NRMP Releases 2019 Main Residency Match Report: Record-High 34,727 Positions Filled

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) announces the publication of the Results and Data report for the 2019 Main Residency Match®, the system utilized by U.S. and international medical school students and graduates to obtain residency positions in the United States. The report, which documents matches by specialty and applicant type, applicant preferred specialty, trends in specialty competitiveness, and positions per active applicant, is the most comprehensive data and analysis resource available for the Main Residency Match.

The 2019 Match included a record-high 44,603 registrants and 35,185 positions. When the matching algorithm was processed 33,417 positions were filled, and of the 1,652 positions offered through the Match Week Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program® (SOAP®), 1,310 were filled. Only 458 positions remained unfilled at the conclusion of SOAP, resulting in an overall fill rate of 98.7 percent.

Other Highlights

• The number of first year (PGY-1) positions rose to 32,194, an increase of 1,962 over 2018. This increase was due, in part, to the number of osteopathic programs that joined the Match as a result of the ongoing transition to a single accreditation system for graduate medical education programs. Those osteopathic programs contributed 1,764 positions in 2019 compared to 764 in 2018.
• The 2019 PGY-1 match rate for all applicants was 79.6 percent, the highest since 1993 and 1.3 percentage points higher than in 2018.
• The number of osteopathic applicants who matched to first-year positions totaled 5,076, an increase of 1,305 over 2018; the percent matched increased from 81.7 to 84.6, the highest on record.
• The PGY-1 match rate for U.S. allopathic medical school seniors was 93.9, within the historical 92-94 percent match rate.
• The number of registered non-U.S. citizen international medical graduates (IMGs) declined for the third year in a row and was the lowest since 2005; however, more non-U.S. IMGs matched to PGY-1 positions than any other year in history.
• 47.1 percent of U.S. allopathic seniors matched to their first-choice program, 1.4 percentage points lower than in 2018. Among all other applicant types, the percentage of first-choice matches was 33.1, up 1.5 percentage points from 2018.

“We are pleased with the continued growth and success of the Main Residency Match,” said NRMP President and CEO Mona M. Signer. “The information contained in Results and Data will be useful to medical schools, residency programs, students, and others with an interest in medical workforce trends and the transition young physicians make to residency.”  

View and download the 2019 Results and Data report

View the Match Day press release, Match by the Numbers, and infographic

The Match Process
The Main Residency Match process begins in the fall for applicants, usually during the final year of medical school, when they send applications to the residency programs of their choice. Throughout the fall and early winter, applicants interview with programs. From mid-January to late February, applicants and program directors rank each other in order of preference and submit the preference lists to NRMP, which processes them using a computerized mathematical algorithm to match applicants with programs. Research on the NRMP algorithm was a basis for awarding The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel in 2012.

About NRMP
The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) is a private, non-profit organization established in 1952 at the request of medical students to provide an orderly and fair mechanism for matching the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors. In addition to the annual Main Residency Match® for more than 43,000 registrants, the NRMP conducts Fellowship Matches for more than 60 subspecialties through its Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®).

Contact:
Barry Eisenberg
media@nrmp.org 

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SOURCE National Resident Matching Program