Surgery-general programs with the most residency positions

FREIDA™ 2025 data

In 2025, FREIDA™ users tallied 3.7 million views of medical residency programs. With this list of surgery general residencies, we draw from the 3,190 first-year positions for surgery-general and reveal which residency programs offer the most positions.

Rankings are based on FREIDA™ data updated as of Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2025. 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.

Specialty description

General surgery is a diverse specialty that is both the foundation for many surgical subspecialties and a distinct field in and unto itself. A fully trained general surgeon possesses the knowledge and ability to intervene on a variety of surgical issues across the life span, from the child with pyloric stenosis, to the victim of a gunshot wound to the chest, to the elderly patient with a recently diagnosed melanoma of the leg.

Key characteristics of a sound general surgeon will include having broad understanding of anatomy and physiology paired with the technical skill to carry out appropriately selected procedures. This combination, while challenging to master, provides general surgeons with unparalleled opportunities to cure and palliate the ill, injured and suffering.

Surgery-general programs with the most first-year positions (including preliminary positions)

1. Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell Program – 34 positions

2. Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine Program – 31 positions

3. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Program – 30 positions

4. Vanderbilt University Medical Center Program – 30 positions

5. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Program – 28 positions

6. University of California (San Francisco) Program – 27 positions

7. Baylor College of Medicine Program – 27 positions

8. Rutgers Health/New Jersey Medical School Program 26 positions

9. University of California Davis Health Program – 26 positions

10. University of Kentucky College of Medicine Program – 26 positions

11. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Program – 25 positions

12. University of Miami/Jackson Health System Program – 25 positions

13. Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU Health) Program – 25 positions

14. Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science (Rochester) Program – 24 positions

15. Emory University School of Medicine Program – 23 positions