internal medicine

Competitiveness: Low

Internal Medicine is the largest, most diverse and flexible medical specialty in residency training. Unlike more narrow specialties with more specific requirements, residency candidates applying to Internal Medicine will find Internal Medicine generally easier to apply to. Internal Medicine is typically the most IMG friendly medical specialty, often with 40% or more available positions filled by International Medical Graduates (IMGs) every Match. Internal Medicine is also one of the biggest specialties that offers PGY-1 preliminary training tracks (1 year) which can help residents qualify for other advanced specialties such as Anesthesiology. Many residency candidates use Internal Medicine to either begin a career in primary care or move on to train in a wide variety of subspecialties (Fellowships). Overall, Internal Medicine is an excellent option to consider for any type of residency candidate.

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IMG Profile

Average Stats for a Matched US IMG in 2016:

  • USMLE Step 1 score: 228
  • USMLE Step 2 CK score: 234
  • Research: 1.8
  • Abstracts/Presentations/etc: 2.5
  • Work: 3.7
  • Volunteer: 4.0

Average Stats for a Matched Non-US IMG in 2016:

  • USMLE Step 1 score: 236
  • USMLE Step 2 CK score: 241
  • Research: 2.0
  • Abstracts/Presentations/etc: 4.7
  • Work: 5.4
  • Volunteer: 3.4

Specialty Factors

Every specialty has unique factors they want each candidate to have in their residency application. NRMP conducts regular Program Director surveys to identify which parts of the residency application are most important in differing specialties. Among the information gathered, Program Directors were asked to to cite factors they used to select candidates for interviews. They were also asked to rate each factor on a scale from 1 (least important) to 5 (most important).

The Top 5 Most Important internal medicine Application Factors

Percentage of Programs Citing Each Factor

  1. USMLE Step 1 Score (92%)
  2. MSPE (90%)
  3. USMLE Step 2 CK score (89%)
  4. US medical graduate (79%)
  5. USMLE Step 2 CS (75%)

Average Importance Rating for Each Factor (scale of 1 to 5)

  1. Flagged by NRMP(4.9)
  2. Evidence of professional and ethics (4.4)
  3. MSPE (4.3)
  4. Passed USMLE Step 2 CS (4.3)
  5. USMLE Step 2 CK score (4.2) and Grades in specialty related clerkship (4.2)

Fast Facts

Total Training 3 years
Average Residency Salary $52,000
Average Work Week 54.9 Hours
Peak Interview Months November, January
Offers the following program training tracks: Preliminary (1 year)
Categorical (Full training)

Match Statistics

Main Residency Match and Post-Match Stats

3,400

IMGs Matched

866 /
9,425

Number of Programs/Positions

144

Post-Match SOAP Unfilled Positions

Main Residency Match

Categorical
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Preliminary
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Post-Match SOAP

Program Track Categorical Preliminary
Participating Programs 51 41
Filled Programs 45 33
Positions Available 171 99
Filled Positions 162 88

Subspecialties

  • Adolescent Medicine
  • Adult Congenital Heart Disease
  • Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Cardiology
  • Allergy and Immunology
  • Cardiovascular Disease
  • Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology
  • Critical Care Medicine
  • Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism
  • Gastroenterology
  • Geriatric Medicine
  • Hematology
  • Hematology & Oncology
  • Hospice & Palliative Medicine
  • Infectious Disease
  • Interventional Cardiology
  • Medical Oncology
  • Nephrology
  • Pulmonary Disease
  • Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine
  • Pediatric Endocrinology
  • Rheumatology
  • Sports Medicine
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Transplant Hepatology
  • Allergy and Immunology
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