For the eleventh consecutive year, the number of first-year (PGY-1) residency positions offered through the National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) Main Residency Match® increased. A total of 26,392 first-year positions were offered in the 2013 Match. This represents an increase of 2,358 positions compared to last year and an increase of nearly 5,800 positions since 2002.
The number of IMGs who matched to first-year positions increased by 1,425 compared to 2012. Of the 12,683 IMGs who participated in the 2013 Match, 6,311 (49.8%) matched. In the 2012 Match, 4,886 (43.9%) IMGs were matched to first-year positions. (These data include a small number of Fifth Pathway applicants who participated in the 2013 and 2012 Matches.)
Of the 7,568 IMG participants who were not U.S. citizens, 3,601 (47.6%) obtained first-year positions. The number of non-U.S. citizen IMGs who obtained positions in 2013 increased for the second year in a row, this year by 826.
Of the 5,095 U.S. citizen IMG participants, 2,706 (53.1%) were matched to first-year positions, an increase of 604 over last year. This is the tenth consecutive year that there has been an increase in the number of U.S. citizen IMGs matching to first-year positions.
The total number of IMGs who will fill PGY-1 positions for the 2013-2014 academic year may be higher than the number obtaining positions through the 2013 Match. Although the majority of PGY-1 positions in the United States are filled through the Match, in past years a significant number of IMG applicants obtained positions outside of the Match. For example, while 4,626 IMGs obtained PGY-1 positions through the 2011 Match, 6,754 IMGs entered PGY-1 for the 2011-2012 academic year.
For the 2013 Match, the NRMP introduced an “All-In” policy. This policy requires that, to participate in the Match, programs must register and attempt to fill all of their residency positions through the Main Residency Match, or through another national matching plan. Programs must place all positions in the Match or no positions in the Match. This policy is a factor in the higher numbers, compared to last year, of both positions offered through the 2013 Match (up 2,358 or 9.8%) and the number of IMGs participating in the 2013 Match (up 1,549 or 13.9%). It also, presumably, reduced the number of positions available outside of the 2013 Match. For more on the NRMP’s new All-In policy, visit the NRMP website and Ask the Experts: The NRMP’s New “All-In” Policy, a resource of the ECFMG Certificate Holders Office (ECHO).
About the Match
The annual NRMP Match is the system by which applicants are matched with available residency positions in U.S. graduate medical education (GME) programs. Participants submit to the NRMP a list of residency programs, in order of preference. Ranked lists of preferred residency candidates are likewise submitted by U.S. GME programs with available positions. The matching of applicants to available positions is performed by computer algorithm. The Match results announced in March of each year are for GME programs that typically begin the following July.
Additional Resources on the Match and Match Results
The preceding data are taken from the Advance Data Tables for the 2013 Main Residency Match compiled by the NRMP. These tables provide detailed information on the positions offered and filled by the Match in 2013 and prior years. To access these tables, or to obtain further information on the NRMP, visit www.nrmp.org.
The June issue of Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, usually offers an analysis of Match results from the preceding March. For more information, visit your medical school’s library or www.academicmedicine.org.
Late each year, JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association traditionally publishes an in-depth analysis of graduate medical education in the United States. This analysis includes the number of IMGs entering and continuing in U.S. GME programs and a breakdown of IMG resident physicians by specialty and subspecialty. Visit your medical school’s library or http://jama.ama-assn.org.
