PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Irish or not, students at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School were feeling lucky on Friday, March 17, as they tore open their red envelopes and got their residency assignments — many at their top-choice programs.

St. Patrick’s Day 2017 coincided with the biggest Match Day yet at Brown, with 115 medical students learning where they’ll begin practicing medicine after they graduate this spring.

At exactly noon Eastern Time, as balloons dropped and music played, students passed their champagne flutes to family members and unfolded their letters. Some whooped and screamed, some cried, and some held their loved ones for a long, long time. For all, their fate was sealed.

This year saw big numbers of Alpert medical students — 42 in all — matching to primary care programs, which include family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics. Emergency medicine drew another dozen students. Obstetrics and gynecology, with 11 matches, and radiology, with nine, rounded out the most popular specialties this year.

Most of the medical school’s Class of 2017 graduates will stay in the Northeast, with 15 training at Brown-affiliated programs in Rhode Island. One student participated in the military match and will complete his residency at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Georgia.

The complete 2017 match list is available here. A Facebook Live video of the big moment, more photos and social media reactions on Storify offer much more coverage, too.