Match Day, a nationwide event during which medical students learn their residency assignments simultaneously, continues an ongoing tradition as NYU Grossman School of Medicine students match with top programs across the country. This year, on March 21, all 96 students matched with residency programs, and 44 are remaining at NYU Langone Health locations. The most popular specialties include internal medicine and primary care (22), psychiatry (10), pediatrics (9), orthopedics (6), and neurosurgery (6).

By exploring their journeys to this moment, we see the impact of NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s innovative three-year model and Full-Tuition Scholarships, and how these opportunities shape who these residents become as clinicians and how their patients experience healthcare.

A Childhood Curiosity

The Full-Tuition Scholarships created space for Joseph Obiajulu’s education to flourish. “When you don’t have the stress of thinking about how to pay off debt, there’s just more room to learn,” he said. It also allowed him to serve as a first lieutenant in the Air Force National Guard without military scholarship restrictions.

After college graduation, Obiajulu took a programming job, but everything changed when he shadowed a friend who was a resident in a cardio intensive care unit. Obiajulu watched his friend comfort a patient who broke down when asked about her children. “In that 10-minute encounter, I saw more meaning than everything I’d been doing as a programmer for 2 years,” Obiajulu said.

Obiajulu had not taken any biology courses since high school, so he took prerequisite courses while working part-time. He set his sights on NYU Grossmann School of Medicine, drawn by its tuition-free initiative and three-year program.

“I literally wrote down what is the best-case scenario,” he said. “I’m a believer that you have to articulate your dreams.”

Strength and Healing

Like Obiajulu, Melissa Song’s medical calling began in childhood. At age 11, severe abdominal pain led to an emergency hospital visit. “From the moment that I walked out of that hospital, I thought, ‘I want to be a doctor,’” she said.

For a decade, she planned to become a neurosurgeon, even conducting research on Alzheimer’s disease in high school. She emphasized how surviving sexual assault in college shifted her focus.

“I started weight lifting to find my strength and community, but it is also when orthopedic surgery came into focus for me as a specialty,” she said. “Ortho is a really meaningful way for me to give back to people something that is so important to me. I don't think I’d even be here if it weren’t for all the healing that physical activity gave to me.”

NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s curriculum accommodated Song’s curiosity. She took a year to work in management consulting focused on medical devices, sparking dreams of creating her own orthopedic innovations.

“I never envisioned myself living in New York,” said Song, who initially feared the city. Her decision came down to a last-minute Zoom call with Rafael Rivera, MD, MBA, associate dean for admissions and financial aid.

Her Match Day envelope may send her to three geographic regions: the Northeast, the Midwest, or the West Coast. Song wants to stay in New York—and while her sister also rooted for NYC so they could be neighbors, Melissa knows she adapted once and can do so again.

Running Toward Prevention

While Obiajulu explores hearts and Song rebuilds bones, Brooke Starn focuses on transforming children’s health from the ground up.

A competitive runner while at Harvard University, Starn brings athletic discipline to medicine. “I still run marathons,” said Starn, who is training for the race in Boston even as she prepares for residency.

The priority NYU Grossman School of Medicine places on collaboration spoke to her team-oriented nature. “It’s super collaborative, like a team environment that I grew up loving,” she said.

With a master’s degree in public health focused on epidemiology, Starn sees primary care pediatrics as a vehicle to work on preventive health at both individual and population levels.

Free tuition proved especially significant for Starn. “I think I almost didn’t let myself consider primary care pediatrics due to concerns about student debt,” she said. “Once I got the acceptance to [NYU Langone] and realized I wouldn’t have to worry about that, I realized how much I wanted to do primary care pediatrics.”

She found the uncertainty surrounding the medical school application process challenging. “I was sitting in limbo for quite some time,” said Starn, who received five wait list offers. When she got off NYU Langone’s wait list, the university was her top choice.

Opening the Envelope

At noon on Match Day, envelopes were opened across the country.

Obiajulu will remain at NYU Langone as a surgical intern, pursuing his goal of becoming a cardiac surgeon.

Starn is also staying at NYU Langone, for pediatrics. The moment feels like a crystallization of the kind of clinician she envisions being—the kind that partners with parents toward achieving the shared goal of safeguarding children’s health.

For Song, tears flow as she realizes she’ll be headed to Stanford for her dream orthopedic residency.

Transforming Medical Education, Transforming Healthcare

“Our lives have been enriched by you in countless ways and we are in awe of all your personal and academic accomplishments,” Victoria C. Dinsell, MD, associate dean of student affairs, told the students as they gathered with family and friends to open the envelopes that revealed their residency destinations. “You are courageous, compassionate individuals who have devoted yourselves to the most rewarding calling and we have the utmost faith in you as you move on to your next steps. Just as we find deep satisfaction, gratitude, and meaning in the work we do, we hope that you are able to carve a path for yourselves that makes an impact, seeks out meaning, and brings you joy.”

NYU Grossman School of Medicine turned a mathematician’s precision, a weight lifter’s determination, and a runner’s endurance into tools for healing. Its tuition-free initiative liberated dreams, allowing the students to pursue specialties based on passion rather than finances.

The institution embodies New York City itself: challenging and transformative. “Manhattan is this island of trauma-bonded people,” Song joked.

Obiajulu understands the bond. “When you go through medical school and anything really hard, you need to rely on your friends,” he said. On some Friday nights, he and other future surgeons gather to play the board game Operation, laughing as they try to extract the tibia.

As the Match Day celebration continues around the three students, their paths converge before diverging toward the futures they’ve paved. Different journeys, one calling, all shaped by an institution that reimagined what medical education could be.

Media Inquiries

Arielle Sklar
Phone: 646-960-2696
Arielle.Sklar@NYULangone.org