The Match Day Checklist: 10 Things to Do Online
You Matched. Before July 1, take one week to set up the online presence that will follow you for your whole career.
Match Day is a blur of envelopes, emails, phone calls, and celebration. You earned every minute of it. Then comes the long list: moving, licensing, onboarding paperwork, and figuring out a new city.
Somewhere on that list should be one more item: your online presence. From the moment you Match, people start searching for you. Your future co-residents, attendings, nurses, and eventually patients. Here are ten things to do the week you Match, most of which take less than an hour.
The Checklist
1. Google yourself three ways
Search your name alone, your name with your specialty, and your name with the city where you Matched. Write down what comes up. That is your starting point.
2. Choose your professional name format
Decide how your name will appear for the rest of your career, including middle initial and the degree you will hold. Then use that exact format on every profile below. Consistency is how Google and AI tools connect your records into one person.
3. Update your LinkedIn headline
Change it to something like "Incoming Internal Medicine Resident, University Hospital." Add your Match to your experience section. It is one of the fastest ways to put accurate information at the top of your search results.
4. Check your NPI record
Most residents need a National Provider Identifier, and many programs ask for it during onboarding. If you do not have one, you can apply for free through the NPPES website. If you do, make sure the name and details are accurate, because many directories pull from it.
5. Claim and update Doximity
Doximity is the professional network most physicians use, and profiles are widely seen by colleagues and recruiters. Claim yours, add your residency program, and upload a professional photo.
6. Look for directory profiles you did not create
Sites like Healthgrades, WebMD, and Vitals build physician profiles from public data. Yours may not exist yet, but once it does, claim it so the information is correct from the start.
7. Secure your domain name
Register your name as a domain now, such as janesmithmd.com or a similar version. It costs little, and once someone else with your name takes it, it is gone. You do not need to build anything yet. Just own it.
8. Get a real professional headshot
Not a cropped Match Day photo. A clean, well lit headshot will be used on your program website, Doximity, LinkedIn, and eventually your practice profile. Use the same photo everywhere so you are instantly recognizable.
9. Clean up personal social media
You are about to become a physician in a public role. Make personal accounts private or review them carefully, and set a personal rule for what you will and will not post during residency.
10. Start a simple personal website
A personal physician website pulls everything above into one place you own: your bio, training, research, and interests. It ranks for your name, it moves with you through every program and job, and it gives Google and AI one trusted source about who you are.
You become a physician on Match Day. Your online presence should start the same week.
Why the Week You Match Matters
The months between Match and July 1 are the calmest window you will have for years. Residency will not leave much time for profiles and websites. Everything you set up now keeps working in the background through intern year, while the physicians who wait will be starting from zero later in their careers.
Want this done for you? See how we build websites for newly Matched doctors, live in as few as 7 days. For the bigger picture, read You Matched. Now What?
Build your presence while the window is open.
Personal physician websites for newly Matched doctors, residents, and fellows. Built to rank for your name and follow you for your whole career, live in as few as 7 days.
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