Match Day 2017 Sets Record Number of Offered Residency Positions

The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) set a new record with highest number of students paired with resident positions in history this year. Match Day is the nerve-wracking and exciting day in March when fourth-year med students find out where they will spend the next three to seven years training in their specialty.

This year, 35,969 U.S. and international medical students applied for 31,757 residencies across the country. The number of positions filled increased by three percent — from 29,572 in 2016 to 30,478.

According to Medscape, the jump in applicants this year is due to unexpectedly high numbers of allopathic and osteopathic students applying. Although the figures aren’t significantly steep, 362 more U.S. allopathic students applied this year than in 2016, and an unprecedented 5,000 osteopathic medicine students submitted their residency choices. Ninety-four percent of allopathic students and 81.7 percent of osteopathic students were admitted into a residency program, the highest acceptance rate for both specialties in recent history.

Emergency medicine, psychiatry, internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics offered more positions to students this year than last year. Emergency medicine filled 2,041 more first-year positions than in 2016. According to the NRMP, the number of emergency medicine positions has skyrocketed 23 percent since 2012.

The NRMP saw a subtle decrease in international student submissions. From 7,460 in 2016 to 7,284 this year. "We do not know whether the declining number of non-US IMGs resulted from the executive order [by President Trump] because NRMP does not collect citizenship information during the Match registration process," said NRMP president and CEO Mona M. Signer.