Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest (COMP-Northwest) celebrated Match Day on Friday, March 21, 2025, with every graduate securing a residency placement, achieving a 100% placement rate with 57% going into primary care. 

Match Day is a significant event for medical school graduates, marking the moment when they learn where they will complete their residency training. The process follows a highly competitive and confidential selection system, where medical students rank their preferred programs, and residency programs rank their top candidates. According to the National Resident Matching Program, this year’s applicant pool was the largest match in the program’s history, with a total of 47,208 active applicants.  

Before envelopes were opened, determining where the doctors-to-be would be completing the next stage of their medical training, COMP and COMP-Northwest Dean Lisa Warren, DO ’01, MBA, shared words of encouragement to the Class of 2025, recognizing the hard work and dedication that has helped them achieve this exciting milestone.   

“You already have the resilience, grit, and skill set to transition to something new and flourish like you have been over these last four years. I have all the confidence that wherever you land you are going to be the most dedicated, committed advocates for your patients,” said Warren.   

COMP-Northwest student and OMM/NMM Pre-Doctoral Teaching Fellow Daniel Trinh was thrilled to match into family medicine at Milwaukie Providence Health, in Milwaukie, Oregon.  

“I’m super excited. This was my number one choice, and I get to stay near my family. It is exactly what I wanted,” said Trinh. “WesternU did an awesome job preparing me. I felt really supported, made really good connections with a lot of the faculty, and made some of my best friends here. The support system to get through this tough process meant everything.” 

For fourth-year students Holley Carlson-Riddle and Kye See, Match Day brought immense feelings of relief. The recently-engaged couple, who met at WesternU, was thrilled to find out they would both be heading to Tulsa, Oklahoma, following graduation.  

“It feels good. I’m really happy that we’re together. There’s always a chance that we were not going to be together. Even in a couple’s match, being able to match together can be hard,” said Carlson-Riddle. 

See matched in internal medicine at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences. Carlson-Riddle placed at the Osteopathic Medical Education Consortium of Oklahoma (OMECO) in pediatrics and osteopathic medicine, the only osteopathic-recognized pediatrics program in the country. 

After doing a rotation in emergency medicine, COMP-Northwest fourth-year student Kayla Baker fell in love with the energetic, quick-moving environment. She matched at Kaweah Delta Health Care District in Visalia, California, in emergency medicine. 

“I did a rotation in emergency medicine during my third year. It really was not on my list until then, but I just loved it. I like that it’s fast-paced, there’s always something to do, there’s never any downtime,” Baker said. “We have incredible faculty, and I’ve gotten a lot of support especially because I chose to go into emergency medicine a little later than a lot of other people who are interested in it. I’ve really had people here who had my back. They gave me a ton of really good advice, and they set me up for success. It made me feel better knowing that no matter what happened today, it was going to be okay.”

Click here to view the COMP-Northwest Match Day photo gallery.