2013 Match - IMGs increased to 49.8% matched!

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

The results are in and there is great news from the 2013 Match results! International Medical Graduates (IMGs) increased from close to 40% matched in the 2012 Match to nearly 50% matched in the 2013 Match!

We now have a 50/50 chance of matching in the upcoming 2014 Match! Before it was less than half at a 40% chance so I'll take it!

We've discussed what it takes for foreign born doctors to continue practicing medicine in the United States in previous threads such as: Doctor (further education) and Doctors going thru the USMLE process.

IMG Performance in the 2013 Match

March 21, 2013

Filed under: 2013 Match, ERAS 2013

For the eleventh consecutive year, the number of first-year (PGY-1) residency positions offered through the National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®) Main Residency Match® increased. A total of 26,392 first-year positions were offered in the 2013 Match. This represents an increase of 2,358 positions compared to last year and an increase of nearly 5,800 positions since 2002.

The number of IMGs who matched to first-year positions increased by 1,425 compared to 2012. Of the 12,683 IMGs who participated in the 2013 Match, 6,311 (49.8%) matched. In the 2012 Match, 4,886 (43.9%) IMGs were matched to first-year positions. (These data include a small number of Fifth Pathway applicants who participated in the 2013 and 2012 Matches.)

Of the 7,568 IMG participants who were not U.S. citizens, 3,601 (47.6%) obtained first-year positions. The number of non-U.S. citizen IMGs who obtained positions in 2013 increased for the second year in a row, this year by 826.

Of the 5,095 U.S. citizen IMG participants, 2,706 (53.1%) were matched to first-year positions, an increase of 604 over last year. This is the tenth consecutive year that there has been an increase in the number of U.S. citizen IMGs matching to first-year positions.

The total number of IMGs who will fill PGY-1 positions for the 2013-2014 academic year may be higher than the number obtaining positions through the 2013 Match. Although the majority of PGY-1 positions in the United States are filled through the Match, in past years a significant number of IMG applicants obtained positions outside of the Match. For example, while 4,626 IMGs obtained PGY-1 positions through the 2011 Match, 6,754 IMGs entered PGY-1 for the 2011-2012 academic year.

For the 2013 Match, the NRMP introduced an "All-In" policy. This policy requires that, to participate in the Match, programs must register and attempt to fill all of their residency positions through the Main Residency Match, or through another national matching plan. Programs must place all positions in the Match or no positions in the Match. This policy is a factor in the higher numbers, compared to last year, of both positions offered through the 2013 Match (up 2,358 or 9.8%) and the number of IMGs participating in the 2013 Match (up 1,549 or 13.9%). It also, presumably, reduced the number of positions available outside of the 2013 Match. For more on the NRMP's new All-In policy, visit the NRMP website and Ask the Experts: The NRMP's New "All-In" Policy, a resource of the ECFMG Certificate Holders Office (ECHO).

About the Match

The annual NRMP Match is the system by which applicants are matched with available residency positions in U.S. graduate medical education (GME) programs. Participants submit to the NRMP a list of residency programs, in order of preference. Ranked lists of preferred residency candidates are likewise submitted by U.S. GME programs with available positions. The matching of applicants to available positions is performed by computer algorithm. The Match results announced in March of each year are for GME programs that typically begin the following July.

Additional Resources on the Match and Match Results

The preceding data are taken from the Advance Data Tables for the 2013 Main Residency Match compiled by the NRMP. These tables provide detailed information on the positions offered and filled by the Match in 2013 and prior years. To access these tables, or to obtain further information on the NRMP, visit www.nrmp.org.

The June issue of Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, usually offers an analysis of Match results from the preceding March. For more information, visit your medical school's library or www.academicmedicine.org.

Late each year, JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association traditionally publishes an in-depth analysis of graduate medical education in the United States. This analysis includes the number of IMGs entering and continuing in U.S. GME programs and a breakdown of IMG resident physicians by specialty and subspecialty. Visit your medical school's library or Academic Medicine.

From the ECFMG website: link

If anyone is wondering what percentage do American Medical Graduates (AMGs) have at matching according to the AAMC they have a more than 95% chance of matching. Getting into a US medical school does not guarantee them a residency upon graduation in order to further their training, but as you can gather from the stats AMGs are preferred for residency with a more than 95% chance of matching to the 50% chance of matching as an IMG .

