Match Day is a highly anticipated event where graduating medical students find out where they will complete their residency training. The National Residency Matching Program facilitates these matches and acts as a centralized clearing house to help medical students and residency programs find the right fit.
Some have memories of the devastation of not being matched into their top choice program or matched at all. Some remember a week of panic going through the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP). We have these important memories of when and where we were and memories of mostly joy or heartache. However, I think most physicians know it was an important step in their careers.
This year, there were 50,413 applicants, of which 44,853 were certified in a rank list for 41,503 certified residency positions. This represented an increase of about 2% in total residency positions compared with 2023. US-based DO and MD applicants achieved a 92.3% and 93.5% match rate, respectively. US citizen IMGs and nonUS citizen IMGs achieved a 67.0% and 58.5% match rate, respectively.
A point that needs to be pulled out is the fluctuations in primary care. There is an existing shortage of primary care physicians in the US, and the shortfalls are expected to widen to more than 52,000 primary care physicians by 2025, with more significant shortages in rural communities. This year, the Match offered the largest primary care residency positions at 19,423, which accounted for 46.8% of total match positions.
A total of 2,575 positions were not filled and placed in SOAP, including positions in programs that did not participate in the algorithm phase of the process. This was a decrease of 3.1%. The Match data is interesting to slice, dice, and ponder. Still, it leads me to think about more significant questions regarding how we expose medical students to different medical specialties, which may or may not impact their desire to enter a field of medicine. Furthermore, are we training the physician workforce we need for our communities today and tomorrow?
Overall, medical education is a continually evolving field, and stakeholders in healthcare must collaborate to ensure that doctors’ training aligns with our communities’ evolving needs.s find the right fit.
