As the envelopes were unsealed – opened eagerly with excitement and anticipation – the life of each student in the MD Class of 2026 was changed and their next steps after medical school quickly came into focus.
It was a moment for each of the 85 fourth-year students at WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) that came seconds after the clock struck noon on Match Day – Friday, March 20, 2026 – at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Kalamazoo Conference Center.
"This is a time where all of you as medical students are turning an incredible page in this chapter of life," said J. Adrian Tyndall, MD, MPH, FACEP, the Hal B. Jenson, MD Dean, President and CEO of WMed. "This is probably, from my perspective, more of an enormous occasion than even graduation because this is really about where you're spending the next several years of your life ... I could not be more proud to be in front of all of you today celebrating this Match Day,"
Match Day is a time-honored tradition, when students at WMed – along with other fourth-year students from across the country – learn where they will spend the next three or more years as resident physicians. For the future doctors, the festivities are a culmination of the time they have spent in Kalamazoo navigating the rigors of medical school and learning about the science and art behind medicine.
After they arrived for Match Day, students from the Class of 2026 spent time with classmates, family members and friends. Handshakes, hugs and smiles were abundant as excitement grew for the clock to strike noon.
"Think of this as a moment to reflect on your dedication and your resilience, and the compassion that you've already brought here to WMed," Dr. Tyndall said. "It's moments like these that remind us that medicine is not a solo journey. It takes a village."
Students and their guests enjoyed light snacks as they heard remarks from Andrea Swintal, EdD, MS, director of Career Development; Maria Sheakley, PhD, associate dean for Student Affairs; M4 Scott Garber, and Dr. Tyndall. Later, the students captured numerous photos at the event with WMed backdrops and the Match Day pin map. They also got the opportunity to take the stage to share their Match results with guests at the event, which was livestreamed on the medical school’s YouTube channel at wmed.edu/matchday.
Key Highlights from this Year’s Match
- 98% of the students in the Class of 2026 matched to a residency slot as part of a nationwide process that is increasingly competitive.
- 7 students from the Class of 2026 matched to residency slots at WMed and will complete their training in Kalamazoo in the specialties of Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Medicine-Pediatrics, Orthopaedic Surgery, and Psychiatry. They will join the 200-plus physicians-in-training in the medical school’s 15 residency and fellowship programs.
- 25 students will remain in Michigan for residency, working in hospitals in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Port Huron, Royal Oak, Saginaw, St. Joseph, Wayne, and Ypsilanti.
- 39 students will complete their training in a specialty that could lead to a career in primary care.
- 2 students are recipients of a scholarship from the F. Edward Hébert Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program. One of the students will complete their residency training at a military medical center while the other will train in a civilian residency program.
- WMed students will train in residency programs across the U.S. in 23 different states and the District of Columbia.
The students will complete their training in the following specialties and programs:
Anesthesiology
- Case Western Reserve University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Ohio
- Dignity Health-St. Joseph’s Medical Center, California
- McLaren Flint Hospital, Michigan
- Rush University Medical Center, Illinois
- University of California Irvine Medical Center, California
Dermatology
- Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, Minnesota
- University of Missouri-Kansas City, Missouri
Emergency Medicine
- Allegheny General Hospital, Pennsylvania
- Corewell Health-Grand Rapids at Michigan State University, Michigan (2)
- UPMC Medical Education, Pennsylvania
- University of Illinois College of Medicine-Chicago, Illinois
- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Medical Center, Ohio
Family Medicine
- Corewell Health Wayne Hospital, Michigan
- Family Health Centers of San Diego, California
- Henry Ford Hospital, Michigan
- MultiCare Health System, Washington
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine at McGaw Medical Center, Illinois
- St. Joseph Hospital SCL Health, Colorado
- University of Minnesota Medical School Woodwinds Hospital, Minnesota
- University of Missouri-Kansas City, Missouri
- WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Michigan
General Surgery
- Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, Michigan
- Covenant HealthCare College of Medicine at Central Michigan University, Michigan
- Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida
- Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, Virginia
- Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, California
- Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital, Michigan
- University of California San Francisco School of Medicine Fresno Medical Education Program, California
- University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine-Denver, Colorado
- University of Illinois College of Medicine-Chicago, Illinois
- University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center, Iowa
- University of Michigan Health-Sparrow, Michigan
- University of Virginia Health Medical Center, Virginia
- Yale New Haven Hospital, Connecticut
Internal Medicine
- Ascension St. Vincent Hospital-Indianapolis, Indiana
- Case Western Reserve University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Ohio (2)
- Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals-St. Joseph, Michigan
- MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, D.C.
- Providence Health System, Oregon
- Stanford Health Care, California
- The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Ohio
- University of Kansas School of Medicine-Kansas City, Kansas
- University of Minnesota Medical School, Minnesota
- WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Michigan (2)
- Zucker School of Medicine at Northwell Health at Staten Island University, New York
Internal Medicine Primary Care
- Family Health Centers at NYU Langone, New York
Medicine-Pediatrics
- Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals and Clinics-Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- University of Illinois College of Medicine-Peoria, Illinois
- University of Kentucky College of Medicine-Lexington, Kentucky (2)
- WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Michigan
Neurology
- Corewell Health-Grand Rapids at Michigan State University, Michigan
- University of North Carolina Hospitals-Chapel Hill, North Carolina
- University of Virginia Health Medical Center, Virginia
Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Albany Medical Center, New York
- Detroit Medical Center at Wayne State University, Michigan
- University of Southern California, California
Ophthalmology
- Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana
Orthopaedic Surgery
- University of Cincinnati Medical Center, Ohio
- University of Louisville School of Medicine, Kentucky
- WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Michigan
Pediatrics
- Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Michigan
- Children’s National Hospital, Washington, D.C.
- Corewell Health-Grand Rapids at Michigan State University, Michigan (2)
- Duke University Medical Center, North Carolina
- East Virginia Medical School Old Dominion University, Virginia
- Mass General Brigham, Massachusetts
- New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York
- University of Michigan Health University Hospital, Michigan
- University of Washington Affiliated Hospitals and Centers, Washington (2)
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
- Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education, Minnesota
Psychiatry
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Tennessee
- University of Washington Affiliated Hospitals and Centers, Washington
- WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, Michigan (2)
Psychiatry-Rural
- Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, West Virginia
Transitional Year
- Corewell Health-Grand Rapids at Michigan State University, Michigan
- McLaren Health Care-Port Huron, Michigan
- Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals and Clinics-Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Urology
- Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Pennsylvania
The 2026 Main Residency Match process began in the summer of 2025 for fourth-year students at WMed and other medical students across the country as they prepared applications to residency programs at which they wanted to train. As part of the process, program directors review applications and conduct candidate interviews in the fall and early winter. During the month of March, applicants submitted to the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) their rank order lists of preferred programs, and program directors ranked applicants in order of preference for training. The NRMP uses a computerized mathematical algorithm to match applicants with programs using the preferences expressed on their rank lists.
As they look ahead, students in the Class of 2026 will complete the final months of the fourth-year curriculum at WMed, which culminates in May with a commencement ceremony at WMU’s Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo. The event, which is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, 2026, is open to the public and tickets are not required.