Published: Saturday, 3/21/2015 - Updated: 16 hours ago

BY VANESSA McCRAY BLADE STAFF WRITER

The room full of fourth-year University of Toledo medical students crackled with tension as the physicians-to-be fixed their focus on four tables where carefully arranged envelopes contained their still-secret futures.

At noon Friday, 166 future doctors learned finally, after months of interviewing for residency programs where they would spend their next three to seven years.

After getting the signal, some ripped and others hesitantly peeled open the envelopes.

Squeals, cheers, tears, and so many hugs ensued.

This is the drama of Match Day, the thrilling, nationally coordinated culmination of medical school. Students and medical centers list their preferences, and the National Resident Matching Program uses a computer algorithm to match them up.

PHOTO GALLERY: Click here for more photos from the ceremony

The results are announced simultaneously across the country.

Thats my No. 1, said Jessica Chang, a medical student originally from Washington, as she displayed the notification that she will pursue plastic-surgery training at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center. Ive never been out West before. Ive been Midwest. Ive been South. Ive been Northeast. California, California, baby.

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UT medical students' next step