2019-2020 Residency Navigator: Helping Medical Students Discover the Right Program

Insights from 86,000 Verified Physicians on Over 4,000 Residency Programs Across 28 Specialties

Jul 30, 2019 · The Doximity Residency Navigator Team


Introducing Doximity's 2019-2020 Residency Navigator

With this year’s residency application season underway, Doximity is proud to announce the launch of the 2019-2020 Residency Navigator, the most comprehensive online directory of U.S. residency programs. Last year, over 90 percent of fourth year medical students used Residency Navigator to help discover the right program for their career goals.

This year, over 86,000 verified U.S. physicians contributed more than 400,000 nominations, ratings and hand-written reviews to power the data found in Residency Navigator.

The 2019-2020 edition of Residency Navigator covers 4,000 residency programs across 28 specialties and includes detailed program information such as subspecialization rates and time spent at affiliated hospitals, an alumni list” section that highlights notable alumni from residency programs, and an ability to favorite target programs via the My Rank List feature.

How Residents Use Residency Navigator

Step 1: Initial Program Discovery

Robert, a fourth year medical student and prospective resident, is in the beginning stages of his residency program research process. He aspires to specialize in dermatology, a career goal of his, and he has a strong desire to train in the South to be closer to his family. He performs a search for programs that align these preferences along with his desire to train in a large hospital and further his medical education and training in pediatric dermatology.

Step 2: Individual Program Research

He is then presented with a list of various residency programs based on the parameters he selected.

The Search Results view in Residency Navigator

Viewing the pages of the various residency programs found in the search results, he is presented with stats such as “Total Filled Spots”, “Board Certification Percentage”, and rotation information.

Residency Navigator provides various data points to equip prospective residents to make informed decisions on residency programs

He also views the reviews and ratings submitted by current residents and alumni, which seem to reinforce many of the positive insights and sentiments he developed about those programs through his numerous conversations with program alumni.

In-depth reviews and ratings from current residents and program alumni on various program attributes

After thoroughly evaluating the information found on each of the program pages, he favorites the Virginia Commonwealth and University of Texas Health Science Center dermatology programs by clicking the star on the top right corner of the program pages and turning them green. He finds their small program size and strength in pediatric dermatology to be appealing. Furthermore, the reviews and ratings found on their pages

Step 3: Shortlist Creation

After evaluating over 60 residency programs, Robert has narrowed down his target list to 32 programs. All of the programs he has favorited are stored in the “My Rank List” feature. He spends the following weeks ordering and re-shuffling the programs based on preference, adding notes to each program based on his online research and phone calls and conversations with program residents and alumni.

An example of a student's My Rank List

Getting Started With Doximity’s Residency Navigator

To jumpstart your residency program research process, simply log-in to the 2019-2020 Residency Navigator tool to gain in-depth insights on program culture, training environments, and career opportunities from over 4,000 residency programs across 28 specialties.


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