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The Match - Highlights and Trends in Psychiatry and CAP

General Psychiatry Programs

National Resident Match Program (NRMP) Match Data

Most students who are interested in pursuing a child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) fellowship first complete a general psychiatry residency. The Match process through NRMP connects medical students to certified programs. General psychiatry programs have been highly competitive over the past several years. In the 2025 Match, 2,380 out of 3,278 medical students who applied (73%) were able to match into general psychiatry residencies. Of the 2,396 positions available in general psychiatry programs, only eight positions remained unfilled – a testament to the high demand in the field. In Figure 1, data is shown representing individuals by type of medical  student who were certified applicants into the field of general psychiatry and how many successfully matched from 2018 – 2025. (“Other” applicants and matches encompass uncategorized students at the time of data reporting.) See Figure 2 for medical student match rates into general psychiatry  since 2018, which are shown to be steadily increasing. 

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Complementing an increase in interested medical students, there has been a 62% increase from 2018-2025 in the number of certified general psychiatry programs participating in the NRMP Match, as shown in Figure 3. Since programs can create separate program tracks in NRMP for things like location, training focus, research, etc., an ACGME-level program may have more than one program track in the NRMP. General psychiatry positions offered by certified programs have been filled at a steady rate of 99% for the last 7 years. 

Figure 3.

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Data

The growth of the field is also evident in the ACGME data. ACGME tracks data on all accredited general psychiatry programs and active general psychiatry residents in those programs, regardless of whether they participate in the NRMP Match. Over the past 7 years, the number of accredited programs has increased by 37% and the number of active residents has increased by 35% (see Figure 4 ).

Figure 4.

CAP Fellowship Programs

National Resident Match Program (NRMP) Match Data

The NRMP Match oversees the Specialties Matching Service® (SMS®), which facilitates fellowship matches across more than 70 subspecialties, including child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP). In 2025, 318 residents out of 334 applicants (95%) successfully matched into CAP fellowship programs through the NRMP Match. Of the 122 certified CAP fellowship programs, two-thirds filled all available positions, and overall, 84% of fellowship spots were filled.

The percentage of certified positions filled in the NRMP specialty match has remained relatively steady in recent years, with approximately two-thirds of all available positions filling on a year-to-year basis (Figure 1). CAP applicant match rates have remained stable since 2018 (see Figure 2). Since 2018, there has been an 18% increase in the number of applicants to CAP fellowships through the NRMP Match process as shown in Figure 3.

  

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Data

The ACGME oversees the accreditation of residency and fellowship programs in the US. ACGME tracks data on all accredited CAP fellowship programs, regardless of whether they participate in the NRMP Match. Steady growth in the CAP subspecialty is demonstrated in the ACGME data. The overall number of ACGME accredited CAP fellowship programs rose by 12.9% from 2018 to 2025 and the number of active CAP fellows increased by 18.5% from 2018 to 2025 (Figure 4). 

Figure 4.