I've read threads on student doctor forums and I know it's a bitter pill to swallow when one doesn't match as an AMG but heck I'd take the less than 5% chance of not matching over the 50% chance of not matching, or even the 60% chance of not matching as an IMG in previous years. It's a lot of hard work on both sides. There's getting the undergraduate degree and taking the MCAT and applying to medical school and then going through medical school for AMGs. Most IMGs have the same amount of medical school but they also have residency in their country, some go on and get Master Degrees and PhD's, and have practiced medicine for years before coming to the States to further their career. IMGs are considered the cream of the crop from their countries. Most being sorted into the medical profession with a standardized national aptitude test given at the age of 15 and 16, like my husband, and sent to the top gifted student schools in their country for the sciences and mathematics. They come to the States with alot of education and experience already and on top of that they get to go and do the whole process all over again in the United States by taking the same USMLE Steps as AMGs and repeat the residency training stage in the States. They don't hold much hope for the more competitive specialties because they know they're reserved for AMGs and instead they're more likely to be filling up the gap in the less preferred medical specialties in primary care where the severe doctor shortages are such as family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry and ob-gyn.

Even after all that I know IMG's would be grateful to get a match in the States with not much hope of getting into the more competitive programs because of the IMG status. Also the 2013 Match results indicate that for the fourth straight year in a row more AMGs are entering the less desirable medical careers that IMGs have been filling up such as primary care, where the severe shortage of doctors are, instead of going into specialties. Link

The last match, the 2013 Match, was the largest Match in US history.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

This is cool the NRMP on facebook posted this today.

Saudi Arabia had a high rate of matches this year with up to 60 matched from 0-3 in past years.

Here's a 2013 Match Day video from Saudi Arabian doctors who matched into residency through the NRMP! Congratulations!

Edited March 29, 2013 by Dr. A ♥ O

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar had 31 students match into residency training programs!

Article Link

[ainsn 13]

This is great news! My husband just finished med school (MBBS degree) in Bangladesh and is now studying for the USMLE. I'm supposed to be researching next steps, but honestly, after dealing with his whole I-130 visa process (which is still not over for us yet), I'm exhausted and haven't even begun looking into the USMLE process. I want to start understanding what we need to do next, but I still have some general questions:

1) What do we need to do/submit for the ECFMG? How is it related to the USMLE?

2) Do we still need to go through the ECFMG if my husband gains LPR status from me?

3) Does my husband need internship/volunteer experience in the US before being eligible to match?

4) Does his 1 year internship/residency in Bangladesh count as work experience in relation to applying for the match?

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

This is great news! My husband just finished med school (MBBS degree) in Bangladesh and is now studying for the USMLE. I'm supposed to be researching next steps, but honestly, after dealing with his whole I-130 visa process (which is still not over for us yet), I'm exhausted and haven't even begun looking into the USMLE process. I want to start understanding what we need to do next, but I still have some general questions:

1) What do we need to do/submit for the ECFMG? How is it related to the USMLE?

2) Do we still need to go through the ECFMG if my husband gains LPR status from me?

3) Does my husband need internship/volunteer experience in the US before being eligible to match?

4) Does his 1 year internship/residency in Bangladesh count as work experience in relation to applying for the match?

So sorry I'm just seeing this.

1) That's a really long answer. Just send him to the ECFMG website because it will be your medical spouse that will need to register himself with the educational commission for foreign medical graduates (ECFMG). The ECFMG is the official way to take the United States Medical License Exams (USMLE) for foreign born medical graduates. He'll have to go through the ECFMG to be able to register and take the USMLE Steps. To be able to apply for the match he'll have to complete USMLE Step 1 and both parts of Step 2 to become ECFMG certified.

2) If your husband wants to continue to practice medicine in the United States he'll have to go through the ECFMG regardless of his immigration status.

3) No he doesn't but some United States Clinic Experience (USCE) is better than nothing.

4) Yes.

Please see threads Doctor Going Thru The USMLE Process and Doctor Finding Work in America for further information.

Edited June 1, 2013 by Dr. A ♥ O