Choosing Residency Programs for the 2028 Match - IMGPrep
IMGPrep - ARTICLES - Articles

Choosing Residency Programs for the 2028 Match

October 7, 2026

Facebooktwittermail

IMGPrep residency application strategy

Choose programs for the physician you want to become.

Start with who you are and what you want to do in medicine. Your SUVY tells you which programs can consider you. Your goals tell you which of those programs can train you for the career you want.

By IMGPrep, preparing for the 2028 Match

716Internal Medicine programs541accept J-1 sponsorship143in New England and Middle Atlantic73with a cardiology fellowship23with a Research Track10where Israeli graduates trainOne applicant’s list, from every program to the ten that fit him best. Meet Nachum

Meet Nachum Cohen.

Nachum is Canadian. He graduates from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel in December 2026. He entered medical school planning to become a cardiologist, so he is applying in Internal Medicine for the 2028 Match. As a Canadian citizen, he needs J-1 sponsorship.

He and his wife are raising two young children, and their family is in Montreal. He wants to train in the Northeast so his family can stay close to the people who support them.

From 716 programs to 10, one reason at a time.

Each step adds one thing Nachum wants. The bar shows how many programs remain, as a share of all 716.

  1. 716Step 1 of 6: All programs716 Internal Medicine programsHe starts with the specialty.IMGPrep has records for 716 Internal Medicine programs. Nachum wants to become a cardiologist, and cardiology fellowship follows Internal Medicine residency. This is where his list begins.
  2. 541Step 2 of 6: SUVY541 accept J-1 sponsorshipHis SUVY is the selective screen.Nachum has a Step 2 CK of 245, U.S. clinical experience, a J-1 requirement, and a December 2026 graduation date. Where a program states a requirement, he meets it or he does not. 541 programs accept J-1. He confirms each one’s score, clinical experience, and graduation rules on its own website.
  3. 143Step 3 of 6: Northeast143 in New England and Middle AtlanticHe trains where his family has support.Nachum’s relatives are in Montreal. Residency is three years of long hours, and he and his wife are raising two young children. Training in the Northeast keeps the family within driving distance of the people who help them.
  4. 73Step 4 of 6: Cardiology73 with a cardiology fellowshipHe looks for programs that build toward cardiology.At a program with its own cardiology fellowship, he can work with cardiology faculty, take part in cardiology research, and earn letters from faculty who know the fellowship, all while he is an Internal Medicine resident.
  5. 23Step 5 of 6: Research Track23 with a Research TrackHe adds a track he can grow into.A Research Track gives him protected time and mentorship for the research a cardiology application needs. Some tracks have their own Match code and a separate application, so he checks how each one selects residents.
  6. 10Step 6 of 6: Israeli graduates10 where Israeli graduates trainHe finds people who share his training.At these 10 programs, a current resident or alumnus graduated from an Israeli medical school. They can tell him what training there is like for someone with his background.

Next, he reads each program

Each filter comes from something Nachum wants. The filters do not decide where he will match. They show him where to look first and give him a list he can manage.

Build your own list

Nachum Cohen is a fictional applicant. The program counts are real: IMGPrep’s records of 716 Internal Medicine programs, October 2026. The SUVY step counts programs recorded as accepting J-1 visas; he confirms score, clinical experience, and graduation rules program by program. Regions are the ERAS Census divisions New England and Middle Atlantic. Cardiology means an in-house ACGME cardiovascular disease fellowship. Research Track means a track named on the program’s own website. Israeli graduates means a current resident or alumnus from an Israeli medical school.

Then he reads each program.

The numbers show Nachum where to look. The decision comes from reading. For each program on his list, he opens its IMGPrep profile and its own website and answers three questions.

  1. Can it train him toward cardiology?He looks at cardiology electives, faculty mentors, research access, and where recent residents went for fellowship.
  2. Who is training there now?He reads the resident roster. Graduates of Israeli schools, or of Ben-Gurion, are people he can contact with questions.
  3. Can his family live well there?He checks the schedule, commute, housing, schools, and the drive to Montreal.
University Medical CenterNew York, NY, Internal MedicineBen-Gurion: 1 graduateIsrael: 3 residentsIMG 36%In-house cardiology fellowshipResearch TrackClass4 C-IMG, 9 F-IMG, 21 MD, 2 DOProgram details

Program structure

In-house fellowshipsCardiology, Gastroenterology
TracksResearch Track, Hospitalist Track
VisaJ-1, H-1B
Class size36

Current residents

From Ben-Gurion1
From Israel3
Caribbean IMG4
Foreign IMG9

The Research Track has its own Match code, so it is a separate application. One Ben-Gurion graduate is in the current class, and Nachum can ask about their experience.

Example program card. The program and its details are illustrative.

Nachum has a challenge.

After his SUVY and his regions, 143 programs can consider him. In Internal Medicine he has 15 signals to share among them. He has to decide where each one carries the most meaning.

