News

The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) has published Results and Data: Specialties Matching Service® 2025 Appointment Year for Fellowship Matches in the Specialties Matching Service^® (SMS^®). The report is an important compendium reflecting the outcome of the NRMP’s 22 Fellowship Matches for more than 75 subspecialties.  This past year, 14,833 active applicants (ones who submitted certified rank order lists of programs) competed for 14,620 fellowship positions in 6,334 programs for which training commences this July. Of those applicants, the NRMP successfully matched 12,390 to fellowship positions for an 83.5 percent Match rate.

“Each year, the NRMP is proud to highlight the achievements of thousands of physicians pursuing fellowships through the SMS,” said NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, MBA, BSN. “And with the onboarding of new fellowships every year, we know Results and Data remains a vital, primary source, and comprehensive collection of information about resident pursuit of sub-specialization across the United States.”

Position and Program Highlights: 

• Of the 14,620 positions offered, an increase of 451 positions from 2024 appointment year, 12,390 (84.7 percent) were filled.
• Of the 6,334 programs that submitted certified rank order lists, 4,785 (75.5 percent) filled all their positions. 

Specialty Highlights: 

• Interventional Cardiology joined the SMS for the 2025 appointment year. For its first Match, the subspecialty offered 326 positions across 156 programs. Of those positions, 272 (83.4 percent) were filled.
• Of the 77 subspecialties participating in the SMS, 31 (40.3 percent) filled 90 percent or more of the positions offered. 
• Of the specialties offering at least 30 positions:
  • The five specialties with the highest percentages of positions filled by U.S. MD graduates include Complex Family Planning (100 percent), Pediatric Surgery (91.8 percent), Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery (89.4 percent), Reproductive Endocrinology (89.3 percent) and Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery (88.6 percent).
  • The five specialties with the highest percentages of positions filled by U.S. DO graduates include Sports Medicine (41 percent), Emergency Medical Services (31.6 percent), Child Abuse (30 percent), Pain Medicine (29.7 percent), and Pediatric Rheumatology (29.6 percent).
  • The five specialties with the highest percentages of positions filled by U.S. citizen graduates of international medical schools are Critical Care Medicine (22.8 percent, Geriatric Medicine (21.3 percent), Interventional Pulmonology (20.9 percent), Addiction Medicine (19.2 percent), and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology (18.8 percent).
  • The five specialties with the highest percentages of positions filled by non-U.S. citizen graduates of international medical schools are Medical Genetics (54.5 percent), Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism (38.7 percent), Nephrology (36.2 percent), Interventional Cardiology (34.2 percent), and Rheumatology (34.2 percent).

Applicant Highlights: 

• The 2025 SMS appointment year cycle included 14,833 active applicants, an increase of 799 over last year.
• The number of applicants matched for the 2025 appointment year increased for all applicant types compared to the 2024 appointment year.  
  • The number of U.S. MD graduates matched was 6,808, an increase of 141 from 2024.
  • Among U.S. DO graduates, 1,935 matched, an increase of 128 from 2024.
  • The number of matched U.S. citizen graduates of international medical schools was 1,350, an increase of 88 from 2024.
  • The number who matched among non-U.S. citizen graduates of international medical schools was 2,252, an increase of 190 from 2024.

Changes to Results and Data: The ‘Program Results’ section of Results and Data has been eliminated to more fully promote the NRMP’s: Program Results: Specialties Matching Service 2021 – 2025 Appointment Year, a report that contains the same information as the Program Results section of Results and Data but with the added benefit of showcasing data across five appointment years. Program Results offers a side-by-side comparison of data and trends over time.

“Changes to Results and Data are intended to make it a resource more supportive of and attuned to needs and interests of the GME community,” said Dr. Lamb. “As the community continues to evolve, our focus and commitment remains on delivering high-quality resources that are relevant to local and national conversations and understanding of the physician pipeline”

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About NRMP® Specialties Matching Service® 

The NRMP Specialties Matching Service^® (SMS^®) conducts Matches for advanced residency and fellowship positions. The first Fellowship Match was conducted in 1984 for Colon and Rectal Surgery; for the 2025 appointment year the SMS provided services for 77 subspecialties in 22 separate Matches. Because Fellowship Match appointments may begin anywhere from 6 to 14 months after their Match Days, data are reported for the appointment year instead of the Match year. The 2025 report is for Matches conducted in 2024 and early 2025 for appointments beginning in July 2025. A complete list of all the subspecialties participating in the SMS for the 2025 appointment year can be found in the full data report here.

About NRMP 

The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) is a private, non-profit organization established in 1952 to oversee The Match®. The Match was established 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® for more than 50,000 registrants, the NRMP also conducts Fellowship Matches for more than 75 subspecialties through its Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®).

Press Contact

media@nrmp.org