Match Resource Center
This page offers DO students a wide range of resources on Match basics, exploring residency programs, developing a unique and competitive application, successful interview tips and more.
What Is the Match?
"The match" can mean any of the sessions that are a part of the current system by which students obtain a residency position, including the military match, the urology match and the San Francisco match (which includes ophthalmology and plastic surgery), but usually refers to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Main Residency Match, the largest residency match for medical students trained both in the US and internationally. The match is run by the NRMP, a private, non-profit organization established in 1952.
The NRMP uses a computer algorithm to align the preferences of both residency program directors and applicants for placing into residency. Under this system, all participants follow the same rules, and adhere to the same deadlines, and both applicants and program directors can consider all their options before making any decisions.
The 2025 Match Week begins March 17 and culminates on Match Day, March 21.
Find Residency Programs
The following links provide opportunities to get more information about and from residency programs.
- AACOM's Post-Doc Guide - an up-to-date, searchable database of formerly AOA-accredited residency programs
- Programs with Osteopathic Recognition - interactive database of graduate medical education programs that have achieved Osteopathic Recognition
- Residency Explorer Tool - a collaborative program provides information on matched students’ qualifications for many different specialties
- FREIDA Residency Program Database
For information on selecting a specialty, please visit Careers in Medicine.
Check out these webinars for essential and wide-ranging advice for medical students transitioning to residency.
Topics include these and more!
- Post-Interview Tips for the Match & Program Rank List Strategies
- What to Do After the Match
- Transition from Medical School into Day 1 of Residency
Letters of Recommendation
Tools from AACOM’s Council on Residency Placement’s Letters of Recommendation Working Group
Residency Interviewing
Information and tips on residency interviews
- I Finally Hit 'Submit' on ERAS—Now What? Virtual Interviewing Advice from AACOM’s Council on Residency Placement - article
- Residency Interviewing & Tips for the Match - webinar from AACOM's Council of Residents and Fellows
- Chat with the Residents: Post-residency Interview Etiquette & Ranking - document
Visiting Student (Away) Rotations
Information on scheduling your away rotations
If you are experiencing unfairness in scheduling your Visiting Student Rotations, please notify VSLO@aacom.org.
- I Successfully Matched, Now What?
Congratulations! You’re about to take your first steps into the much larger world of residency training. Here are three key steps you can take to prepare.
- I Didn't Match, What Do I Do?
It can be very daunting if you find yourself without a residency placement. But you still have options available to you after Match Day. Here’s where to start.
The Perfect Match
In this blog, doctors Guillermo and Jesse Alfonso share insights on how they balanced the extreme pressures that came with the journey to becoming physicians while still finding time for their relationship and successfully navigating the couples match into residency.
Start here
DO Graduating Seniors Achieve All Time High of 92.6 Percent Match Rate
A Record Number of Osteopathic Medical Students Successfully Complete Match Week 2025
Blog Post
A FAIR Match for All: Accepting COMPLEX to Improve Specialty Access
March 17, 2025 by Jett Murray, OMS IV, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine
Jett Murray, a previous AACOM Osteopathic Health Policy Intern and fourth-year medical student at the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, reflects on his personal Match experience and the importance of a fairer Match process for osteopathic medical students. Read More
