How to Prepare Your Residency Applications

When you begin medical school, it can feel like you’re at the base of a mountain, starting your journey to the top, with medical residency applications waiting for you at the peak. Before you know it, you’re in your third or fourth year of medical school, and it’s time to begin crafting your residency application so that you can put your best foot forward for the Match process.

Residency applications include letters of recommendation, a personal statement, a medical school performance evaluation, your medical school transcript, your USMLE® transcript, your COMLEX-USA® transcript (if you’re a DO student), and your curriculum vitae (CV).

It’s crucial to prepare a thorough and accurate residency application to receive interview invitations and eventually match into a residency program you love.

Keep reading to learn more about the different aspects of residency applications and how to confidently assemble them to submit to your desired residency programs!

Understanding the Landscape

Before you begin your residency application, you must choose your medical specialty and explore various residency program options. Perhaps you’ve always known what specialty is your top choice, or maybe your interests have changed throughout your medical school journey. Either way, you make sure that the specialty you apply to aligns with your goals. You can also apply to multiple specialties if you can’t choose between them. It will take a lot of effort, but don’t let that difficulty deter you if you’re genuinely interested in applying to more than one specialty.

A list of specialties to consider:

Anesthesiology
Psychiatry
Emergency Medicine
Dermatology
Internal Medicine
Family Medicine
General Surgery
Neurosurgery
Neurology
Ophthalmology
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Pediatrics
Otolaryngology
Orthopedic surgery
Pathology
Plastic Surgery
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Radiology
Radiation Oncology
Urology

With so many options, you’ll need to research the different specialties. Take some time to consider your strengths, skills, work-life balance, length of residency training, fellowship opportunities, advancements in the field, research, and salary requirements. Take time to reflect and research; you’ll find the specialty that best aligns with your talents and goals.

TIP: Learn more about each specialty on the AMA website.

Crafting Your Unique Story

A well-crafted personal statement will help you stand out when applying to various programs. Academic excellence is high on every medical student’s list. However, to secure a residency spot, you’ll need to offer more than excellent grades throughout your preclinical years, clinical rotations, and clerkship years. You must write a personal statement showcasing your individuality, passion, strengths, personality traits, and unique characteristics.

Keep in mind that your personal statement should not be a recap of your CV. Instead, it should provide residency programs with a deeper look into why you chose a specific specialty, how your experiences connect to your career aspirations, what qualities set you apart, and what draws you to this particular residency program.

To create a great personal statement, reflect on these questions:

How can you best highlight the skills that make you suited for this specialty?
What makes you a good fit for the different residency programs you’re applying to?
What are your long-term goals in the field?
Are there any red flags to address?
Are there any interesting themes in your life and education?

It may take a few drafts before you finalize your personal statement. Asking trusted family members, friends, and mentors to review it is often a huge help. They’ll be able to provide positive feedback and constructive criticism or even catch writing errors.

Securing Impactful Letters of Recommendation

Just as your personal statement provides a deeper look into who you are, what drives you, and your interests, the letters of recommendation you secure should give the residency program interview committees more insight into who you are as an individual, medical student, and future resident physician. The letters should be both personalized and impactful.

Connections you forged during medical school with your professors, your attendings from your clinical rotations, and the quality of work you put in will reflect in your letters. Your letter writers should be the people you’ve created a professional connection with throughout medical school and any mentors you’ve built a quality relationship with. Avoid asking for letters from those who do not know you well, as you will likely receive a generic letter rather than one that speaks to your attributes, strengths, and clinical skills.

Here are some tips for securing impactful letters of recommendation:

Ask early to give your letter writers ample time to work on it.
Ask mentors or attendings you made a great impression on during clinical rotations.
Provide your personal statement and updated CV to give additional insight into what you plan to highlight in your residency application.
Refresh your letter writers’ memories of when you rotated with them, including any relevant experiences or patient interactions.
Provide a headshot to help them recall who the letter is intended for.
Send thank you letters (or emails) to show your appreciation.

