Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Class of 2021 celebrates successful Match Day

“We are proud of the success of our Class of 2021,” said Steven J. Scheinman, MD, president and dean of Geisinger Commonwealth and executive vice president, Geisinger. “Once again, our students matched into excellent local residency programs, as well as some of the most competitive and prestigious programs and specialties in the nation. I am pleased that 11 students matched at Geisinger. I am also happy to note that the first cohort of five Abigail Geisinger Scholars matched – two at Geisinger. All five will eventually work as Geisinger physicians serving our communities. I am especially excited that our first REACH-HEI participant, involved in the enrichment program since high school, has had a successful match and is looking forward to residency.” Dr. Scheinman said.

Dr. Scheinman noted that the Class of 2021’s success in this year’s Match is all the more remarkable because the pandemic rendered all recruiting and interviewing virtual. “Candidates and program directors had to meet one another via screens, adding more anxiety to an already stressful process,” he said. “So, our students’ performance in the Match is all the more impressive.” According to the National Resident Match Program (NRMP), the 2021 Main Residency Match was the largest in NRMP history. There were 38,106 total positions offered, the most ever, and 35,194 first-year positions offered, an increase of 2.7 percent over 2020.

According to Dr. Scheinman, who happens to be the chair of the NRMP board, a record-high 5,915 programs were part of the Match, 88 more than 2020. Rather than faltering in these uncertain times, he noted, program fill rates increased across the board.

Dr. Scheinman noted that 41 Geisinger Commonwealth students matched into primary care fields and seven into psychiatry. He also said 37 members of the Class of 2021 matched into programs in Pennsylvania, including 31 local students. “Matching into a Pennsylvania residency and, even better, a local residency, is an encouraging indicator, because physicians tend to end up practicing in areas close to where they trained,” Dr. Scheinman said, adding that in addition to the Geisinger matches, GCSOM students matched into Pennsylvania programs at The Wright Center in Scranton, Guthrie, Penn State Hershey and Lehigh Valley Health and St. Luke’s in Allentown, as well programs in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Dr. Scheinman also observed that Geisinger Commonwealth applicants matched into some of the most competitive specialties in American medicine, including dermatology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, orthopedics, neurosurgery and plastic surgery. In addition to the large number of Geisinger Commonwealth students who will train at leading community-based programs, many students will go to residencies at highly competitive teaching hospitals, including those associated with Brown, Weill Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Penn, Walter Reed and the Universities of Michigan, Rochester and Washington. In addition to today’s announced results, five GCSOM students previously learned of their matches at military training sites and one student was informed of their match into ophthalmology, which selects residency placement through a different process.

According to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), the 2021 Main Residency Match included more than 42,000 applicants. 

View GCSOM's 2021 Match results. (This is a list of students who gave GCSOM permission to share their Match results.)

A recording of the March 19 virtual ceremony will be posted here once available.

About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the non-profit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 134 care sites - including 10 hospital campuses, and Geisinger Health Plan, with 600,000 members in commercial and government plans. The Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $14 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country.  Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.