3gold signals
for his highest interest
12silver signals
for strong interest

His geographic preference and his signals do different jobs. When he selects New England and Middle Atlantic, every program in those divisions sees that he wants to train in the region. A signal tells one program that he wants to train there in particular.

His signals follow the same layers as his list.

143

Geographic preference

Every Northeast program that accepts J-1 sees his regional interest. He applies to the ones he has read and can explain, with or without a signal.

73

12 silver signals

He places them among the programs with a cardiology fellowship, giving priority to the 23 that also offer a Research Track.

10

3 gold signals

He reads the 10 programs where every layer lines up and places his gold signals at the three programs where he most wants to train.

He never signals a program that cannot consider him.

A program that does not accept J-1 cannot interview him. A signal there is lost.

He signals only where his interest is real.

A signal works when the rest of his application supports it: his cardiology goal, his research, and his reasons for the Northeast.

Signal allocation for Internal Medicine in the 2027 ERAS season: AAMC program signaling. AAMC publishes the 2028 season rules later; confirm the allocation and the participating programs before assigning signals.

What’s your SUVY?

Your Scores, U.S. clinical experience, Visa needs, and Year of graduation are your starting profile.

From building your candidacy to the Match

Begin with who you are and where you want to go. Overlay your school and SUVY (Scores, USCE, Visa, Year of Graduation) on the programs in your specialty. Then examine geography, training pathways, and the evidence of fit.

Who are you?Your clinical experience, strengths, and professional identity.
Where are you going?Your specialty, practice setting, and longer-term career goals.
School and SUVYYour starting profile against each program’s requirements.
Where do you fit?Regions, program signals, tracks, mentors, and fellowship preparation.
  1. Build your candidacyDefine your goals, specialty, school, and SUVY.
  2. Selective screenCheck each program’s stated requirements.
  3. Holistic reviewConnect your experiences with mission, geography, and training goals.
  4. InterviewShow your readiness and evaluate the training environment.
  5. RankOrder acceptable programs by your actual preferences.
  6. MatchWork toward training that advances your career.

Conceptual IMGPrep framework, adapted from the Applicant Workstation. Dots and funnel width are illustrative, not measured conversion rates. Program review processes vary; geography and signals may also inform screening. “Best Match” describes the goal of alignment, not a guaranteed result.

70.0%U.S.-citizen IMGs2026 PGY-1 Match rate, active applicants.NRMP 2026 results
56.4%Non-U.S.-citizen IMGs2026 PGY-1 Match rate, active applicants.NRMP 2026 results
96%Programs using signalsResponding programs reported using signals to help select interviewees in the 2026 ERAS season.AAMC program survey
25.1%Reviewed holisticallyAverage share of applications reviewed holistically among analyzed respondents receiving more than 2,000 applications.NRMP holistic-review research

Choosing where to apply is part of building your application and your career. Each program on your list should have a reason for being there: your profile meets its requirements, your experience supports a credible application, and its training can advance your goals.

This guide is for applicants preparing to apply in 2027 for the 2028 Residency Match. Applicants in the current season are already in the 2027 Match cycle. The completed 2026 Match provides useful context, but national outcomes do not predict an individual candidate’s result. NRMP’s IMG rates above cover active applicants who submitted certified rank lists; citizenship categories are different from visa sponsorship needs.

Start with who you are and where you want to go.

Before opening a program directory, define the work you want to do. Which clinical problems interest you? Which patients do you hope to serve? Do you see your future in community practice, hospital medicine, subspecialty care, research, or academic medicine?

Choose a specialty that connects that direction with your preparation. Then build the experiences, letters, and application narrative that make the choice credible. If you are considering more than one specialty, evaluate each program pool separately.

IMGPrep’s planning principle is to establish career direction first, then investigate the programs within that specialty. A candidate pursuing rural primary care and a candidate pursuing laboratory research may need very different training environments. This is the starting point of our residency match consulting.

Define your school and SUVY.

Identify your medical school, graduation date, training history, and relevant alumni connections. Then organize your profile using SUVY, IMGPrep’s framework for Scores, U.S. Clinical Experience, Visa, and Year of Graduation.

DimensionWhat to establish
ScoresExamination results, pass/fail status, and examinations still pending.
USCEThe type, duration, recency, specialty relevance, and evaluations from your U.S. clinical experience.
VisaYour actual work authorization and sponsorship requirements.
Year of graduationTime since graduation, subsequent training, current clinical activity, and any gaps.

Graduation recency is one part of your profile. For additional planning guidance, explore pathways for older medical graduates.

Your school adds context. Alumni at a program can help you investigate training and recruitment patterns. Their presence does not establish your eligibility or guarantee an interview; their absence does not automatically justify excluding a program.

Overlay your profile on the specialty’s program pool.

For each program, ask whether your profile satisfies its current requirements. Verify accepted visa arrangements, examination requirements, clinical experience, graduation limits, certification timing, and required documents.

