NRMP Anticipates Exciting 2026 Match Week as Residency Applicants and Programs Prepare for Match Day
The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) is poised to kick off Match Week 2026 on Monday, March 16, a milestone event in the medical education community that leads up to Match Day on Friday, March 20, 2026. Throughout Match Week, applicants prepare to learn where they will begin their clinical training.
“The Match plays a central role in shaping the U.S. physician workforce each year.” said NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, MBA, BSN. “Match Week in particular marks the beginning of a new chapter for young physicians and is a highly consequential event on their path to practicing medicine.
Timeline. The transition to residency cycle begins in September of an applicant’s final year of medical school when residency applications are submitted to programs. Interviews take place throughout the fall and early winter. In February and early March, applicants and residency programs submit to the NRMP their confidential rank order lists reflecting their preferences for training. The NRMP then uses a proprietary, mathematical algorithm to process those lists and match applicants into their most preferred residency positions at programs that also prefer them.
Match Week (March 16 – 20, 2026). Match Week begins at 10:00 a.m. ET on Monday, March 16, 2026, when residency applicants receive notifications indicating whether they have matched to a clinical training program. Applicants who don’t initially secure a position may participate in the NRMP’s Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program® (SOAP®), conducted Monday through Thursday of Match Week, for an opportunity to obtain an unfilled position.
SOAP provides a uniform system for programs to offer unfilled positions to eligible unmatched or partially matched applicants through a series of offer rounds during Match Week. Final SOAP outcomes, and Overall Placement of all individuals participating in the Match are included in the full Results and Data report released later in the spring.
“Match Day” kicks off at 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday, March 20, 2026, when applicants learn where they will train. Match Day is celebrated with ceremonies at medical schools
nationwide, bringing together students, families, faculty, and health care communities to mark this landmark achievement in the careers of future physicians.
Match Data and Publications. On Match Day at 12:00 p.m. ET, the NRMP publishes on its website a press release announcing Match outcomes, an infographic highlighting key results, and Advance Data Tables showing early outcomes data. Comprehensive outcomes, including SOAP results and detailed Match data, will be published in the Results and Data: 2026 Main Residency Match® report later this spring.
For more information about Match Week and other helpful resources, visit www.nrmp.org. To view reports from previous Main Residency Matches, visit our Match Data webpage
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About NRMP
The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) is a private, non-profit organization established in 1953 at the request of medical students to provide an orderly and fair mechanism for matching the preferences of applicants for U.S. residency positions with the preferences of residency program directors. In addition to the annual Main Residency Match® that facilitates placement for more than 50,000 registrants, the NRMP conducts Fellowship Matches through its Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®). The first SMS Fellowship Match was conducted in 1984 for Colon and Rectal Surgery. Since that time, the SMS has grown to encompass 23 separate Matches representing more than 75 subspecialties. The NRMP website provides a list of participating SMS Fellowship Matches, each including a summary statement, length of training, and applicant eligibility criteria.
For additional information or to schedule an interview with NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, contact media@nrmp.org.