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medical residency/fellowship programs

Programs that prepare allopathic physicians (MD), osteopathic physicians (DO), and podiatrists (DPM) for certification as practitioners of recognized medical specialties. These programs are approved and accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or the Council on Podiatric Medical Education (CPME) and require from one to seven years to complete, depending on the program. Residency programs that also result in the completion of an academic degree (e.g., MS, PhD), should be reported under one of the clinical sciences codes located in Series 26, 51.05, or 51.14, rather than in a residency code located in Series 61. These CIP Codes are not valid for IPEDS reporting.

What medical residency/fellowship programs Majors Need to Know

Programs in medical residency/fellowship programs develop a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that medical residency/fellowship programs graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

This major prepares you for careers needing medical residency/fellowship programs emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• Medicine and Dentistry — Importance 4.8 / 5; level 5.9 / 7.
• Biology — Importance 4.5 / 5; level 5.3 / 7.
• English Language — Importance 4.4 / 5; level 5.0 / 7.
• Education and Training — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 5.2 / 7.
• Psychology — Importance 3.9 / 5; level 5.1 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

Skills developed in a medical residency/fellowship programs program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Reading Comprehension — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 5.1 / 7.
• Critical Thinking — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Active Listening — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Speaking — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.4 / 7.
• Judgment and Decision Making — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.

Abilities

Innate abilities most relevant to medical residency/fellowship programs careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Oral Expression — Importance 4.4 / 5; level 5.0 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 5.1 / 7.
• Inductive Reasoning — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 5.0 / 7.
• Written Comprehension — Importance 4.2 / 5; level 5.0 / 7.
• Deductive Reasoning — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.6 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, medical residency/fellowship programs graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge	4.6 / 7
Getting Information	4.6 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	4.6 / 7
Documenting/Recording Information	4.5 / 7
Assisting and Caring for Others	4.4 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	4.4 / 7
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships	4.4 / 7
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events	4.4 / 7
Working with Computers	4.3 / 7
Processing Information	4.3 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by medical residency/fellowship programs professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Email software	Electronic mail software	—
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	✓
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	✓
Web browser software	Internet browser software	—
Epic Systems	Medical software	✓
MEDITECH software	Medical software	—
eClinicalWorks EHR software	Medical software	—
Microsoft Access	Data base user interface and query software	—
Medical procedure coding software	Medical software	—
Greenway Medical Technologies PrimeSUITE	Medical software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for medical residency/fellowship programs graduates include:

• Physician
• DO Physician (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Physician)
• MD (Medical Doctor)
• Hospitalist Physician
• Pediatric Hospitalist
• Pediatric Hospitalist Physician
• Doctor
• Physiology Teacher
• Gastroenterology Teacher
• Obstetrics Teacher
• Orthopedics Teacher
• Respiratory Therapy Instructor
• Hearing Therapy Teacher
• Faculty Member
• Neurosurgery Professor

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to medical residency/fellowship programs graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
Post-doctoral training	49.1%
Doctoral degree	34.2%
Master’s degree	8.6%
Bachelor’s degree	3.4%
First professional degree	2.3%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	1.1%
Postsecondary certificate	0.7%
High school diploma or equivalent	0.3%
Some college courses	0.1%
Post-master’s certificate	0.1%
Post-baccalaureate certificate	0.1%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

How Much Do medical residency/fellowship programs Graduates Earn?

The U.S. Department of Education tracks median earnings of medical residency/fellowship programs graduates 1, 4, and 5 years after completion. These numbers tend to grow steadily as graduates gain experience and move into mid-career roles.

Years Out	Median Earnings
4 years	$41,238
5 years	$48,758

^{Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings tracker.}

Is a Degree in medical residency/fellowship programs Worth It?

On the earnings side, the federal earnings tracker, medical residency/fellowship programs graduates earn a median of $41,238 four years after completion — roughly 9% above the national median for workers with only a high school diploma (~$38,000).

^{ROI estimate compares the program’s 4-yr median earnings against the 2023 BLS CPS median earnings for high-school-only workers. Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard + BLS Current Population Survey.}

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.