Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine students learn where they will begin their residencies

With their May 2017 graduation fast approaching, the inaugural class of the Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MU-COM) took time away from their studies last week to learn where they will begin the next phase of their journey toward becoming a doctor. In a ceremony known as “Match Day,” the students gathered with faculty, staff, family and friends in the Michael A. Evans Center for Health Sciences to learn where they are being placed for residencies.

Of the 131 students who participated in “Match Day,” 129 received information about where they will complete their post-doctoral specialty training, commonly referred to as a “residency.” According to Donald Sefcik, DO, dean of MU-COM, given that it’s the first class to graduate from MU-COM, the statistic (98.5 percent placement) is especially impressive.

“Being the first class to graduate from a new medical school with no predecessors to help guide them, the challenges that they faced were noteworthy,” Sefcik said. “As per their routine, being ‘pioneers’ as they are frequently referred to, they blazed the trail and found their way.”

By specialty, 63.3 percent will begin training in Primary Care (Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Pediatrics). Adding the disciplines being discussed by the Indiana Graduate Medical Education Board as specialties that need workforce emphasis (Emergency Medicine, Psychiatry, and General Surgery) brings the total of MU-COM graduates that will be training in one of these seven specialty areas to 80.5 percent. 

By geographic location, 38 percent will begin training in Indiana, while 73 percent will be training in one of the five states (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky) that align with one of MU-COM’s primary goals of placing physicians in Indiana and neighboring states. In total, the inaugural class of MU-COM graduates will train in 64 cities across 27 states. 

The “Match Day” ceremony is administered by the National Resident Matching Program of the Association of American Medical Colleges, and is held at medical schools across the country each year on the third Friday in March.

When MU-COM was opened in August 2013, it became Indiana’s second medical school, and the first to open in 110 years. It is the nation’s first osteopathic medical school at a Catholic university, and just the fifth medical school of any kind located at a Catholic university.

The 133 graduates from the inaugural class will celebrate their commencement May 7, 2017 at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis.

Additional statistics about the residency placements: 

Top 5 by Specialty (%)

Top 5 by State (%)

Top 5 by Training Facility (#)