U.S. Medical Students Learn 2014 National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) Main Residency Match Day Results in Ceremonies Today
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) March 21, 2014 -- Embargoed for release until 1:00 PM EDT, March 21, 2014
The National Resident Matching Program®(NRMP®) 2014 Main Residency Match® results released today show that 16,399 U.S. allopathic medical school seniors have matched to first-year residency positions. U.S. seniors around the country will celebrate these results at Match Day ceremonies being held today. Match Day is an annual rite of passage for U.S. medical school students and other applicants, a day when they learn at which U.S. residency programs they will train for the next three to seven years.
This year, the Match offered 29,671 first- and second-year positions, 500 more than in 2013 and an all-time high. More than half of the additional positions were in the primary care specialties of Internal Medicine and Family Medicine. According to NRMP Executive Director Mona M. Signer, the 2014 numbers continue a steady trend of position growth. “In the past five years alone we’ve seen an increase of more than 4,000 positions, and more than half of those are in Internal Medicine and Family Medicine,” Signer said.
Although the total number of registrants increased in 2014, the number of U.S. seniors declined. “Eighty-nine fewer seniors registered for the Match and 113 fewer submitted rank order lists of programs. That’s a surprise,” said Signer. She added, “The good news is that the number of U.S. seniors choosing primary care continued to increase modestly, with 3,167 seniors matching in Internal Medicine and 1,398 in Family Medicine. An additional 1,818 seniors matched in Pediatrics, 19 fewer than last year.”
Match Rates for Applicant Groups
This year’s Match included 40,394 registrants, 59 more than last year; however, 85 fewer applicants submitted rank order lists of programs. With more positions and fewer applicants competing for them, match rates rose for all key applicant groups. The overall match rate to first-year positions was 75 percent, the highest since 2006. The match rate for U.S. seniors was 94.4 percent, 0.7 percentage points higher than last year. Of the applicants who matched, 54 percent of U.S. seniors and almost 50 percent of all other applicants matched to their first choice for training.
Prior-year graduates of U.S. allopathic medical schools, students and graduates of osteopathic (D.O. degree) schools, and students and graduates of international medical schools represent the other key applicant groups who submitted rank order lists of programs:
• 1,662 previous graduates of U.S. allopathic medical schools, an increase of 175 over last year; their match rate of 48.0 percent rose 7.2 percentage points
• 2,738 osteopathic students/graduates, an increase of 61 over last year; their match rate of 77.7 percent was 2.9 percentage points higher than last year
• 5,133 U.S. citizen students/graduates of international medical schools, 38 more than last year; their match rate of 53.0 percent was an increase of 0.2 percentage points
• 7,334 non-U.S. citizen students/graduates of international medical schools, 234 fewer than last year; their match rate of 49.5 percent was an increase of 2.5 percentage points
Primary Care Specialty Trends and Position Fill Rates
With the total number of positions reaching an all-time high, increases were noted in the number of primary care programs and positions offered in the Match:
• Internal Medicine programs offered 6,524 positions, 247 more than in 2013; 99.1 percent of positions filled, and 48.5 percent filled with U.S. seniors
• Family Medicine programs offered 3,109 positions, 72 more than in 2013; 95.8 percent of positions filled, and 45 percent filled with U.S. seniors
• Pediatrics programs offered 2,640 positions, 24 more than last year; 99.5 percent of positions filled, and almost 70 percent filled with U.S. seniors
The most competitive specialties were Neurological Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Plastic Surgery, and Radiation-Oncology, specialties that offered at least 50 positions in the Match and filled at least 90 percent with U.S. seniors.
Applicants who did not match to a residency position participate in the NRMP Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP). During SOAP, the NRMP makes available the locations of unfilled positions so that unmatched applicants can apply for them using the AAMC Electronic Residency Application Service® (ERAS). This year, 1,075 of the 1,181 unfilled positions were offered during SOAP.
Couples in the Match
The NRMP allows any two applicants to participate in the Match as a couple. Participants who enter the Match as a couple agree to have their rank order lists of preferred residency programs linked to each other so they can try to match to a pair of programs that suits their needs. This year, 925 couples participated in the Match and 843 of them matched to their residency program preferences.
Match Day Ceremonies
Match Day ceremonies begin at 12:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, March 21, at U.S medical schools. Contact your local medical school for details and photographs or videos from their Match Day ceremonies.
The NRMP Match
The Match uses a computerized mathematical algorithm to align the preferences of applicants with the preferences of residency program directors in order to fill training positions available at U.S. teaching hospitals. 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 Main Residency Match, the NRMP conducts Fellowship Matches for more than 50 subspecialties through its Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®). For more information, contact NRMP at 1-866-653-NRMP (6767) or visit http://www.nrmp.org. For interviews, please email cherbert(at)nrmp(dot)org.
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Claire Herbert, National Resident Matching Program, http://www.nrmp.org/, +1 (202) 552-1234, [email protected]
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