APPLYING FOR A RESIDENCY PROGRAM
YOUR APPLICATION
The Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) is the most common tool for managing this process. It is available to U.S. students through the dean’s office. International Medical Graduates (IMGs) can access it through the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). Before you submit an application, make sure the program you are interested in uses ERAS, what the deadline is, and the requirements to be eligible for the program. After contacting the dean’s office, the rest of this process can be completed online through ERAS. The cost of ERAS covers your registration and application fees for up to 10 programs. Once you have exceeded 10 programs, additional costs may occur. Once the fee has been paid, no refunds are available. An additional application fee is required for international medical graduates. It is important to take all relevant factors into consideration when choosing the number of programs to which you wish to apply. Location is an easy way to narrow down your program choices. If you will be a couple matching, consider applying to up to twice the amount of programs that an individual match participant would. After completing your application, the only thing left to do is wait. It on average takes four-to-six weeks to receive results from your interviews. If for some reason you don’t hear from ERAS during this time, contact them and request the status of your application.
ANTICIPATE DELAYS DURING THE APPLICATION PROCESS AND START EARLY SO YOU HAVE TIME TO RESOLVE THEM.
WRITING YOUR PERSONAL STATEMENT
Your personal statement should be a written description or essay that includes your achievements, accomplishments, and interests in the residency program or job. This is an important part of your application process. You should write a specific personal statement for each specialty or residency program for which you choose to apply. Start early to give yourself time to receive feedback from your advisors and instructors. A personal statement should flow smoothly while explaining your reasoning for choosing that specialty or residency program. Your passion, work ethic, personality, and desire to make a positive contribution to the field should be obvious to the reader. Include relevant life experiences, clinical work, and research that make you stand out. It’s important to use the personal statement as a way to highlight things that make a candidate unique and might not be apparent from lines on a CV. Readers don’t just want to see a personal statement be an expanded/reiterated CV – they want to know other things about a candidate’s character and passions that are noteworthy and distinct.
6 La State Med Soc NEW PHYSICIAN’S GUIDE
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