Each year on Match Day, thousands of medical school students and graduates discover where they will receive their specialty training. The matching process, overseen by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), is determined by an algorithm that pairs eligible applicants with available residency training positions. With a record 50,413 applicants for 41,503 PGY-1 and PGY-2 spots, Match Day 2024 – March 15th – was the largest in the history of the Match.
This news was welcomed not just by the matched participants, who will now take the next step in their training, but also by those concerned about physician shortages in the United States. According to the NRMP press release about the 2024 Match Day, 46.8% of those matched were in primary care specialties. However, while the overall number of matches in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine-Pediatrics, and Pediatrics remained high, at 92.8%, there were an unprecedented 252 unfilled positions in Pediatrics.
In contrast, Emergency Medicine, which has had record numbers of unfilled spots for the past two years, began to rebound in the 2024 Match. With a 95.5% fill rate, only 135 positions remain unfilled, compared to last year’s 554. Although still not at pre-pandemic levels, this number should be a positive sign that the impact of the pandemic, which was thought to affect applicants’ interest in emergency medicine, might be waning.
Graduates of US programs, both allopathic and osteopathic, remained the highest matching group of new residents. A positive sign for osteopathic graduates was a record match rate (92.3%), creeping ever closer to the match rate of US allopathic seniors (93.5%). The number of matches for US graduates of international medical schools (IMGs) went down slightly, from its record high of 67.6% last year to just 67% this year. Meanwhile, non-US citizen IMGs matched at 58.5%, a slight decrease from 2023. Specialties with the highest percentage of US citizen and non-US citizen IMGs were Family Medicine (31.8%), Neurology (28.3%), Pathology (Anatomic and Clinical, 37.4%), and Internal Medicine (38.6%).
In addition to matching trainees, the NRMP Match also indicates the competitiveness of certain specialties based on which ones were completely filled, especially with US MD and DO seniors. The specialties that filled the most positions with US seniors were Internal Medicine/Emergency Medicine (96.8%), Thoracic Surgery (95.8%), Otolaryngology (95.8%), Internal Medicine/Pediatrics (94.6%), Orthopedic Surgery (92.1%), Interventional Radiology – Integrated (91.4%), and Obstetrics and Gynecology (90.7%). Also of note is that OB/GYN achieved a 99.6% overall fill rate in this year’s match.
NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, MBA, BSN, praised the applicants in this year’s match: “We are especially proud of applicants this year, many of whom began medical school the fall before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and had to quickly adapt to and thrive in a radically changed academic and training landscape. Their experiences and success speak to a remarkable resilience and dedication they will carry with them into practice.”
Accepted would also like to extend a hearty congratulations to everyone who matched, and we wish you continued good fortune in your future training. For more information about this year’s Match, please visit the NRMP website.
This article was originally posted on blog.accepted.com.
This news was welcomed not just by the matched participants, who will now take the next step in their training, but also by those concerned about physician shortages in the United States. According to the NRMP press release about the 2024 Match Day, 46.8% of those matched were in primary care specialties. However, while the overall number of matches in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine-Pediatrics, and Pediatrics remained high, at 92.8%, there were an unprecedented 252 unfilled positions in Pediatrics.
In contrast, Emergency Medicine, which has had record numbers of unfilled spots for the past two years, began to rebound in the 2024 Match. With a 95.5% fill rate, only 135 positions remain unfilled, compared to last year’s 554. Although still not at pre-pandemic levels, this number should be a positive sign that the impact of the pandemic, which was thought to affect applicants’ interest in emergency medicine, might be waning.
Graduates of US programs, both allopathic and osteopathic, remained the highest matching group of new residents. A positive sign for osteopathic graduates was a record match rate (92.3%), creeping ever closer to the match rate of US allopathic seniors (93.5%). The number of matches for US graduates of international medical schools (IMGs) went down slightly, from its record high of 67.6% last year to just 67% this year. Meanwhile, non-US citizen IMGs matched at 58.5%, a slight decrease from 2023. Specialties with the highest percentage of US citizen and non-US citizen IMGs were Family Medicine (31.8%), Neurology (28.3%), Pathology (Anatomic and Clinical, 37.4%), and Internal Medicine (38.6%).
In addition to matching trainees, the NRMP Match also indicates the competitiveness of certain specialties based on which ones were completely filled, especially with US MD and DO seniors. The specialties that filled the most positions with US seniors were Internal Medicine/Emergency Medicine (96.8%), Thoracic Surgery (95.8%), Otolaryngology (95.8%), Internal Medicine/Pediatrics (94.6%), Orthopedic Surgery (92.1%), Interventional Radiology – Integrated (91.4%), and Obstetrics and Gynecology (90.7%). Also of note is that OB/GYN achieved a 99.6% overall fill rate in this year’s match.
NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, MBA, BSN, praised the applicants in this year’s match: “We are especially proud of applicants this year, many of whom began medical school the fall before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and had to quickly adapt to and thrive in a radically changed academic and training landscape. Their experiences and success speak to a remarkable resilience and dedication they will carry with them into practice.”
Accepted would also like to extend a hearty congratulations to everyone who matched, and we wish you continued good fortune in your future training. For more information about this year’s Match, please visit the NRMP website.
This article was originally posted on blog.accepted.com.
