‘A big rush of relief…and happiness’: Fourth-year UND medical students respond to their residency match results
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – “North Dakota has given me all the opportunities I’ve had so far to become an aspiring physician,” said Grand Forks, N.D., native Abby Lund Da Costa. “So I want to give back and serve my community.”
Celebrating alongside her family – and the rest of her M.D. Class of 2026 – the UND fourth-year medical student explained exactly why she was so excited to learn that she’ll be starting an internal medicine medical residency with UND’s Fargo-based Department of Internal Medicine.
“Opening that envelope was a big rush of relief,” she confessed. “And happiness.”
The Match
Lund Da Costa was one of 70 UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences M.D. students who learned last week that they had qualified for the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) medical student “Match Day.”
Each year, graduating medical students looking to enter a medical residency, a three- to seven-year period of advanced intensive training in their chosen specialty, apply to the programs of their choice via the NRMP. The NRMP then uses a mathematical algorithm “to match applicants and programs to their most preferred ranked choices to make the best possible match for all participants,” as the NRMP website puts it.
In March, students at medical schools across the United States learn where they will complete their post-graduate residency in order to begin independent practice as a physician-specialist. At noon (EST) on Friday, March 20, such residency matches were given out to more than 44,000 medical students in the United States out of a total of more than 53,000 applicants – the largest Match Day cohort in history.
UND’s School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) was no exception, seeing one of the largest M.D. matches in its recent history. Out of UND’s 70 residency matches this year, nearly half – 32 students, or 46% of the class – are entering the primary care specialties of family medicine (8), internal medicine (16), obstetrics and gynecology (5), and pediatrics (3).
UND also saw matches for a variety of other specialties, including anesthesiology, dermatology, emergency medicine, geriatrics, neurology, occupational/environmental medicine, otolaryngology (or "ear, nose, and throat"), pathology, psychiatry, surgery (including neurosurgery and orthopedic), and radiology.
All-for-one
Matching into the highly competitive field of dermatology was Claire Diede. Hailing from Lakeville, Minn., Diede had just learned that she matched with the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s dermatology program.
And she couldn’t be happier.
“I’m so excited – this was my number one choice,” she said, adding that the “best part” of the day is getting to see her friends so happy.
“My experience at UND has been everything I hoped medical school would be,” Diede continued. “Community is what UND is about and it felt that way – throughout all of my schooling here.”
Nodding in agreement at Diede’s left was senior medical student Miriah Forness. The North Dakota native is on her way to an internal medicine residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
“This moment is super special – to have everyone gathered together and find out where our classmates are going and see people’s dreams come true,” Forness smiled.
Calling her UND medical school experience “wonderful,” Forness echoed Diede’s sentiment about UND’s community feel. This is why she applied to North Dakota’s only interprofessional school of medicine and health sciences in the first place.
“I’ve had so much support from the larger community and the people here at the School,” Forness said. “You can see it in the room. Everyone is so excited for each other and this class is super close. UND has that [camaraderie] in ways that a lot of other places just don’t.”
Hands-on across North Dakota
And not only at UND but the entire North Dakota health enterprise often feels like one massive community, suggested Devin Evavold, who matched in anesthesiology.
“At UND we get a good amount of hands-on training because we get a lot of face-to-face interaction with attending physicians,” said Evavold of his clinical training in Bismarck, N.D. “I was able to do a lot of hands-on stuff and get procedural experience. That’s something that I’ll take with me into residency and beyond.”
His family at his side, Evavold took a moment to congratulate a passing classmate.
“It was fantastic,” he continued of UND’s medical education program. “Knowing that I’m getting my top choice is really a treat – really awesome. It makes all the hard work worth it.”
Read the full 2026 Match Day list online.
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Brian James Schill
Director, Office of Alumni & Community Relations
School of Medicine & Health Sciences
University of North Dakota
701.777.6048 direct | 701.777.4305 office
brian.schill@UND.edu | med.UND.edu