General Surgery Residency

Broad operative training and a prerequisite pathway for several surgical subspecialty fellowships.

Answer in brief

General Surgery training in the United States generally lasts generally 5 years, plus optional fellowship. Entry is through ERAS and the NRMP Match after medical school. Categorical general surgery positions are competitive. Some applicants enter preliminary rather than categorical positions.

Training length

Generally 5 years, plus optional fellowship. Program length is set by the accredited program requirements for the specialty, and optional fellowship training adds further years.

2025 Match figures (PGY-1)

Reported by the NRMP for the row Surgery (Categorical).

Positions offered: 1,778
Positions filled: 1,774
Filled by IMGs: 214

"Filled by IMGs" combines US citizen and non-US citizen graduates of international medical schools. Source: Advance Data Tables for the 2025 Main Residency Match, NRMP. Verified 2026-09-18.

Across all specialties in the 2025 Match, 40,041 PGY-1 positions were offered and 37,667 were filled. The PGY-1 match rate was 67.8% for US citizen IMGs and 58% for non-US citizen IMGs.

Considerations for international medical graduates

Categorical general surgery positions are competitive. Some applicants enter preliminary rather than categorical positions.

Position counts, fill rates and applicant numbers change every year. Check the current NRMP results report for the specialty and applicant type before drawing conclusions.

Sources

1.Main Residency Match results and data — National Resident Matching Program (NRMP)
2.Accredited residency and fellowship programs — Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)
3.ERAS for residency applicants — Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)