Match Rates Climb, Positions Rise in 2022 Cycle

In an upswing from last year, match rates increased in the 2022 cycle for all applicants, the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) reported on Match Day.

This cycle’s Match also offered more certified residency slots and first-year positions (PGY-1) than ever this year — 39,205 and 36,277, respectively — up from last year’s declines resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. MD seniors had a 92.9% match rate in the 2022 cycle. International medical graduates (IMGs) matched at a rate of 61.4% among U.S. citizens and 58.1% among non-U.S. citizens.

“The NRMP is honored to have delivered another strong Match for the many applicants pursuing their dreams of becoming physicians,” said Donna Lamb, DHSc, MBA, BSN, president and CEO of the NRMP, in a press release. “The 2022 Match realized many significant milestones including a record number of U.S. MD and U.S. DO senior applicants and the largest number of total and first-year positions offered.”

Lamb added that while all applicants saw match rate improvements from the 2021 cycle, DO applicants had a 91.3% match rate — “the highest on record for that group of applicants, and a rate on par with the match rate achieved for U.S. MD seniors.”

The proportion of available residency spots filled, however, declined slightly. Approximately 94.2% of total residency slots and 93.9% of PGY-1 positions were filled in the 2022 Match, both slight decreases of less than 1% compared with last year.

The number of applicants registered for the Match declined by 2.1% since 2021, with 47,675 candidates participating in this year’s cycle.

Both U.S. MD and DO applicants increased in number (78 and 234, respectively). However, there were 1,433 fewer IMGs who registered for the match this year. The NRMP stated that “sustained concerns about travel regulations and possible variant strain outbreaks related to the COVID-19 pandemic could explain these lower participation rates.”

There were more primary care positions in the 2022 Match cycle, with these specialties offering the largest number of open positions in Match history. Half of all PGY-1 positions were in primary care specialties, up 2.7% from 2021.

Of all primary care positions, 94.4% were filled, and 64.6% were filled by a combination of MD and DO seniors. The percentage of primary care positions filled declined by about 0.7% since last year.

Growth in the number of overall PGY-1 positions was most apparent in emergency medicine, family medicine, psychiatry, and internal medicine. However, all of these specialties saw a decline in the number of available positions filled. Family medicine, for example, saw a 2.7% reduction in positions filled compared to last year.

Emergency medicine also saw a 7% decline in positions filled this cycle, with 219 remaining residency slots. The NRMP stated that the number of unfilled positions was “driven in part by the decreased number of ranks submitted by U.S. MD and DO seniors for Emergency Medicine” and may reflect “changing applicant interests or projections about workforce opportunities post residency.”

Specialties with 30 positions or more that filled all available positions were emergency medicine, pediatrics, interventional radiology, neurological surgery, orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology, physical medicine & rehab, plastic surgery, diagnostic radiology, thoracic surgery, and vascular surgery.

Additionally, there were 2,262 unfilled positions after the matching algorithm was processed this year — 335 more unfilled positions than 2021. Applicants who did not match had the opportunity to participate in the NRMP’s Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) over the past week, with many applicants taking to social media to normalize the experience of not matching.