Kaitlyn and Daniel van Rooyen, who have a special connection to Campbell University, considered the sealed white envelope. Its contents, though somewhat a mystery, excited them. Soon they would open it, but not yet.
Like many others gathered in the large room in the Oscar N. Harris Student Union, they would have to wait.
For the clock to strike noon. For Dr. David Tolentino to tell them it was time.
The envelopes contained a one-page note, their 2025 Match Results, and disclosed the name of the institution and program in which the new doctors will serve their respective residencies.
The students — part of a graduating class of 154 from the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine (CUSOM) — and their families together opened the envelopes. To pick up from the table black markers and Campbell orange placards and to announce their next destinations.
Match Day has become a universal event, held the third Friday each March, in this case March 21.
To land a residency appointment, graduating medical students apply to multiple hospital systems, and earlier in the week they learned whether they had a match. That match, however, was unknown until Friday’s ceremony.
“We’re proud of each and every one of you,” Dr. Brian Kessler, dean of the medical school, told the student doctors. “We have matched into every discipline you could possibly think of. Each and every one of you will have the opportunity to become the physician you always wanted to be.”
All of Campbell’s 154 graduating medical students were placed in a residency program. Fifty student doctors will serve their residencies in North Carolina, and 99 will serve in the Southeast (64 percent), as well as 14 in Florida and South Carolina, respectively. In all, CUSOM grads will practice in 27 states.
Thirty-two of the graduating students will specialize in family medicine and 29 in internal medicine. Other residency disciplines among the students include, for example, pediatrics (17) and emergency medicine (23).
Nationwide, the percentage of DO seniors matching rose to 92.6 percent, a record high during the single match era, according to the National Resident Matching Program. In addition, the number of U.S. DO seniors participating was a record-high 8,392, an increase of 4.5 percent from 2024.
DO senior match rates have grown 3.5 percentage points since 2021.This was also the largest NRMP Match in history, with more than 52,400 participants competing for 43,237 positions, says the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
Kaitlyn and Daniel van Rooyen, who grew up in a military family, met at Campbell during their first class as undergrads. Kaitlyn, of Rockingham, majored in clinical research and went on to get her master’s, which is also in clinical research and also from Campbell. He majored in pre-med and biology and earned his master’s in biomedical science, before entering med school.
That the van Rooyens have created such a legacy at Campbell, and that it will continue at Harnett Health, is a testament to the university and the medical school’s mission for graduating doctors and professionals who serve in the local area and in traditionally underserved communities.
The medical school, in fact, ranks second-highest in the nation for “Medical Schools With the Most Graduates Practicing in Health Professional Shortage Areas,” according to U.S. News & World Report rankings of top medical schools released in July. Campbell University is the only osteopathic medical school in North Carolina.
“I came to Campbell with the intention of going to medical school here, and it just followed suit,” Daniel says. “I loved it. The thing that attracted me at Campbell was the teachers who actually cared about you, not just like a nameless number in a classroom. I’ve really felt that, here, I have professors I’ve known for at least six, seven years now, and it’s been fantastic.”
Kaitlyn said her grandmother knew Dr. Jerry Wallace, after whom the med school is named. She now works as a clinical research associate, helping to monitor clinical trials and conducting research and studies on vaccines, for instance.
“That’s why I came here,” she said. “I love the research side of things. I got my job from an internship I had to do in my senior year of undergrad, and I think it really prepared me on the clinical research side of things.”
Tolentino, associate dean for clinical affairs, asked the student doctors to think about when they began at CUSOM, in the midst of a global pandemic. Their journey has been about resilience, grit, he said.
Buzz words? Maybe, yet they ring true.
“Your worth is defined by the journey you have undertaken here with us,” he said. “You are where you’re supposed to be.”
Student Colleen Wang of Durham smiled as she proudly displayed her match letter. She’s going to Duke and will practice family medicine.
“I love Campbell,” she said while also recognizing the faculty and the welcoming community. “Being here has really emphasized primary care, and it was a big factor of why I went into family medicine.”
