Charting Outcomes™: Characteristics of Applicants Who Match to Their Preferred Specialty

These reports examine how applicant attributes affect Match outcomes in the Main Residency Match®, with a focus on matching to preferred specialty. Eleven to thirteen measures are examined in these reports depending on the applicant group reported. These measures include the number of contiguous ranks in preferred specialty, the number of distinct specialties ranked, USMLE® Step 2 CK score, COMLEX-USA® Level 2-CE score, and the numbers of research, work, and volunteer experiences. For the first time, there are separate reports for U.S. and non-U.S. citizen IMGs in addition to separate reports for U.S. MD seniors and DO seniors. Historically a biennial report, these reports will now be released annually.  

There are four versions of this report available in 2026:

Interactive Reports

The interactive Charting Outcomes™: Characteristics of Applicants who Match to Their Preferred Specialty report has been built using data visualization software and draws from the same data sources as the Charting Outcomes in the Match PDF reports. This resource uses data from past Matches and is not designed to predict success or failure in the Match.

Two versions of the Charting Outcomes™: Characteristics of Applicants who Match to Their Preferred Specialty are available based on type and step/level of licensure examination: