2023 marked the largest match year in the National Resident Matching Program's 70-year history with 42,952 applicants, according to a March 17 news release.
Applicant match rates increased across nearly all categories, but there were some declines in Match Day numbers as well — specifically, the number of U.S. MD seniors registered for the match decreased.
Here are five additional key takeaways from other Match Day statistics:
- This year there was a 3 percent increase — an additional 1,170 — in the number of certified positions available. In total, this accounted for 40,375 certified positions, which is the largest number in Match Day history.
- Amid the shortage of primary care physicians nationwide, this year's match actually saw an increase of primary care positions — an additional 571 from 2022. Primary care positions were filled at a rate of 94.2 percent this year.
- Specialties that filled all available positions for 2023 include orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, and radiology-diagnostic and thoracic surgery.
- Specialties with the greatest increase in positions filled by U.S. MD seniors registered for the match were anesthesiology, child neurology, interventional radiology, neurology, pathology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, plastic surgery, psychiatry, radiology-diagnostic, transitional year and vascular surgery.
- There were 2,685 positions that went unfilled, which is an increase of 18.7 percent from 2022. The NRMP stated this could be "driven in part by the decreased number of U.S. MD and U.S. DO seniors who submitted ranks for the specialty, could reflect changing applicant interests or projections about workforce opportunities post residency."