On March 16, 2026, medical students will find out if they have matched to a residency program, and on March 20, they will find out where. If the trends at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, reflect national trends, an increasing number of those students may be hoping for a match within emergency medicine (EM).

Last year, ACEP reported that EM had “rebounded,” after seeing steep declines in matches in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2023 Match, EM had a fill rate of 81.8 percent, but in 2025 that increased to 95.5 percent.¹

“What we had seen nationally was a trend away from emergency medicine and fewer applications, especially among competitive applicants,” said Erin Simmers, MD, MPH, who directs the Emergency Medicine Advising program at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine.

However, in the current class of MS4s from University of Nevada, Reno, quite a few are hoping to match in EM.

“When I went into an advisory meeting with the current year’s batch of students, there were about 30 people in the room out of a class size of about 60,” Dr. Simmers said. Of those initial 30 students, 15 — or 25 percent  of the class — are applying to emergency medicine. “I saw this group of students and thought, ‘This cohort is so strong. These are students that could have been successful in any field.’”

But it seems that EM is their passion. As the Nevada ACEP Chapter President, Dr. Simmers wants to look into why so many of these students chose EM,  hoping to be able to share that with other programs nationally.

ACEP Now recently spoke with some of these students to find out when and how they became interested in emergency medicine.

The Lens of Emergency Medicine

Zoee Castro, MS4: “I was first introduced to emergency medicine while working as a medical scribe in a Level II trauma center for four years before medical school. That experience gave me early exposure to the pace, acuity, and team dynamics of the ED, and it sparked my initial interest in the field. When I began medical school in 2021, emergency medicine was high on my list, but I intentionally kept an open mind. However, a few months into my third year, I noticed a consistent pattern: I was subconsciously comparing every rotation to emergency medicine. I wasn’t just learning medicine, but I was filtering everything through the lens of how it would make me a better emergency physician. Like many drawn to emergency medicine, I thrive on the unpredictability and the hands-on nature of the work, but what resonates most deeply with me is emergency medicine’s role as the safety net of our health care system.”