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, 2025. 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 2025, FREIDA users tallied 3.7 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 2025

1. Internal medicine – 1,449,290 total views of 685 residency programs

2. Family medicine – 565,129 total views of 798 residency programs

3. Obstetrics and gynecology – 284,846 total views of 298 residency programs

4. Emergency medicine – 198,447 total views of 291 residency programs

5. Pediatrics – 188,309 total views of 219 residency programs

6. Surgery-general – 186,338 total views of 369 residency programs

7. Psychiatry – 134,055 total views of 333 residency programs

8. Anesthesiology – 105,644 total views of 179 residency programs

9. Neurology – 97,478 total views of 191 residency programs

10. Radiology-diagnostic – 54,599 total views of 198 residency programs

11. Transitional year – 50,218 total views of 211 residency programs

12. Pathology-anatomic and clinical – 47,861 total views of 143 residency programs

13. Orthopaedic surgery – 47,638 total views of 210 residency programs

14. Physical medicine and rehabilitation – 32,263 total views of 114 residency programs

15. Dermatology – 32,247 total views of 143 residency programs

16. Otolaryngology-head and neck surgery – 23,119 total views of 132 residency programs

17. Ophthalmology – 20,765 total views of 126 residency programs

18. Neurological surgery – 18,577 total views of 122 residency programs

19. Urology – 18,466 total views of 153 residency programs

20. Internal medicine/pediatrics – 17,502 total views of 78 residency programs