By Marcia Frellick

The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) announced today that the 2018 Main Residency Match is the largest yet, with a record 37,103 US and international applicants listing program choices for 33,167 positions.

The number of first-year (PGY-1) positions increased by 1383 from last year and now stands at 30,232.

Of those 30,232 positions, nearly half (14,695) were in primary care: family medicine; internal medicine; internal medicine–pediatrics; internal medicine–primary; and pediatrics.

Within the primary care slots, 14,333 (97.5%) were filled, and 7104 (48.3%) were filled by US allopathic seniors. Since 2014, the number of primary care positions has grown by 1713, or 13.2%. The following is the breakdown of primary care highlights from 2018.

Signs of Most Competitive Specialties

Signs of the competitiveness of specialties are the percentage of spots filled and the percentage filled by allopathic medical school seniors.

"The ones that fill at least 90% with US allopathic seniors are the ones we say are very competitive," said Mona Signer, president and CEO of the NRMP.

This year, the specialties for which more than 30 positions were available and that filled all available positions (with a combination of allopathic and osteopathic students) were integrated interventional radiology, neurologic surgery, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and thoracic surgery.

The specialties with more than 30 spots that filled more than 90% with US allopathic seniors were integrated interventional radiology, orthopedic surgery, integrated plastic surgery, radiation oncology, neurologic surgery, and otolaryngology.

In internal medicine, both the number and percentage of US allopathic seniors matching have declined every year since 2015; in pediatrics, the percentage of US allopathic seniors matching has declined since then.