Residency specialties that medical students are researching most

Each year as medical students prepare for Match, the sizable task of researching specialties and programs awaits. Any path to slimming the list of options can make the process less daunting. This exclusive user data reveals which medical specialties are getting the most attention when your peers weigh their residency program options. To get you started within a specialty, each link takes you to a list of the 10 most-viewed programs for that specialty. 

Rankings are based on user activity on FREIDA™ from Jan.1–Dec. 31, 2024. To qualify for this analysis, users must have searched by specialty and applied a state or region filter. FREIDA™, the AMA Residency & Fellowship Database®, allows medical students to search for a residency or fellowship from more than 13,000 programs—all accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Explore over 180 specialties and subspecialties with FREIDA’s Specialty Guide, which details important specialty training information such as graduates’ career plans, specialty training statistics and related association information.

In 2024, FREIDA users tallied nearly 2 million views of residency programs. With this collection, we share the 20 specialties that rose to the top for user interest based on total views to specialty programs.

Most popular medical specialties of 2024

1. Internal medicine – 802,167 total views of 663 residency programs

2. Family medicine – 259,656 total views of 786 residency programs

3. Obstetrics and gynecology – 150,208 total views of 298 residency programs

4. Surgery-general – 102,379 total views of 367 residency programs

5. Pediatrics – 93,744 total views of 219 residency programs

6. Psychiatry – 85,912 total views of 331 residency programs

7. Emergency medicine – 67,589 total views of 289 residency programs

8. Anesthesiology – 65,846 total views of 177 residency programs

9. Neurology – 56,481 total views of 188 residency programs

10. Radiology-diagnostic – 32,351 total views of 198 residency programs

11. Orthopaedic surgery – 26,979 total views of 209 residency programs

12. Pathology-anatomic and clinical – 25,781 total views of 143 residency programs

13. Dermatology – 24,724 total views of 143 residency programs

14. Transitional year – 21,478 total views of 200 residency programs

15. Physical medicine and rehabilitation – 14,537 total views of 113 residency programs

16. Urology – 13,911 total views of 151 residency programs

17. Ophthalmology – 13,061 total views of 126 residency programs

18. Otolaryngology-head and neck surgery – 10,302 total views of 131 residency programs

19. Internal medicine/pediatrics – 9,915 total views of 78 residency programs

20. Neurological surgery – 9,314 total views of 118 residency programs