Each year, the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Main Residency Match helps medical student applicants with available residency positions in US graduate education (GME) programs at hospitals across the nation. For the twelfth consecutive year, the number of first-year (PGY-1) residency positions offered through the NRMP Main Residency Match increased, hitting 26,678 in the 2014 Match. This figure represents a 540-position increase compared to 2013, and a boost of more than 6,000 positions since 2002.
Yet despite the increase, there remain more applicants than available positions, particularly for students who hail from outside the United States. This year, 7,334 IMG participants were non-US citizens. Of them, 3,633 landed first-year positions. Though the 3,633 figure represents a 77-percent boost in foreign students obtaining first-year residency positions through the NRMP, it also comes to less than half (49.5 percent) of the total body of foreign student applicants. We here at WOLFPACC (Wolf Physician Achievement Concept Course) believe there is much room for improvement.
Participants in the NRMP submit a list of residency programs they’re interested in, noting the order of preference. Meanwhile, US GME programs with available positions submit lists of their own, identifying their preferred residency candidates. Via a sophisticated computer algorithm, NRMP matches applicants to available positions. Matches are announced each March and residency programs typically begin the following July.
Of course, the medical students who make the GME programs’ lists of preferred residency candidates, and whose names appear high on those lists, are among the best both nationwide and internationally. Scoring highly on your USMLE and COMLEX exams will significantly boost your chances of seeing your own name prominently placed on those lists. To that end, consider studying with WOLFPACC.
Founded by Dr. Hans Wolf, our USMLE and COMLEX courses teach you a new, more intuitive way to approach the practice of medicine. Unlike many programs that focus on short-term memorization and recall skills, the WOLFPACC approach helps you better understand the why and how of the disease process and patient management decisions. This ensures a deeper, more enduring medical understanding and ability.
WOLFPACC campuses are located in St. Augustine, Florida; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the Dominican Republic. Register online or contact us at 1-904-209-3140 or via our online email form to speak with an enrollment specialist.
