Andrew Jensen received the email three minutes before 11 a.m.

His fiance Annie Crea gasped in joy: Yeah!

The email contained life-changing information about Jensens future: Where he will spend the next four years in residency as a new medical doctor. Jensen was just one of 40,000 new doctors learning his future on Friday, simultaneously across the country. The event, called Match Day, reveals which institution these doctors are assigned to for their residencies, a commitment that can last as long as seven years.

Jensen, a 26-year-old medical student at Baylor College of Medicine, has matched to stay at Baylor for the duration of his residency in anesthesiology. This means he can remain near his parents who live in Sugar Land, in the same state as Crea, who attends law school in Austin.

I matched with Baylor, my No. 1 choice. This is perfect, I get to stay home, Jensen said as he sat in his parents dining room Friday. Im very relieved. This is exactly what I wanted, and definitely my goal from the beginning.

Pandemic-induced social distance requirements changed Baylors annual ceremony, as well as how students like Jensen feel about entering the health care field at this uncertain point in history. Every new doctors residency begins July 1.

If anything, Jenses said he feels readier to help tackle COVID-19.

Everyone is excited and thrilled about how far theyve come, but were also realizing what were getting into, he said. It goes back to the root of why we got into medicine. We want to do the best we can to help our fellow people. Theres an air of seriousness about what were about to get into, but we are ready for it and prepared.

The medical students want to be part of solutions, said Dr. Joseph Kass Baylors associate dean of student affairs.

Theyre sad this is happening to the world, he said. People who have chosen to join this profession are not scared about the disease from a normal perspective. Theyre more frustrated they cant be part of the solution when people are suffering and the (health care) system is getting overloaded.

Many medical schools, including Baylor, host a celebration for the graduating class. It typically starts with brunch, followed by speeches and, finally, a ceremonial envelope-opening.

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The ceremony had to be different this year though, due to of COVID-19, the new coronavirus.

The school hosted a virtual Match Day with pre-recorded speeches by Dr. Paul Klotman, president of the college, Dr. Alicia Monroe, provost, Dr. Jennifer Christner, dean, and Kass.

Jensen, the class president, also offered words of encouragement to his classmates in the video.

(We are) united by the unique and unforeseen circumstances that happened with our class such as Hurricane Harvey, and this coronavirus worldwide pandemic, he said. Today is the day we find the results of all that hard work. We have worked so hard to get to this point, and that should absolutely not go unnoticed.

In the days since campus was cleared for safety, Kass said hes received emails from students asking on what they can do to help from home: tutoring, volunteering, grocery shopping for faculty members or residents who cant go home.

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Some come from engineering backgrounds, and all are dynamic, solution-oriented and compassionate, he said.

Im very proud, he said of the 194 students in the graduating class, 191 of whom applied for the match program. Seventy-one matched with Texas programs; 33 with with Baylor.

More than half of the class will become primary care residents, like internists, family doctors and pediatric doctors. The other half chose specialties.

Jensen shadowed doctors in surgical operating rooms between his graduation from University of Notre Dame in 2016 and the start of medical school. It was there he realized he wanted to be a part of a team with one common goal: get the patient through the procedure as safely as possible.

People ask in surgery about going to sleep and not waking up, Jensen said. You are giving someone such power and responsibility over your own body. An anesthesiologist has to acquire trust immediately when they meet someone, so having that skill and ability is fascinating.

Kass remembers opening his Match Day envelope on the campus of Baylors medical school in 2001. He was 33 a non-traditional student after he decided to switch careers.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Match Day 2019 at Baylor College of Medicine

He also matched with Baylor and was able to stay in Houston where he had put down roots with his wife and daughter who was a toddler at the time. Their extended family lived nearby as well, which made the match an even better one.

Its a much bigger deal now; parents and families fly in. In some ways, its a bigger deal than graduation because you find out where youre going to be for the next seven years, Kass said. In college, you get multiple choices. With this, you get assigned to the place; theres no A, B or C.

Not all residencies are the same, but a typical one lasts four to seven years. Some doctors decide to go into their own practice afterward, and some pursue fellowships. But all have M.D. after their name, Kass said.

Each year, he shares a poem for the graduates that he writes based on his knowledge and time spent getting to know them. This years was slightly different: he read the poem virtually rather than on stage.

Lets imagine were in that courtyard, sitting with your families, faculty, mentors and students and everybody here who cheers you guys on, he began. With that visual image, lets get started.

julie.garcia@chron.com

Twitter.com/reporterjulie

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Coronavirus or not, these new doctors are matched and ready to work - Houston Chronicle