Psychiatry
Mental health diagnosis and treatment. Pharmacology, psychotherapy, neuromodulation.
Psychiatrists treat depression, anxiety, psychosis, bipolar disorder, addiction, eating disorders, and acute psychiatric emergencies. Practice settings range from outpatient private practice (often largely psychotherapy and pharm management) to inpatient units, consult-liaison, child psychiatry, addiction, and forensic. Increasingly involves neuromodulation (TMS, ECT, ketamine).
Lifestyle & practice
Resident hours 50 to 65, attending 40 to 50 typical, minimal call. Outpatient private practice can be very controllable. Compensation $260k to $320k median academic, higher in private cash-pay practice. Among the most flexible specialties for part-time work.
Common fellowship paths
- Residency length
- 4 years
- Median comp
- $280k to $320k
- Demand
- Very high, severe national shortage
High-signal external links curated for residents and applicants.
- American Psychiatric Association ↗
Specialty society. DSM-5-TR, practice guidelines.
- Carlat Psychiatry ↗
Independent, ad-free education for psychiatrists.
- Psychiatry forum (SDN) ↗
Long-running medical career forum with active specialty subforums.
Positions
2261
All applicants
2859
Seats / app
0.79
From NRMP Charting Outcomes 2024 (most recent biennial publication). Source PDFs: MD Seniors / DO Seniors / IMG. NRMP publishes Charting Outcomes every other year, so this should refresh in early 2026 with the 2025 cycle data.
| Pool | Step 1 | Step 2 | Pubs | Research | AOA % | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MD_seniors | 226 | 246 | 7.5 | 3.0 | 9.2 | 1051 |
| DO_seniors | 204 | 240 | 3.8 | 2.1 | — | 385 |
| US_IMG | 213 | 231 | 3.4 | 2.2 | — | 132 |
| Non_US_IMG | 226 | 240 | 8.0 | 4.6 | — | 135 |
Per-applicant-type match rates and mean Step scores published by NRMP every two years. Each row is one applicant pool in one cycle. Step scores reflect what matched applicants in that cycle achieved, not what programs require today.
| Year | Type | Match rate | Matched (n) | Step 1 | Step 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | MD_Senior | 89.5% | 1051 | 226 | 246 |
| 2024 | DO_Senior | 81.0% | 385 | 204 | 240 |
| 2024 | IMG | 55.0% | 132 | — | 231 |
| 2022 | MD_Senior | 93.4% | 1024 | 228 | 242 |
| 2022 | IMG | 50.9% | 146 | 216 | 228 |
| 2020 | MD_Senior | 90.7% | 1029 | 227 | 241 |
| 2020 | DO_Senior | 84.3% | 296 | 225 | 238 |
| 2018 | MD_Senior | 85.0% | 869 | 226 | 239 |
| 2018 | IMG | 29.6% | 102 | 214 | 227 |
| Pool | Share |
|---|---|
| MD_seniors | 58.4% |
| DO_seniors | 20.7% |
| US_IMG | 9.5% |
| Non_US_IMG | 11.3% |