Tears, cheers, and whoops of joy emerged from medicals students, their friends, and their families at the University of Florida College of Medicine Match Day Friday.

The ceremony was more akin to a love fest than an academic ceremony, as the soon-to-be doctors thanked their loved ones, from spouses and partners to fiancées, siblings, parents, faculty, and advisers. Tears flowed. Flowers were delivered. Who knew doctors could be so emotional?

“I’m just so grateful,” said Iverson Williams, who matched in general surgery at the University of Florida, where he also completed his undergraduate degree. His parents attended the Match Day ceremony with him and were equally excited.

“Our hearts are about to burst,” said his mother, Olga Williams. “And we’re so glad he’ll still be just 5 hours away.”

Williams and her husband, Iver, live in Miami.

Friday’s ceremony for the UF medical students took place not in the medical college but at a suite at the famed “Swamp,” officially Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the huge football stadium that is home to the UF Gators, who have snagged several national championships. “The Swamp” is directly across the street from its equally famed “O’Dome,” the home court for its National Championship basketball team.

But Friday was all about academic achievement and next training steps for the almost-doctors. While basketball fans across the country — and at UF — may obsess over March Madness, the medical school Gators were feeling a happiness that, for them, rivaled the thrills of last April’s national basketball championship.

“I’m elated,” said Marco Anthony Foreman, who matched in orthopedic surgery at the University of South Florida.

Michaela Rechdan, from Orlando, matched at the University of Arizona dermatology. She said she had been ready to go anywhere but was thrilled to match at her first choice.

“I’m so excited,” said Rechdan. “It’s just wild. I fell in love with them. I had no idea that they loved me as well as I loved them.”

That’s understandable, given the Match process. After rank lists were certified in early March, communication between the residency programs and the applicants was prohibited.

But that was just the final step of a long process.

The process through the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) had begun officially in January, with a registration deadline of January 30; applications and interviews had begun months earlier. Rank order listing began in February and ended March 4. Then, on March 16, students learned whether they matched, just not where. Finally, today, they learned where they matched — and where they begin their careers as doctors and continue their medical education as residents.

In her opening remarks to the students, Shelley Collins, MD, senior associate dean for education at UF College of Medicine, recognized the hurdles the students had experienced, as well as the challenges of going through the match process. The final step, ranking, marks the final step until Match Day. But the process of match-making is out of their hands past that point; all they can do from March 4 forward is wait.

“We know that for most people, being out of control is hard,” Collins said. “It is literally excruciating for medical students” during Match.

Collins also prepared the soon-to-be doctors for disappointment. Not all were going to match at their first choices, she said.

“When you open your envelope today, some of you will be ecstatic,” she said. “Some will be disappointed.”

But she reminded them that their training prepares them to respond to challenges and also to remember what they accomplished.

“The prize is your medical degree,” she said, reminding them of graduation on May 16.

She also reminded them that they will succeed wherever they go. And, she reminded them to always be kind to everyone they work with, and to “be nice to the nurses. Be really, really nice to the nurses.”

Similar Match Day celebrations were happening at medical schools all over the country. The NRMP said in a press release Friday that this year’s match was the largest. More than 53,000 applicants were registered for the NRMP Match, the organization said. Of those, 48,050 certified a rank order list, the last step in the applicant process. More than 93% of residency positions nationwide were filled, said the NRMP.

All of UF’s 144 medical students matched, a UF medical school spokespeople said, in 21 specialties. The students will be going residency programs in 27 different states.

The top specialties UF placed were internal medicine, anesthesiology, pediatrics, orthopedic surgery, and emergency medicine, according to an analysis by the school.

Matches are typically announced at noon in ceremonies at medical schools across the country.

The ceremonies have grown over the years to include parents, grandparents, children, and students’ support groups. One student even had her 2-month old daughter with her. First-year medical students at UF even held a “Match Watch” party earlier in the day.

UF’s ceremony allowed students the option of opening an envelope with their Match results as the clock struck noon — or opening the envelope onstage in front of the crowd. Almost all chose to open their envelopes as soon as they got them. The mix of anxiety and joy resulted in hugs, tears, and some shock.

Claire Overholt of Tallahassee matched into one of the most competitive specialties — dermatology — at her number one choice, Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.

“I’m so relieved,” Overholt said. “I was hoping so much for this.”

Regardless of whether they opened their envelopes at noon or on the stage, all of the students were allowed time on the stage to share their matches and to recognize their families and support teams.

As the students took the stage, one by one, almost all effusively thanked their parents and support systems and the University of Florida. Many thanked God. Many told stories of hurdles they had overcome or that their parents had overcome to help them get into medical school and, soon, to graduate.

“I’m so grateful to the entire education system and to the University of Florida,” said Juliana Pena, who matched in pediatrics. Her family moved to the US from Colombia when she was 12, she said, with one suitcase and $1000.

“I couldn’t have done it without my family,” Pena said.

Alan Xu’s parents were living abroad while he was in medical school, but they had just arrived from Shanghai for Match Day. He was thrilled they were able to attend.

“I’m just so happy, I’m just grateful,” Xu said.

Cecilia Varga said she has wanted to be a doctor since childhood. Varga has a heart condition and has had 10 heart procedures, including one just 2 months ago, she said. The great care she has received since a childhood led her to want to be a doctor, she said.

“It’s a dream for me, a calling,” said Varga, who is going to the Baylor for pediatrics.

Danny Dang of Tampa was one of the brave ones who waited to open his envelope onstage. He waited more than hour and a half to learn his good news.

As he opened his envelope, he smiled and told the crowd: “I’m stayin’ here, baby!”

After he placed a pin in the map to show where he was going, he said he wasn’t too surprised — just elated.

“I believed it would happen, I put faith in the process, and I’m so happy,” Dang said.