Mastering the Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Structuring a compelling CV for medical residency entails highlighting relevant experiences and achievements while also being concise. It should detail these experiences in reverse chronological order, beginning with where you are now and then traveling backward.

Your CV should include:

Education
Employment
Research
Publications and presentations
Volunteer work
Leadership roles
Extracurricular activities

There are many flashy templates out there for formatting your CV, but it’s best to go with a simple, clean, and professional appearance so that the focus is on your content rather than your design choices. Many medical school websites offer templates and sample CVs to help students understand how to create their own.

Navigating the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS)

Now that you better understand the components of your residency application, let’s learn more about the ERAS application process. In order to register for the MyERAS® portal, you’ll need to register for an Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) account and then receive a “token” (a one-time access code) to register for the MyERAS® system.

If you graduated from medical school in the United States, you’ll need to contact your Dean’s office for your token. However, if you’re an international medical graduate, log onto the Online Applicant Status and Information System (OASIS) on the ECFMG site. Once you’re in the MyERAS® portal, you’ll get prompted to enter your medical school graduation information. You can also import application information from the past season if you’ve previously applied for residency. Check out this guide for more tips on how to navigate the platform.

Since there are many moving parts to applying for the Match, it’s helpful to have a timeline with important deadlines to keep in mind. Remember, dates tend to shift from year to year, so be sure to stay up to date with the latest schedule. Here’s the current timeline:

Acing the Interview

Residency interview preparation is essential for making a lasting impression during interview season and securing a spot in a program. Aside from looking polished and poised, you should also know your application very well, research the programs you will be interviewing with, and radiate confidence. All of this comes with practice and research. Review the common interview questions and how to approach them so you don’t get caught off guard during interviews. Practicing how you’ll answer questions in mock interviews with friends, family, and mentors is a great way to improve your skills and get feedback before your interviews. When it’s time for your interviews, remember to make eye contact, speak clearly, and have questions prepared to ask your interviewer. Check out more ways to master the Match interview by clicking here.

The Rank Order List

Building a strategic rank order list (ROL) is fundamental to the Match process. The NRMP uses an algorithm that pairs residency applicants and programs based on their respective rank order lists. This algorithm favors the applicant’s preferences and tries to place them in their desired program based on the rank order list. If there’s not an available spot at their first choice, they will continue down the list searching for one.

When creating your rank order list, make sure to reflect on your preferences for your residency program location, value system, work-life balance, and career advancement opportunities. Also, create a list with a blend of competitive, less competitive, and “safe” programs where you feel you have a high chance of matching.

If you’re considering leaving programs off, decide whether you’d rather potentially go unmatched than take part in that program. Lastly, though it can be tempting to make last-minute changes to your rank order list, most applicants end up regretting it. Trust your intuition, reach out to mentors while building your list, and reflect on what you want out of your residency training experience.

Reframing Rejections

Throughout your Match application cycle, you may have to deal with rejection from residency programs that you applied for. Dealing with residency application rejection isn’t easy, and you should take time to sit with your feelings because they are valid. Just make sure not to dwell too long on the rejection and find ways to redirect it. Look for areas for improvement, and if you can get feedback, leverage it so that you can work on ways to be your best for the right residency program for you. Not receiving an interview from a program doesn’t make you a failure. Neither does not matching into a residency program during your first application cycle. You only fail if you quit on yourself, and you’re much too resilient for that.

Conclusion

Building a worthwhile residency application takes time, effort, research, and patience. Knowing your “why” can help keep you in a positive headspace as you work towards matching into a wonderful residency program. You’ve worked diligently throughout medical school, and applying to residency is the culmination of your medical school journey.

So go confidently in the direction of your dreams, and remember, you’re fully capable of matching into your desired specialty and excelling in residency. If you need more Match process guidance or residency tips, check out the Osmosis Ultimate Guide to the Match.

Wishing you lots of luck and peace of mind during the Match process!