Senior medical students graduating from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine matched with some of the most competitive residency training programs in the country again this year.

SIU seniors received the results from the National Resident Matching Program last Thursday and learned where they will be doing their training after medical school. Dr. Erik Constance, associate dean of student affairs at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield says 68 SIU medical students were matched with residency programs in Illinois, the Midwest, and around the country. Constance explains the match program.

SOUNB BITE: "The match is a way our graduates find residency programs throughout the country and they decide what they are going to specialize in and where they are going to go. This is a way of placing them in those positions." "We're very happy that the students received very competitive matches."

The largest percentage of students, 47 percent, will enter primary care residencies in July. The chosen primary care specialties include family practice, internal medicine and pediatrics says Constance.

SOUND BITE: " . . . most of them this year as usual matched in primary care specialties. One thing unusual this year, we had 20 percent of the students go into pediatrics which is a very high number. And I think that speaks well because hopefully, they'll come back and all practice in the State of Illinois when they're done with their training."

38 percent of SIU medical students will enter residency programs in Illinois and an additional 33 percent of them will continue their training in the Midwest.