Years of waiting came to an end yesterday morning for Amber Cooper as she sat in DuVal Auditorium to find out where her husband would do his medical residency.

Her two daughters, McKenna and Annica, sat beside her munching on blueberry muffins provided by the medical school for the Match Day ceremony.

Match Day is a tradition at medical schools across the country. It is the day when medical students learn where they will spend the next several years as resident physicians.

Cooper's husband, Brant, will graduate from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in May and will start his residency July 1.

"The students have put their preferences in that magic computer in the sky and they don't know until today where they'll be going," said Christopher Leadem, associate dean at the College of Medicine, at the start of the ceremony.

Earlier this year students submitted, on average, their top 10 preferred residency locations, Leadem said.

He said 62 percent of the medical students received their first choices this year, and 83 percent received residency locations from their top three.

Leadem said the difficulty for medical students is still not over.

"Our students get out of medical school with about $60,000 in (debt)," Leadem said.

Many companies defer payment on these loans until after the students finish their residencies, he said.

"The average student will make about $30,000 a year during residency," Leadem said. "After their residencies, what they make varies, but the average is about $70,000."

The medical students' names were on envelopes with the location of their residencies sealed inside. When their names were called, students walked down the aisle to receive their fates for the next several years. Depending on whether the students choose to specialize, residencies can last from three to seven years.

A large glass punch bowl was on the table next to the glasses of champagne and cider for toasting.

The students each had to put a dollar in the bowl when they claimed their envelopes. The last medical student called received the money in the bowl, about $100, as a type of consolation prize for having waited the longest.

When medical student Demetris Panayi walked into DuVal, he said jokingly, "Are they going to play the Price is Right music as I run down and get my envelope?"

About 450 people sat in the auditorium while the names of the 101 medical students were being called. Students absent mindedly fingered their dollar bills as they waited for their names to be called.

Cooper said the medical school experience was not as bad as she had expected. She said the hardest part was that her husband was gone a lot with school. He would leave Monday at 6 a.m. when he was on surgery rotation, she said, and not come home until 8 p.m. Tuesday.

"But he is dedicated to his family as much as to school," Cooper said. "It didn't take away from family time."

Brant Cooper's brother, Dale Cooper, psychology senior, said he could not have done what his brother has accomplished.

"I would hate to think someone was relying on me for their life," he said.

After everyone received their envelopes, they went up on stage, announced where they would spend their residencies, and put a tack at the location on a map of the United States.

Brant Cooper walked across the stage holding his youngest daughter, Annica, 2, and announced his residency location. His daughters crouched in front and snapped a picture. Cooper received his first choice; the family will go to Iowa.

During the ceremony, Michael Goodin appeared hesitant to open his envelope and Panayi asked if he wanted someone to hold his hand.

Goodin replied with a smile, "No, I was just going to wait a couple of days before I opened it." He opened the envelope to reveal that he would spend the next couple of years in Iowa, his second choice.

Although many medical students said they think Match Day is one of the most important events in their careers, Goodin said he does not agree.

"The most important thing going on right now is that the Wildcats win their game Friday € this (Match Day) is not important," he said.

After receiving his envelope and champagne, medical student Thomas Byrne returned to his seat where his fiancee was waiting. A cameraman prepared to film the moment. Byrne asked him to go away. He shared his champagne with his fiancee and they opened the envelope together.

Byrne will do his residency in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, his first choice.

Recalling some of the toughest things about his four years at medical school, he said he still is not used to the lack of sleep, and the hardest part was all the waiting for Match Day. Like many of the other medical students, Byrne said his greatest feeling at the moment was relief.

The last student called was Nancy Sabat, who walked up to the front and began stuffing approximately 100 $1 bills into her pocket.

When she realized the futility of this, she carried the whole punch bowl, her envelope, and her champagne back to her seat as the crowd laughed and applauded.