How did Pathology fare in the 2025 match?

[univlad]

It seems like last year there was only one spot left in pathology for the scramble. How many spots are left for scrambling this year?

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[Pathofourlives]

From what I've heard, there are 3 spots open this year

 

[Alteran]

3 this year. But when it this low, it doesn't mean there wasn't enough applicants. Some programs may be extremely poor so noone applied or that some programs would rather not rank someone.

For example: Derm also has 3 open spots. And 33 total positions. But no one would believe only 30 people applied derm this cycle.

Gen-Surg has 500 open spots but the pdf doesn't indicate whether this is purely categorical vs. categorical + prelim. There was a small debate on that on the reddit but there wasn't a final verdict. I wouldn't be surprised if med students truly didn't want to do gen surg, given its poor salary for the toxic training environment.

You'll have to wait for NRMP to publish a breakdown of the match by the numbers.

 

[DoctorInQuotations]

Did a quick comparison between 2024 and the available 2025 data:

2025:
- US MD: 295 applicants, 263 match (89%)
- US DO: 130 applicants, 104 match (80%)
- US IMG: 136 applicants, 57 match (42%)
- NONUS IMG: 405 applicants, 168 match (41%)
- Total applicants: 1018

2024:
- USMD: 296 applicants, 263 match (89%)
- USDO: 118 applicants, 89 match (75%)
- US IMG: 151 applicants, 61 match (40%)
- NONUS IMG: 422 applicants, 171 match (41%)
- Total applicants: 1047

Stable number of USMD applicants. DOs fared a little better. Drop in total IMG applicants.

Total numbers don't add up completely because I didn't include USMD and USDO Grads, since they aren't available in the 2025 data yet.

 

[KeratinPearls]

i got destroyed.
matched at #12 on rol

pretty devestated right now. tiny prog w/ none of the fellowships i want.

Sorry to hear that. Just work hard and aim to get into a strong fellowship. Hopefully you didn’t want to do dermpath, as it’s nearly impossible to get a spot without having a fellowship in house (but I know one person who did that though).

 

[KeratinPearls]

I wanted dermpath but that's gg now...

How about GI?

GI is definitely doable but I’d recommend you go to the best place you can get in as the best places have a bunch of consult cases from all over the country that you can review and go over with your attendings. So when you go into practice you have seen these difficult cases and can handle them if need be for your group.

Most pathologists can diagnose 95-98% of GI cases. It’s just the 2-5% or so that are difficult and need someone with expertise to make the call.

Cleveland Clinic is a good one because they get a lot of consults.

 

[Alteran]

I see a need for Derm sub-specialization given that a lot of pathologists aren’t really interested in dealing with inflammatory entities. That said, I see a lot of Derm pathologists getting employment only positions for jobs that are 100% Derm. If as a dermpath you want a partnership track position, you have to do more than just Derm.

I however do not see a real need for GI. It’s a common enough specialty that if you went to even a half-way decent program you should be able to handle >95% of the GI specimens you would encounter in routine practice. Perhaps if you wanted to get better at GI transplant or liver pathology, it would be OK. But I think that even a 1 or 2 months elective at a good center would be enough for GI. And the pancreatic neoplasms are, I think, distinct enough that you can tell them apart without too much effort.

 

[SunBakedTrash]

I see a need for Derm sub-specialization given that a lot of pathologists aren’t really interested in dealing with inflammatory entities. That said, I see a lot of Derm pathologists getting employment only positions for jobs that are 100% Derm. If as a dermpath you want a partnership track position, you have to do more than just Derm.

I however do not see a real need for GI. It’s a common enough specialty that if you went to even a half-way decent program you should be able to handle >95% of the GI specimens you would encounter in routine practice. Perhaps if you wanted to get better at GI transplant or liver pathology, it would be OK. But I think that even a 1 or 2 months elective at a good center would be enough for GI. And the pancreatic neoplasms are, I think, distinct enough that you can tell them apart without too much effort.

Sometimes hiring a GI pathologist is driven by GI clinicians. They are occasionally under the impression that their specimens are complex enough to require subspecialty expertise, which is rarely the case. I agree with you 100%.

 

[RE-Tired]

Sometimes hiring a GI pathologist is driven by GI clinicians. They are occasionally under the impression that their specimens are complex enough to require subspecialty expertise, which is rarely the case. I agree with you 100%.

Just an anecdote: Interviewed at a group years ago (wanted to relocate). I had 20 yrs exp with gen surgical path at hospitals with large GI volumes. One of the very young GI pathologists told me: "Only the GI pathologists in the group sign out the GI biopsies., but all of the pathologists sign out GI resections and do GI frozens. The clinicians want an expert to read their biopsies." Soooo hard not to give my opinion on that. Did not relocate there.

 

[mike-sheree]

Y’all need to learn the “art” of calling yourselves G.I. pathologists. Even 15 years ago, it was commonplace. After all, there is no “standard” which must be met and a “ fellowship “ isn’t necessarily what we all consider a REAL fellowship.

 

[MeningiomaAndCoffee]

Which fellowship would you recommend as the current best for PP?

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

The private equity firms buying up GI practices ain't going to give a crap if you did a GI fellowship when they hire you for their slide mill at an old abandoned Party City location.

 

[mike-sheree]

The private equity firms buying up GI practices ain't going to give a crap if you did a GI fellowship when they hire you for their slide mill at an old abandoned Party City location.

