Jonesboro, AR — (Contributed) — March 21, 2025 — New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University (NYITCOM at A-State) enjoyed a 95 percent match rate and a 100 percent placement rate through the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP), the Jonesboro-based medical school announced Friday.

“Match Day is one of the best days of the year for everyone involved in medical education, and our outstanding results this year have given us so much to be proud of,” said Shane Speights, D.O., dean of NYITCOM at A-State. “Our medical students worked extremely hard to achieve these results, and I’m so incredibly happy for each and every one of them. I’m also grateful to our dedicated faculty and staff who have taught, guided, and mentored these students throughout their medical education to help get them to today. We all have a lot to celebrate.”

Medical schools across the country celebrated Match Day Friday, an annual event through which soon-to-be medical school graduates learn where they’ll perform their post-graduate specialty training, known as residency.

The Class of 2025 is the sixth class for NYITCOM’s Arkansas campus, which opened in 2016 through a private-public partnership with Arkansas State University. In total, 100 NYITCOM at A-State student doctors Matched, with an initial Match rate of 95 percent. The additional five students were all able to secure positions through the supplemental process, resulting in a 100-placement rate for the college.

NYITCOM at A-State was established to train medical students to help address a growing physician shortage in Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta region. As has been the case with each of its first six classes, more than half of NYITCOM at A-State graduates were placed into programs that will keep them in Arkansas, a targeted Delta state, or a state contiguous to Arkansas.

The school also encourages students to pursue primary care specialties due to the significant needs in those areas in Arkansas and the Delta. This year, 85 percent of NYITCOM at A-State students matched into primary care positions, including 26 percent in internal medicine, 25 percent in family medicine, 14 percent in emergency medicine and 20 percent who will specialize in psychiatry, pediatrics, general surgery or obstetrics/gynecology.

“Primary care specialties are where the most significant needs are in our state and region in terms of physician workforce, and I’m so pleased to see the overwhelming majority of our students pursue them,” Speights said. “In family medicine alone, our Match rate is annually double the national average. We’re extremely proud of that.”

Additionally, NYITCOM at A-State’s Class of 2025 saw a number of its students match into highly competitive specialties such as anesthesiology, diagnostic radiology, physical medicine & rehabilitation, orthopedic surgery, and radiation oncology.

Kelsey Vinson, a Jonesboro native who earned her undergraduate degree from Arkansas State University before attending med school at NYITCOM, was among those who learned of her next steps in her career Friday. Vinson matched in the UAMS Northeast Family Medicine program in Jonesboro, which will allow her to continue her education in her hometown.

“I was born and raised here, and this community means so much to me and my family,” Vinson said. “You never know where this process can take you, but my priority was to stay home. I’m just so happy that I’ve been given the opportunity to do that.”

Friday morning, NYITCOM at A-State students gathered with their families and NYITCOM at A-State faculty and staff at the Red Wolf Convention Center at Embassy Suites for a celebration event. The students were given envelopes with their Match placement and collectively opened them at 11 a.m.

Upon the completion of medical school, physicians must complete residency to obtain their license to practice medicine in the United States. Residencies typically last three to seven years, depending on the specialty. During their final year of medical school, student doctors apply and interview for residencies. Once they’ve completed their interviews, the student doctors rank their preferred programs, and the programs rank their preferred candidates they’ve interviewed.

The NRMP then uses an algorithm to “match” candidates with programs based on rankings. On Friday, student doctors around the country found out where they’ve matched and where they subsequently will be performing their residencies, which typically start in the first week of July.

The NYITCOM at A-State Class of 2025 will celebrate its commencement and hooding ceremony on May 23 at First National Bank Arena.