Why are there unfilled residency slots?

[lawmed]

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According to the NRMP there were some unfilled residency slots in the U.S. as a result of the 2011 match.

Why is this? Do programs decide they would rather go without anybody rather than take who applied in a given year (FMGs)?

 

[colbgw02]

Yeah, in part.

Also, it's not as simple X number of applicants > Y number of slots. If you want to be a general surgeon, don't match, and can't scramble, you're not necessarily going to just give up and take an unfilled family medicine position.

 

[Raryn]

Post-scramble, there's almost 0 unfilled spots, the vast majority of which were prelim PGY1 spots without an advanced residency attached (I think >60% were prelim surgical years).

 

[mlw03]

I would think it's partly that bad residency programs/positions, struggle to fill (even with bad candidates). That's hopefully due in part to sites like SDN that allow people to voice how bad particular places are. So if you have a prelim medicine or surgery year that absolutely abuses their interns, maybe some folks figure they'd rather take their chances doing research or nothing for a year rather than risk such a negative experience.