The 2020 National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Match—the first combined match since the transition to a single graduate medical education accreditation system began—saw a record-high number of U.S. DO fourth-year participants, and their 90.7% PGY-1 match rate was also the highest ever.
Overall, 99% of this year’s graduating DOs who sought GME placed into postgrad training, according to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM). AACOM’s report also showed that the 6,815 new DOs who placed into GME positions this year is an increase of nearly 1,000 since 2017, when 5,898 placed into GME positions.
In examining the NRMP’s recently released 2020 Match report, The DO determined the 15 most competitive specialties for all postgraduate year one (PGY1) residents—including DOs, MDs and international medical graduates—by looking at which filled all or nearly all of their open PGY1 positions. Specialties with fewer than 50 open positions and combined specialties—for instance, emergency medicine-family medicine—were not included.
Please note that while most residency programs for many specialties begin in PGY1, some specialties have a number of positions that begin in PGY1 as well as a number of positions that begin in PGY2. Most trainees who match into specialties at the PGY2 level do so in their final year of medical school, then complete a preliminary training year before beginning training in their specialty the following year. We have also listed the top 5 most competitive specialties filling slots at the PGY2 level using the same methodology.
The charts below list the most competitive specialties at the PGY1 and PGY2 levels, along with how many physicians matched in each.
The 15 most competitive specialties for PGY1s in the 2020 NRMP Match
| Specialty | No. of matches | % of positions filled |
|---|---|---|
| Neurological surgery | 232 | 100% |
| Plastic surgery (integrated) | 180 | 100% |
| Physical medicine & rehab | 151 | 100% |
| Anesthesiology | 1,369 | 99.9% |
| Obstetrics-gynecology | 1,440 | 99.8% |
| Surgery (categorical) | 1,531 | 99.7% |
| Emergency medicine | 2,652 | 99.5% |
| Orthopedic surgery | 844 | 99.4% |
| Otolaryngology | 348 | 99.4% |
| Psychiatry | 1,838 | 98.9% |
| Pediatrics (categorical) | 2,812 | 98.2% |
| Neurology | 665 | 97.5% |
| Pathology | 587 | 97.3% |
| Vascular surgery | 73 | 97.3% |
| Internal medicine (categorical) | 8,324 | 95.7% |
2020 NRMP Match Report
The 5 most competitive specialties at the PGY2 level in the 2020 NRMP Match
| Specialty | No. of matches | % of positions filled |
|---|---|---|
| Anesthesiology | 396 | 99.5% |
| Physical medicine & rehab | 312 | 98.7% |
| Neurology | 240 | 98.4% |
| Dermatology | 469 | 98.1% |
| Radiology (diagnostic) | 967 | 97.7% |
2020 NRMP Match Report
Related reading:
How these DO students matched to their top-choice residencies
The 10 most competitive specialties for PGY1s in the 2019 NRMP Match
7 comments
Ophthalmology is not on your list. A mistake?
Likely hard to obtain the data as ophthalmology goes through SF Match.
The percentage of filled positions is not an accurate indicator of specialty competitiveness, as it says nothing about the applicant pool which is self selecting.
This is true. If a specialty is very selective, it will often elect to not match anyone rather than matching an applicant that fails to meet their very high standards.
Looking at which fields matched most of their open positions reveals two things:
1. Desire for that specialty is high
2. The specialty is willing to fill all their positions with the applicant pool they have been given. This could be due to a variety of factors including but not limited to need for able and willing working bodies to man their hospitals
This list appear poorly designed.
PMR and Emergency medicine is more competitive than orthopedic surgery?
I highly doubt it.
Ophthalmology not even on list?
Ophthalmology does not match through NRMP. This data comes from NRMP and does not include the SF Match.
we need more FP’s the back bone of D.O.’s…we trn fam med for nearly 130 yrs… we supply pats. for our colleagues…we are the mill…we are L 5… dr porcelli pomona ca… 40 yrs in the box.. wish you all well… ” it is a good day to be a DO”…past pres. ACOFP..