A calling to care: Med student Sara Khandani looks forward after the match day

Lexington, Ky. (March 19, 2025) – When Sara Khandani arrived in Kentucky at the age of 10, she looked at an unknown world. She had left her home in Iran, spoke only limited English and suddenly navigated a place that felt completely strange. Despite these challenges, she exceeded academically, driven by a deeply seated determination and the values ​​conveyed by her family.

Khandanis father was a doctor in Iran and devoted himself to the treatment of patients of all ages. Sometimes patient care stretched beyond the walls of his clinic. She lively remembers the visitors of her house at every hour – patients who are looking for his care – and his unshakable commitment to healing. His example shaped her understanding of medicine, not only as a career, but also as a calling.

She spent her later childhood in Kentucky, but Khandani had always imagined leaving college. Although she received several scholarship offers from other universities, the offer of the University of Kentucky exceeded them and finally led her to stay in Kentucky and visit Great Britain. With her success in the British Pre-Med program, Khandani was further promoted and decided to stay in the Commonwealth for the Medical Faculty and to step into her father's footsteps.

“In the past four years at the UK College of Medicine, some of the most memorable of my life belonged,” said Khandani. “I received the best education and met some of the greatest people on the way.”

Khandani quickly approaches the British College of Medicine in May and is ready to face her next challenge: Residency.

For you and other medical students in the fourth year, the next step of your medical training is determined by the National Residency Match Program (NRMP). NRMP was developed to keep the agreement process fair and goal, and uses an algorithm to combine the wishes of students with the needs of residence programs in the USA, which culminates in an annual event called Match Day.

In order to prepare for the match day, the students spend months to do paperwork and interview with hospitals before submitting a ranking of their top selection options. Residency programs enter a similar list with preferred students, position openings and other preferences. The match day will be marked on the third Friday from March at 12 p.m. the publication of these pairings, in which the students learn the institution, specialty and location of their residency program.

The British College of Medicine celebrates the matchday 2025 in all four campus this Friday. The events take place in Lexington, Morehead, Bowling Green and Northern Kentucky. Students and their families are invited to gather for the big moment at their respective locations where envelopes are opened at the same time, and they learn where they will continue their medical training.

“I am looking forward to what my classmates are in front of them and I can hardly wait to see where this trip is going,” said Khandani.

For them, medicine is more than science and skill – it is also about compassion, resilience and a profound connection to patients. When Khandani takes the next steps in her training, she carries the lessons of the past: the strength to hold out, heal your heart and the unshakable conviction that it is exactly where it should be.