebrate [and] this is a moment that deserves to be celebrated,” he added.

Match Day is a big moment in med students’ journeys, and sharing it in a group setting with people who have been on the same journey is just one more way to mark this once-in-a-lifetime event.

Whether you open the envelope in a group setting or in a more private celebration, congratulations.

Jodi Helmer is a freelance journalist who writes about health and wellness for Fortune, AARP, WebMD, Fitbit, and GE HealthCare.