Nearly half of the Florida State University College of Medicine’s M.D. Class of 2026 will remain in Florida for their residencies, according to a March 23 announcement from the college. Out of the 115 students who participated in the National Resident Matching Program, 55 matched with programs within the state.
This outcome is seen as significant amid concerns about physician shortages in Florida. College of Medicine Dean Alma B. Littles, M.D., said, “Having almost half of our class stay in Florida bodes well for the future as Florida faces a serious physician shortage.” Littles added that research shows nearly half of all physicians establish practices within fifty miles of where they completed their residencies.
Littles herself is an example, having completed her family medicine residency at what is now Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and opening her practice in Gadsden County shortly after. Match Day, held each year on the third Friday in March, marks when graduating medical students nationwide receive their residency placements.
In addition to those staying in-state, more than thirty-one percent (39 students) matched with programs elsewhere in the Southeast region—including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia or West Virginia—bringing the total remaining in this part of the country to almost eighty-one percent (94 out of 115). Four students matched with military hospitals and one student secured a urology position through a specialty match administered by the American Urological Association; another deferred matching to complete a research year.
Among specialties chosen by FSU graduates this year: twenty-eight entered internal medicine (23%), fifteen psychiatry (12%), thirteen each pediatrics and surgery (11% each), twelve family medicine (10%), and four matches apiece went to obstetrics/gynecology and several other fields such as orthopedic surgery and diagnostic radiology. Excluding obstetrics/gynecology from primary care tallies yields forty-seven percent matching into primary care specialties; including it brings that figure up to fifty-one percent—a classification debated among medical educators.
Match Day celebrations took place at Ruby Diamond Concert Hall with students sharing results alongside families and friends. Alycia “Aly” Savage—class president and Marine Corps veteran—addressed classmates about facing unexpected outcomes but embracing them fully: “So whatever you felt today when you opened your envelope… get to work,” she said. Savage will remain in Tallahassee for her general surgery residency at FSU College of Medicine/TMH.
Dean Littles closed by encouraging students ahead: “Eight weeks from tomorrow we’ll gather again… What a day it will be for all of us! See you then.”
