Match Day is just the beginning for Medical College of Georgia’s ‘COVID class’

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Friday was the day the students from the Medical College of Georgia found out where they are going for their residency.

This year is special because the class of 2023 started their first year of med school during the COVID pandemic. It’s the most important day for fourth-year medical students. It’s Match Day 2023 and it’s a chance to let loose.

“I’m a teddy bear with a cutie pie sweetheart and a rose,” said Joseph Elengickal.

Adam Turry said: “It’s actually a romper, and the zipper starts up here and comes all the way down.”

This is where 177 students like Taylor Patterson will receive the letter of a lifetime.

“I’m very nervous right now. It’s nerve-wracking. My heart is beating very fast,” he said.

It decides where their next stop is for their career, and they had to wait until noon to open it.

During the celebration, Patterson’s dad Greg Patterson held on tight to a newspaper clipping from 30 years ago.

“This was my Match Day. It’s even better with him, and it’s sweet success and a complete circle,” said Greg. “It’s amazing and a lot of emotions.”

There were plenty of unknowns for this group.

Elengickal said: “All our in-person classes ended up going virtual.”

In their first year, COVID closed classrooms.

Turry said: “It was a tough adaptation, to be honest. Med school is already a steep learning curve, so going through that in our first year was tough.”

They banded together to stick it out to get that letter with their name on it.

Patterson said: “It was difficult at the beginning. Still going to lectures and studying with all of the stuff going on in the world, but it shows the resiliency of the class and this is a very special class.”

MCG tells us this was also the first time medical students in the Peach Scholar Program were matched. Those students will do their residencies in rural and under-served parts of the state.

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