But you have to clear your s*** out every Halloween😂

 

[KeratinPearls]

Which fellowship would you recommend as the current best for PP?

Depends on the practice and their needs but every practice should see a lot of GI and derm as they are highest volume in community practice.

 

[KeratinPearls]

The private equity firms buying up GI practices ain't going to give a crap if you did a GI fellowship when they hire you for their slide mill at an old abandoned Party City location.

Yeah but at least you would be able to/might be able to sign out some of the more difficult cases instead of having to send them out if you are the solo pathologist.

I wouldn’t recommend any new grad to take these jobs.

 

[KeratinPearls]

Just an anecdote: Interviewed at a group years ago (wanted to relocate). I had 20 yrs exp with gen surgical path at hospitals with large GI volumes. One of the very young GI pathologists told me: "Only the GI pathologists in the group sign out the GI biopsies., but all of the pathologists sign out GI resections and do GI frozens. The clinicians want an expert to read their biopsies." Soooo hard not to give my opinion on that. Did not relocate there.

lol that guy just wanted those easy tubular adenomas. Stay away from any group that is looking to treat you unfairly young grads.

 

[coroner]

Yeah but at least you would be able to/might be able to sign out some of the more difficult cases instead of having to send them out if you are the solo pathologist.

I wouldn’t recommend any new grad to take these jobs.

If you're an experienced solo path at a GI mill, there should be hardly any difficult cases to send out and you should be able to sign out >95% what comes to you. The key word being 'experienced'. I agree it's not for a new grad, unless they did a GI fellowship. Plenty of new dermpath grads take dermpath only jobs at slide mills.

lol that guy just wanted those easy tubular adenomas. Stay away from any group that is looking to treat you unfairly young grads.

I knew a guy who was a medical director of a PP group of 4. He wanted me to come work for him. I asked how the slides were divvied up and he said, "I am with familiar with each and every one of the partners' strengths and weaknesses over the years, and I distribute the slides every morning accordingly" ...Translation: he took all the colon polyps because that was his "strength" 😆. I passed on the job...

 

[KeratinPearls]

If you're an experienced solo path at a GI mill, there should be hardly any difficult cases to send out and you should be able to sign out >95% what comes to you. The key word being 'experienced'. I agree it's not for a new grad, unless they did a GI fellowship. Plenty of new dermpath grads take dermpath only jobs at slide mills.

Even some GI fellow trained grads at some good programs still lack confidence to sign out alone due to lack of signout experience which is none.

I read that these dermpath only jobs are hard to find nowadays. Anyone can attest to this? Seems like you got to do surgpath + dermpath nowadays?

I knew a guy who was a medical director of a PP group of 4. He wanted me to come work for him. I asked how the slides were divvied up and he said, "I am with familiar with each and every one of the partners' strengths and weaknesses over the years, and I distribute the slides every morning accordingly" ...Translation: he took all the colon polyps because that was his "strength" 😆. I passed on the job...

Yeah especially in RVU productivity setting this will suck and it’s abuse of your fellow work colleagues. It’s just dumping on others and you wonder why people leave groups.

 

[coroner]

Did a quick comparison between 2024 and the available 2025 data:

2025:
- US MD: 295 applicants, 263 match (89%)
- US DO: 130 applicants, 104 match (80%)
- US IMG: 136 applicants, 57 match (42%)
- NONUS IMG: 405 applicants, 168 match (41%)
- Total applicants: 1018

2024:
- USMD: 296 applicants, 263 match (89%)
- USDO: 118 applicants, 89 match (75%)
- US IMG: 151 applicants, 61 match (40%)
- NONUS IMG: 422 applicants, 171 match (41%)
- Total applicants: 1047

Stable number of USMD applicants. DOs fared a little better. Drop in total IMG applicants.

Total numbers don't add up completely because I didn't include USMD and USDO Grads, since they aren't available in the 2025 data yet.

Total percentage of IMG's matching were 40% in 2024 and 38% in 2025. That is also lower. It used to be around 50% when I was in training. This could be because there are more DO schools and MD schools have increased class sizes and thus, those applicants are more likely to match.

 

[Guest8]

Even some GI fellow trained grads at some good programs still lack confidence to sign out alone due to lack of signout experience which is none.

I read that these dermpath only jobs are hard to find nowadays. Anyone can attest to this? Seems like you got to do surgpath + dermpath nowadays?

Yeah especially in RVU productivity setting this will suck and it’s abuse of your fellow work colleagues. It’s just dumping on others and you wonder why people leave groups.

Almost all the dermpath jobs near me are dermpath only. I do both dermpath and surgpath and getting coverage for me for vacations is a big hassle because no dermpaths do surgpath as well.

 

[mike-sheree]

We had an excellent dermpath of some repute who, about 25 years ago, was still doing a bit of surg path because he “wanted to keep his hand in” and felt he was contributing. Then, in consultation with another derm path in the group, signed out a prostate needle core as Gleason 1+1=2.
We dissuaded him from further surg path.

 

[HeyDalaron]

We had an excellent dermpath of some repute who, about 25 years ago, was still doing a bit of surg path because he “wanted to keep his hand in” and felt he was contributing. Then, in consultation with another derm path in the group, signed out a prostate needle core as Gleason 1+1=2.
We dissuaded him from further surg path.

Those who hunt to rabbits catch neither.