When it comes to your future, it pays to be practical. In terms of applying to residency programs, that may mean diversifying your search to include more than one specialty.
If you are a medical student applying to more than one specialty, whether it’s due to uncertainty about your career path or the competitiveness of your application, here’s what you need to know.
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How common is it?
Looking at data from the 2024 Main Residency Match—the most recent figures available from the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP)—the frequency of medical students applying to multiple specialties has been consistent in recent years.
In the 2024 Main Residency Match the average number of specialties ranked was 1.2 for U.S. allopathic senior medical students who matched and 1.6 for those who didn’t match. For U.S. osteopathic medical school seniors, those who matched ranked 1.2 specialties and those who didn’t match ranked 1.8.
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Why rank more than one specialty?
Based on the numbers above, the primary driver of medical students ranking more than one specialty seems to be a desire to match. In 2024, U.S. allopathic seniors matched at a 94% clip and osteopathic seniors matched at a 93% rate. The figures were similar in 2025.
Related to that is likely the competitiveness of the specialty in which one hopes to match. In 2024, dermatology—annually considered among the most competitive specialties—illustrates this trend. Of the 314 matched MD applicants who provided NRMP survey data, 70 ranked only dermatology, 111 ranked two specialties, 124 ranked three and eight ranked four or more.
Among osteopathic medical students seeking residency positions in 2024, applicants who matched in their preferred specialty most frequently applied to additional specialties in interventional radiology (2.4 average specialties ranked), diagnostic radiology (2.1) and dermatology (2.0).
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Why dual apply?
The data portends that people most frequently dual apply because of specialty competitiveness.
If you’re applying to a competitive specialty such as dermatology or orthopaedic surgery, dual applying is a pragmatic move. Just be prepared to explain your decision with clarity and sincerity if the topic ever comes up in interviews.
“I’d never advise against dual applying,” said John Andrews, MD, the AMA’s vice president of graduate medical education innovations.
“You have to be able to say, ‘My ambition is to be a dermatologist, but I recognize that it's competitive and I want to be sure I have a job next year,’” Dr. Andrews said.
Sometimes, the motivation behind the decision to dual apply is the applicant’s personal circumstances.
“There could be some really legitimate reasons to apply in more than one specialty,” Dr. Andrews said. “You may have kids in school or are helping to care for a sick parent. You simply may need to live in one place and in that case your approach might be that you understand that if you can’t match in orthopaedic surgery, you’d be happy to work in another capacity.”
“When those kinds of circumstances arise, that’s a story that makes sense to people.”
Dive deeper:
- Countdown to Match Day: What M4s must do to prepare
- Meet Your Match: A realistic approach to applying
- When it comes to submitting residency applications, cast a wide net
- 4 tricks to a successful residency program search
How does the process differ?
In terms of your applicant profile, you are likely to need different personal statements for each specialty you apply to. You may also want to have different people write your letters of recommendation who are more suited to a certain specialty. You will also want to make sure you take the proper subinternships for each specialty you apply to. That can get tricky if you’re applying to numerous specialties.
A dual applicant in ob-gyn and orthopaedic surgery during the 2019–2020 Match cycle, AMA member Deena Kishawi, MD, offered that any dual applicant is doubling their work come application time. Dr. Kishawi ended up matching in ob-gyn.
“It’s two sets of everything,” said Dr. Kishawi, now an attending physician and clinical instructor in Rhode Island, during an episode of the “AMA Making the Rounds” podcast. “It’s two sets of personal statements, two sets of recommendation letters, two sets of basically every single thing, two completely different things for that. So, my personal statements were completely different. And you had to be really careful about labeling that because when you're uploading it, you have to release them to each program.”
