GI remains one of the tightest fellowship matches in internal medicine.
According to results from the 2026 National Resident Matching Program’s Specialties Matching Service released in March, new positions keep getting added, but the applicant pool is growing even faster, and the numbers show where that pressure is landing.
Here are 19 numbers to know:
759: GI fellowship positions offered nationally this cycle, across 254 programs.
755: Positions filled, for a 99.5% overall fill rate.
4: Programs (of 254) left with any position unfilled: just 1.6% of all programs, meaning 98.4% filled every certified slot.
421 (55.8%): U.S. MD graduates among filled positions.
114 (15.1%): U.S. DO graduates among filled positions.
220 (29.2%): Combined international medical graduates among filled positions (162 non-U.S. IMGs and 58 U.S. IMGs).
1,247: Applicants who ranked GI as their preferred specialty this cycle.
1.64: Applicants per position — 1,247 applicants compared to 759 positions
28.1%: Share of GI-preferring applicants who matched to their first-choice program.
32.4%: Matched to a lower-ranked choice instead (10.3% second, 6.9% third, 15.2% fourth-or-lower).
38.5%: Applicants who ranked GI as their top specialty and didn’t match into a GI fellowship anywhere.
23%: Growth in GI fellowship positions over five years (616 in 2022 to 759 in 2026).
28%: Growth in applicants preferring GI over the same five years (974 to 1,247)
-4.7 points: Decline in the U.S. MD fill rate over five years (60.2% to 55.5%).
+3.9 points: Rise in non-U.S. IMG representation over the same five years (17.4% to 21.3%).
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