The 2023 Main Residency Match saw an all-time high 37,690 matches to PGY-1 and PGY-2 positions.
WASHINGTON, May 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP) has published its 2023 Main Residency Match Results and Data report, the comprehensive data resource for the Main Residency Match and its participants. The report documents matches by specialty and applicant type, trends in applicant match rates, applicant preferred specialty, and the Match Week Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program® (SOAP®).
“Once the matching algorithm was processed and SOAP concluded, the 2023 Main Residency Match had an overall position fill rate of 99.1%, which is incredibly successful and consistent with prior years,” said NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, MBA, BSN. “We saw many records and all-time highs across positions, programs, and applicants, including the 20th consecutive year that PGY-1 positions increased and the highest number of active applicants ever. We are so pleased that The Match continues to provide consistent and reliable results and that the Match data offers value to the community.”
Program and Position Highlights. The number of positions placed in the Main Residency Match continues to grow and in 2023 included an all-time high 40,375 certified positions, an increase of 1,170 positions compared to the 2022 Match. In the last five years, the number of post graduate year one (PGY-1) and post graduate year two (PGY-2) positions increased by 14.7 percent (5,146 positions). The Match continues to be successful in filling the increased number of positions. There were 37,690 positions filled, which also was an all-time high and an increase of 747 (2.0 percent) over last year.
Of the total positions offered, 37,425 were PGY-1 positions, also a record high and the 20th consecutive annual increase in the number of PGY-1 positions offered in the Main Residency Match. There were 1,148 more PGY-1 positions than last year, which is a 3.2 percentage point increase, and almost half of the increase was attributable to growth in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Psychiatry. There were 5,231 more PGY-1 positions over 2019, which is a 16.2 percentage point increase over the five-year timespan.
In the 2023 Main Residency Match, there were a total of 27,184 active U.S. seniors (MD and DO seniors combined). When one compares the number of PGY-1 positions to the number of U.S. MD and DO seniors, there were 10,241 more PGY-1 positions than U.S. seniors combined.
Primary Care. There were a record number 18,312 categorical primary care positions offered in the 2023 Main Residency Match. Categorical positions are PGY-1 positions that provide the full training required for board certification in a specialty. Primary care also had high fill rates (94.2 percent), although fill rates decreased by 0.1 percentage points this year and only 38.1 percent of primary care categorical positions were filled by U.S. MD seniors. There were 571 more primary care positions than the 2022 Match, an increase of 3.2 percentage points over last year and an increase of 17.0 percentage points over the last five years.
Applicant Highlights. The Match had 48,156 total registrants, 481 more applicants than the 2022 Main Residency Match and the second highest in the history of the Match. The Match included an all-time high 42,952 active applicants, those who submitted certified rank order lists of programs, an increase of 403 applicants compared to last year. The 42,952 active applicants vied for 37,425 PGY-1 positions and 2,950 PGY-2 positions. Overall, 81.1 percent of active applicants matched to a PGY-1 position, which is a 1.0 percentage point increase over last year. Applicant highlights in the 2023 Match include:
- Of the U.S. MD seniors who matched, 47.7 percent matched to their first-choice programs, a decrease of 0.8 percentage points from 2022, and 73.4 percent matched to one of their top three choices, a decrease of 1.1 percentage points from 2022.
- The number of U.S. DO seniors participating in the Match has continued to grow. This year, 7,436 U.S. DO seniors submitted a rank order list of programs, which is an all-time high and 133 more than last year. Of the U.S. DO seniors who matched, 46.2 percent matched to their first-choice programs, a decrease of 1.5 percentage points from 2022, and 74.5 percent matched to one of their top three choices, a decrease of 2.3 percentage points from 2022.
- There were 17,382 U.S. and non-U.S. international medical graduates (IMGs) who registered for the Match, 680 more than last year. Of the 4,963 U.S. IMGs who submitted a rank order list of programs, 3,356 matched to a PGY-1 position for a match rate of 67.6 percent. Of the 8,469 non-U.S. IMGs who submitted a rank order list of programs, 5,032 matched to a PGY-1 position for a match rate of 59.4 percent.
Notable Trends.
- The ratio of PGY-1 positions per active U.S. MD senior was 1.90, the highest since 1976. The ratio of PGY-1 position per active U.S. DO senior was 5.03. Collectively, U.S. and non-U.S. IMGs accounted for nearly a third of all active applicants and the ratio of PGY-1 position per IMG was 2.79.
- The number of Emergency Medicine positions has grown every year since 1983 when the specialty joined the Match. This year, 3,010 positions were offered, an increase of 308 positions compared to last year. Of the 3,010 positions offered, 2,456 positions filled, which resulted in an 81.6 percent match rate, a decrease of 10.9 percentage points over last year. Of the total positions offered, 42.3 percent were filled by U.S. MD seniors, a decrease of 12.2 percentage points over last year, 24.3 percent were filled by U.S. DO seniors, and 11.6 percent were filled by IMGs.
- Obstetrics and Gynecology had another strong Match, even with the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision approaching. Obstetrics and Gynecology has filled over 99 percent of their positions every year for the past five years. The trend of U.S. MD seniors choosing Obstetrics and Gynecology on their rank order list has been consistent over the past five years except for 2022, and the state position on abortion did not seem to influence the ranking of U.S. MD senior applicants when creating their rank order lists.
SOAP Results. After the matching algorithm was processed, 2,685 positions out of 40,375 certified positions were unfilled. Of the 2,658 positions offered through SOAP, 2,431 positions were accepted during one of the four SOAP offer rounds. Only 227 SOAP-offered positions from 133 SOAP-participating programs remained unfilled after SOAP, resulting in an overall position fill rate of 99.1 percent once the matching algorithm was processed and SOAP concluded.
View and download the 2023 Main Residency Match Results and Data report.
View the 2023 Main Residency Match and SOAP results webinar.
The Main Match Process
For applicants, the Main Residency Match process begins in the fall during the final year of medical school, when they apply to the residency programs of their choice. Throughout the fall and early winter, applicants interview with programs. From February to early March, applicants and program directors rank each other in order of true preference and submit the rank order 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 48,000 registrants, the NRMP also conducts Fellowship Matches for more than 70 subspecialties through its Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®).
To schedule an interview with NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, contact [email protected].
SOURCE National Resident Matching Program
