Dear BCM: Celebrating a match
This week we take a look back at how the College has changed as we celebrate 70 years of victories in Houston. Take a trip back to 1982 for a look at Match Day, then versus now.
One of the hallmark moments for fourth-year medical students is when they find out what residency program they have matched with as their final year of medical school draws to an end. At Baylor College of Medicine, current Match Day festivities includes a group unveiling and a dramatic countdown. You can feel the anticipation and excitement.
This tradition was adopted during the 1990s. But BCM had other traditions for Match Day, too.
As BCM’s Dr. Mary Brandt, associate Dean of Student Affairs explained, “The entire class crowded in front of the mailboxes until the dean announced it was time. The doors were opened, envelopes were torn open and cheers erupted as we (finally) knew where we would be training!”
As the picture from 1982’s Match Day shows, it looks like the student was happy with his Match Day results.
If you have participated in the festivities for Baylor College of Medicine’s Match Day, you know how exciting it can be in the courtyard. It’s hard to believe what we now consider the courtyard was a parking lot over three decades ago.
In the physical photo, fourth-year students from 1982 pose for a photo behind One Baylor Plaza following Match Day festivities. Today a parking garage encloses the courtyard the College uses for green space, a place to enjoy the outdoors during a break and for activities.
Do you remember a time before parking garage 6 when this area was a courtyard? What were your Match Day festivities like? Share it in the comments below.
Dear BCM is modeled after the website and book Dear Photograph, a website named one of Time magazine’s 50 websites that make the Web great. BCM staff attempt to match old snapshots, taken during a time when people still used film to capture images, with their present-day setting to blend the image where you can see both the past and present. Photos courtesy of the Baylor College of Medicine Archives.
-By Andy Phifer and Audrey M. Marks
