NRMP Releases Landmark Reports that Advance Transparency in the Transition to Residency

Together, the inaugural reports can help inform decisions by offering data-driven insights into residency recruitment, matching, and pathways to physician training.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) has released three new reports offering first-of-their-kind analyses of key factors influencing the transition to residency, expanding the evidence available to inform conversations and decision-making across the graduate medical education community.  

Drawing from data over multiple Match cycles, the reports examine the impact of program signaling, Match outcomes, program ranking behaviors, and pathways to residency, especially for applicants who initially go unmatched.

"NRMP has a unique opportunity and commitment to leverage Match data to address the issues that matter most to our constituents and stakeholders," said NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, MBA, BSN. "By bringing forward new data and perspectives from the Match, we can illuminate trends and experiences that have been difficult to understand, providing stakeholders with evidence that supports more informed decisions and a stronger physician workforce."

Together, the reports reveal distinct but interconnected aspects of the transition to residency. Highlights from each report include:

• Program Signaling: A Comprehensive Examination of Ranking and Matching Outcomes Across Specialties leverages data from NRMP, AAMC, and NBME to understand how applicants' expression of interest in residency programs through program signaling relate to ranking and Match outcomes across the 2023-2026 Match cycles.
  • Key Finding: For applicants, signaling was most consistently related to being ranked, however, this varied meaningfully by specialty and signaling structure.
• Characteristics of Applicants Included on Residency Program Rank Order Lists by Specialty, developed in collaboration with NBME, explores specialty-level patterns in the characteristics of applicants that residency programs rank in order of preference across 21 specialties from 2022-2025.
  • Key Finding: Across specialties, program ranking patterns differed most by applicant type, sex, and licensure exam performance; however, results also showed considerable variation among programs within each specialty.
• Matched, Unmatched, and Beyond: Applicant Characteristics and Residency Placement Outcomes tracks applicant pathways to residency by examining residency placement outcomes from 2022-2025, including how applicants secure positions through the Match and Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP^®).
  • Key Finding: Most applicants who did not secure a position during their first Match returned to the Match, and the majority subsequently obtained a residency position.

NRMP will continue to publish Match data to advance understanding of emerging issues and provide Match constituents, stakeholders, policy makers, and those committed to medical education with actionable insights.  

For the full reports and additional Match data resources, visit NRMP Research Insights: www.nrmp.org/research.  

For additional information or to schedule an interview with NRMP President and CEO Donna L. Lamb, DHSc, MBA, BSN, contact [email protected]. 

About NRMP

The National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) is a private, non-profit organization established in 1953 to oversee The Match® 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 its more than 70 years, NRMP has grown to offer the Main Residency Match® for more than 50,000 registrants and the Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®) for more than 75 subspecialties. Visit the NRMP website to learn more.

SOURCE National Resident Matching Program