Where a requirement is explicit, eligibility is binary: you meet it or you do not.

The distinction between selective screening and holistic review matters. NRMP’s research describes both minimum-qualification screens followed by full review and programs avoiding rigid cutoffs. Among analyzed respondents receiving more than 2,000 applications, an average of 25.1% received holistic review. The underlying survey’s 18.0% response rate limits generalization.

Evidence: NRMP holistic-review research brief, published April 2025 using the 2024 Program Director Survey.

Applying in Emergency Medicine?

Start with your SUVY, then use the Emergency Medicine program directory to compare each program’s published requirements with your scores, experience, visa needs, and graduation date. For the next layer, read IMGPrep’s guide to identifying IMG-friendly EM programs, the Step 2 CK article for EM, and the Emergency Medicine SLOE guide. Use them to build questions about each program rather than treating a specialty-wide benchmark as a universal cutoff.

Check my SUVY

All Emergency Medicine articles | Other specialties

Add regional alignment and program signals.

Once you identify programs that can consider you, examine where you want to train and why. Family support, prior clinical experience, patient populations, and future practice plans can give your regional choices a real foundation.

In the current 2027 ERAS season, applicants can select up to three U.S. Census divisions or indicate no division preference. Programs within a selected division see the corresponding response; programs outside it do not see that geographic preference information. Otolaryngology, Orthopedic Surgery, and Plastic Surgery–Integrated have opted out this season. AAMC has not yet published the rules for the 2028 ERAS season, so confirm them when they are released.

Rules: AAMC geographic preference guidance. Further reading: Geographic preferences and the IMG Match funnel.

Geographic preferences communicate regional interest. Program signals identify interest in an individual program. In AAMC’s survey concerning the 2026 ERAS season, 96% of responding programs reported using signals to help select interviewees; 90% said signals helped identify applicants they otherwise might have overlooked.

Evidence: AAMC program signaling guidance. These percentages describe survey responses, not applicants’ interview success rates.

A 2025 study of the 2023 application cycle across nine specialties reported median interview invitation odds ratios of 1.83 to 2.75 for aligned versus unaligned geographic preferences. It excluded IMGs and examined factors separately, so those figures cannot be treated as an IMG-specific or causal benefit.

Research: Program signaling, geographic preferences, and interview invitations, Journal of Graduate Medical Education.

Coordinate your eligible program pool, your actual geographic preferences, and your available signals, as Nachum does. A signal expresses interest; it does not overcome an unmet requirement or guarantee an interview.

Look inside the training: tracks, mentors, and fellowships.

Programs within the same specialty can lead toward different professional opportunities. Investigate clinical tracks, research pathways, elective flexibility, patient populations, mentorship, and graduates’ fellowship destinations.

Check whether a training pathway has a separate application or Match code, requires additional training, or selects residents after they enter.

An institution’s fellowship offerings alone do not establish your access to them. Examine actual mentorship, selection conditions, research opportunities, and outcomes. Your career goal should guide the questions you ask about each program.

Show why your preparation belongs in that program.

NRMP’s research identifies alignment between applicants’ values and career goals and program missions as a theme in holistic review. Respondents also describe assessing clinical experience, research, letters, and personal statements.

Evidence: NRMP holistic-review research brief.

Turn your interests into evidence. A research goal should connect with work you have done and mentorship you hope to pursue. An interest in underserved communities should connect with service or clinical experience. A regional preference should have an honest explanation.

Your residency personal statement, experiences, and letters should make that relationship clear. Program research helps identify where your preparation is relevant and what you may need to develop before applying.

Give every program a reason to be on your list.

For each program, answer four questions:

  • Can it consider me? Verify your school and SUVY profile against its requirements.
  • Why might it interview me? Assess your preparation, relevant historical patterns, geography, and signals.
  • How does its training advance my goals? Examine curriculum, tracks, mentors, and fellowship preparation.
  • What evidence shows alignment? Connect your application and interview examples with the program’s mission.

Use current program websites and informed advising to evaluate each program. Historical recruitment patterns add context, but they do not predict future decisions.

IMGPrep’s approach brings these layers together: professional identity, specialty, school and SUVY, eligibility, geography, and training fit. Choosing programs becomes a deliberate part of building your candidacy and the career it represents.

About the framework and evidence

SUVY and the illustrated funnel are IMGPrep’s planning framework, not a universal admissions algorithm. Sources are linked beside the claims they support. The cited data include the 2026 Match, AAMC’s 2026 signaling survey, the 2027 ERAS signal allocation, and earlier research labeled by year. Requirements and specialty rules can change. No program list, signal, or advisory process guarantees an interview or Match.

IMGPrep is not affiliated with NRMP, AAMC, or ECFMG. External organization names identify the sources used.

Make your program list part of your career plan.

Start with your specialty, medical school, and SUVY. Identify the programs that can consider you, then investigate the regions and training that support your goals.