Charlotte DeLeo, a Pittsfield native and fourth-year student at the University of Massachusetts Medical School smiles during Match Day with her classmate A.J. Piper, also of Pittsfield. Held each third Friday of March, it's the day that medical students across the country get matched with their residency institution, marking the start of their professional experience. (Photo Courtesy of Charlotte DeLeo)

PITTSFIELD In a crowded room at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Charlotte DeLeo joined her 120 other classmates in clutching sealed white paper envelopes, counting down with their loved ones to noon.

When the moment came, all together the students tore open the letters that would reveal their destinies as to where they'll begin their residencies their careers as medical doctors. For these students the third Friday of March, also known as national Match Day, is one of the biggest days in their lives. Through interviews and rankings both by students and institutions, students across the country are algorithmically assigned their placements.

On July 1, DeLeo will begin her practice at her first-choice placement, UMass Memorial Medical Center.

"Everyone was nervous but excited. You could stay here in Massachusetts, or you could end up in California," DeLeo told The Eagle by phone on Friday afternoon after opening her letter.

"It was so emotional, probably as big as graduation," said Charlotte's mother, Marka DeLeo, who attended the ceremony with Charlotte's paternal grandmother and advocate, Thelma DeLeo, and Charlotte's boyfriend, Scott Walrath.

"For me and the other students here from the Berkshires and other places, it's the culmination of a lot of work, and a revelation of how people have found their little niches within medicine," Charlotte said.

"It was an emotional but very happy event. Most people got their first or second choices, and I think were really satisfied where they ended up," she said.

For the DeLeo family, it was a particularly prideful day. Both Charlotte's older brother, Dr. Michael DeLeo, currently a University of Pennsylvania-based radiologist, and her father, longtime Berkshire oncologist Dr. Michael J. DeLeo of Berkshire Hematology Oncology, are both alumni of UMass Medical School (UMMS) classes of 2009 and 1980, respectively.

Charlotte DeLeo also is related to a host of other physicians on both her paternal and maternal side.

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Berkshire medical students get matched with hospitals during Match Day