Match Day 2025 has come and gone with the largest-ever total of applicants and positions as well as upticks in primary care and emergency medicine.
The 73-year-old National Resident Matching Program’s (NRMP’s) breakdown of the annual event also outlined ongoing interest in obstetrics and gynecology—despite shifting reproductive care policies in the wake of the Dobbs decision—and a jump in participation among non-U.S. citizen international medical graduates.
Applicants learned of their matches at 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday.
All told, there were 52,498 total applicants, up 4.1% over last year, competing for 43,237 positions, up 4.2%.
There were 47,208 applicants who certified a rank order list of program preferences, up 5.3% from last year. Among these, 79.8%, or 37,667 applicants, matched to a postgraduate year-1 (PGY-1) position, up 4.7% from 2024’s Match.
There were 2,521 positions placed in the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP), which offers eligible but unmatched applicants a second chance to find a position. That number reflects a 2.1% decline in SOAP positions, which include some openings that were not part of the main Match and others that were not filled by the algorithm.
“This year’s Main Residency Match marks a milestone of continued success for the graduate medical education community as a record number of applicants and residency training programs matched,” NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb said in a release.
Medical doctorate (M.D.) seniors again made up the majority of applicants, according to the match’s numbers. They represented 93.5% of the total, on par with the prior year despite a 3.1% rise in active applicants, and a 93.5% PGY-1 match rate that’s in line with the 92% to 95% range that the program has seen since 1982.
Active doctor of osteopathic medicine (D.O.) seniors rose 4.5% over last year. They saw an all-time high PGY-1 match rate of 92.6%, with the NRMP noting match rate increases among D.O. seniors since 2021.
Non-U.S. citizen international medical graduates saw the biggest jump in participation with a 14.4% increase over 2024’s tally, which was already a substantial increase over 2023. The NRMP attributed a slight, 0.5% decline in their PGY-1 match rate to 58% to that increased participation.
Active U.S. citizen international medical graduates were the only group to shrink, dipping 3.5% from 2024. Their PGY-1 match rate of 67.8% is up 0.8% percentage points from last year.
Internal medicine, emergency medicine make gains
Medical specialty breakdowns offered encouraging signs for areas of care facing clinical workforce shortages.
The 20,300 categorical positions offered in primary care represented a new high for the Match, and, overall, the specialties hit a 93.5% fill rate.
On a more granular level, internal medicine filled 11,379 positions (a 7.6 percentage point increase) for a 96.8% fill rate; pediatrics filled 3,043 positions (a 1.7% increase) for a 95.3% fill rate, an encouraging trend after 2024’s steep fill rate decline; and family medicine filled 4,552 positions (a 0.9% decline) with a diminished 85% fill rate.
The NRMP outlined “renewed interest in emergency medicine” among 2025’s participants, which had seen a hard drop to an 81.8% fill rate in 2023. In 2025, it rebounded to a 97.9% fill rate with 3,003 applicants matched to the specialty.
“This year’s performance edges emergency medicine even closer to its pre-Covid fill rate of 98 to 99 percent,” the NRMP, which pointed to a rise in D.O. senior and international medical graduate matches, wrote in a release.
Obstetrics and gynecology saw just one categorical position and nine preliminary PGY-1 positions unfilled among 1,604 offered residencies “despite the changing policy landscape,” the organization added.
The NRMP celebrated its record participation and match totals, as well as the year-to-year decline in SOAP positions, as “a further indication” of its program’s success.
“The NRMP continues to be a service that welcomes all who wish to participate, capably advocating for and supporting the aspirations of young physicians and the priorities of residency training programs to collectively address the varied heath needs of communities across the nation.”