比赛日当天，当UMKC医学院学生Keith Loftin在UMKC学生会内拥抱他的妻子时，泪水顺着他的脸颊流下来, 他手里拿着一封信，上面写着他们未来四年的生活. 他的父母和他一起看新闻，眼睛含泪.
洛夫廷在科瓦利斯的撒玛利亚健康服务中心做住院医生, Oregon, where he will enter his preferred specialty of psychiatry.
“能站在这里和所有支持我的人在一起真是太棒了, all the people who care about me,” Loftin said. “It’s all kind of surreal right now.”
Loftin是UMKC医学院2023届的112名成员之一，他们参加了今年的全国居民配对计划. 像班上的许多人一样，他对获得第一个住院医师职位感到高兴.
“我找到了精神病学，意识到我与它有多么紧密的联系，我多么喜欢和我的病人一起工作，并决定这就是我需要做的事情。,” Loftin said. “It felt like this is where I belonged.”
His journey to becoming a physician, however, took a different path than the rest of his classmates, most of whom are half his age.
在与妻子和两个孩子搬到堪萨斯城并进入医学院之前, Loftin was a high school science teacher in Jefferson City, Missouri. Before that, 他在军队里花了将近七年的时间研究支努干直升机, 然后回到学校攻读教育学硕士学位. All the while, Loftin, 他在参军前在密苏里大学获得了营养学和科学学士学位, said he harbored a hidden desire to become a doctor.
“我当时在给一群想进入医疗行业的高中生上课，他们一直问我为什么没有上医学院,” he said. “After about the 100th conversation my wife and I had about it, 她最后说，你知道你需要做什么，这就开始了.”
With the backing of his wife, and while still teaching his high school classes, 洛夫廷开始了冗长的MCAT备考过程，并准备在近17年后再次成为一名全日制学生.
“Medical school was a challenge, but doable,” he said. “I faced a lot of personal challenges.”
During his time as a medical student, 洛夫廷因在军队服役期间背部受伤接受了多次手术，并帮助妻子度过了丧母之痛. His efforts paid off on Friday. 从俄勒冈州到佛罗里达州，洛夫廷在全国各地的医院申请了精神病学住院医师的职位, 他知道总有一天他得把妻子搬走, a 17-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son again.
“It’s a little tough,” he said. “It’s not so bad for me. 我在军队服役时，曾六次调到不同的工作地点. 搬家会有很多挑战，但我知道我儿子对此很兴奋.”
Brother and sister
While Loftin celebrated with his family, Mozammil和Sumaiya Alam也与家人和朋友一起享受这一天. The brother and sister from Kansas City, Missouri, had the unique experience of going through Match together.
莫扎米尔在神经学方面得到了他想要的匹配，他将前往凤凰城的亚利桑那大学医学院. Sumaiya在埃默里大学医学院获得内科学位.
“I’m going to Atlanta,” Sumaiya screamed. “ I started crying before I even opened my envelope. This is what I was dreaming.”
Mozammil was sharing a similar excitement.
“There is so much joy right now,” he said. “We both got the matches we wanted.”
在整个医学院期间，两人能够相互依靠, 他们还可以向他们的兄弟寻求关于住院治疗程序的建议, Mobashshir Alam, 2018年毕业于UMKC医学院，现在是新墨西哥大学医学院的胃肠病学研究员.
“他在指导我们完成比赛过程中真的很有帮助，”苏迈亚说.
莫扎米尔说，有妹妹在身边帮助了他，因为他们一起经历了医学院的高潮和低谷.
“我们确实在很多事情上相互依赖，”他说. “在面试季节，我们总是在那里互相支持.”
接近一半匹配的UMKC学生将进入一个初级保健专业的住院医师项目. 内科专业的学生最多，有19名, 其次是家庭医学(11人)和儿科(9人). 越来越多的毕业生也将进入精神病学领域，该领域有11场比赛.
20名学生将留在堪萨斯城，在UMKC医学院赞助的项目中进行实习. 总的来说，33名密苏里大学堪萨斯分校的毕业生——大约三分之一——将留在密苏里州完成他们的住院医师项目.
See the full list UMKC医学院的学生，他们在檀香山的美国各地的项目中匹配, Hawaii, to New York.
School of Medicine Dean Mary Ann Jackson, M.D.他向学生们表示祝贺，称比赛日是他们旅程中的决定性时刻.
杰克逊说:“你在这里学到的东西将伴随你整个职业生涯。.