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Residency Application

Once you've effectively researched programs and identified those where you might fit, it's time to apply to and interview with those programs. Your application includes several components, each designed to explain your qualifications and, ultimately, encourage programs to consider you for an interview. Interviews are your best opportunity to tell programs why they should consider you for a position.

However, any missteps along the way can as much as torpedo your candidacy. Luckily, strategies exist to help you present your best self on paper and in person.

Two women meeting

Applying

Man filling out an application

A successful match to a residency program starts long before you create your rank order list. In fact, applying to residency programs is more involved and strategic than you might think. First, narrow the more than 9,000 programs to a shorter list of programs that are the best fit for you. Then present your best self through your application. Completing both tasks well will help programs foretell the mutually beneficial experience of you as their resident and encourage them to interview you.

Interviewing

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Every fall and winter, thousands of fourth-year medical students travel hundreds of miles and collectively spend millions of dollars to interview for residency positions. It's an expensive, time-consuming process — one that often leaves students feeling uncomfortable and uncertain about what to expect. Employ the resources available to you — especially your advisor(s), so you can most effectively manage the process. This will lessen the bandwidth devoted to those activities and, rather, allow you to redirect that energy to presenting your best self and finding the program(s) that best fit.