The Envelope Moment

Medicine’s Class of 2026 Brave Tension and Thrill of Match Day

Fourth-year medical student Avery Dargie had always viewed medicine as something more than a job.

That grounding shapes her vision for the future. “It’s something that allows for this beautiful combination of science with teamwork, and this human connection that is so tangible,” she said.

For students like Dargie, a pleasant morning in March felt a little different across the University of Tennessee Health Sciences College of Medicine campuses. For 169 fourth-year medical students, it was the day they had been working toward for years. Match Day.

Every year on Match Day, medical students across the country open an envelope. All at the same moment, 11 a.m. central time, to find out where they’ll train as resident physicians. It’s the culmination of four years of medical school, countless hours of clinical rotations, and the deeply personal process of figuring out who you want to become as a doctor. On Friday, March 20, members of the College of Medicine Class of 2026 got their answers.

Medical students Kylie and Blake Mastalerz met during orientation at the College of Medicine.

“There’s a lot of logistical things with medical school, like how are we going to make this happen? When are we going to make this happen?” Kylie said. “We ended up getting married during the fall of our M3 year. We took our shelf (test) on a Friday and got married the following Sunday. And we had lots of our medical school friends there.”

“You never know how the algorithm is going to work or where you’re going to end up,” Blake said of Match Day. “But regardless, we’re going to be excited, because our priority is to be together. UT Health Sciences has set us up for success, and this is just the next chapter we’ll tackle together.”

For graduating medical student Sean Acosta, the path to medicine started in nursing school. After initially enrolling in nursing, Acosta went on to pursue his MD degree. As Match Day approached, Acosta, who moved to Memphis from Colombia when he was 13, had one goal in mind: returning to the city that welcomed his family.

“Memphis has welcomed me and my family after coming from another country, and they’ve been great to us,” he said in the days leading up to Match Day. “The people, the community, I love it here. I want to stay here for residency. My family’s here, my wife’s family’s here. We want to have kids and raise them here in Memphis. That is the goal.”

“Match Day is one of the most meaningful mornings in medical education,” said Michael Hocker, MD, executive dean of the College of Medicine. “It’s the moment years of hard work finally become real. We are proud to see so many of them carrying the UT Health Sciences mission forward, and we can’t wait to see the care and compassion they’ve developed here shared with patients across the state and beyond.

“Our mission matters because Tennessee needs these doctors. From the rural communities where a physician can be the only one for miles, to the busy urban hospitals serving thousands, every new College of Medicine match is a community gaining a caregiver who is trained and committed. UT Health Sciences was built to serve this state, and with every graduating class, that promise is renewed.”

Whatever envelope they opened and wherever it’s sending them, the College of Medicine Class of 2026 is ready.