Preparing for Residency

As you work toward graduation, you’ll also be preparing for the next step in your journey to practice medicine: medical school residency. 

Residency Prep Timeline


Graduation from Ross Med is a big accomplishment—but before you can practice medicine, you’ll also need to complete the USMLE® Step 3 and a medical residency. 
Ross Med Student

Years 1-3: Explore Specialties

During your first two years of medical school, you’ll begin exploring specialties—the areas of medicine that you can see yourself practicing in the future. In Year 3, you’ll complete your core clinical rotations where you will hone your skills and start to solidify your areas of interest. As you move into elective clinical rotations in Year 4, you’ll start choosing opportunities that will more clearly align with next step in our journey – residency.

Mohammed Madani

Year 4: Apply and Match

During your final year studying with Ross Med, you will work with the Ross Med Office of Career Advisement (OCA) to submit your residency applications, after which you’ll be invited to interview for residency programs. You’ll then create a rank order list of your preferred residency programs as you register for the National Residency Match Program® (The Match®).

Your list is then matched against similar lists created by the programs you interviewed with, and on Match Day in late March, you’ll learn if you have been matched with a residency program to fill a post-graduate training position accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The vast majority of Ross Med students and graduates attain a residency and continue their medical education. 

Application and Interview Prep

Beginning in September of your fourth year at Ross Med, you’ll begin working with the Office of Career Advisement (OCA) to apply to ACGME-accredited residency programs through the Electronic Residency Application Service® (ERAS®) offered by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

RUSM and the Application Process

Creating Your Application

Through ERAS, you’ll create a residency application portfolio that includes a curriculum vita (CV), letters of recommendation, a medical residency personal statement, photographs, and other supporting credentials.

Ross Med will also provide medical school and licensing exam transcripts and the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE).

Interviewing for Residency Programs

Once you complete your application, the OCA will register you with the National Resident Matching Program® (NRMP®), a residency match system in the United States that pairs the preferences of residency applicants with the preferences of residency program directors.

After positive responses from residency programs, you’ll work with the OCA from October through February to prepare for program interviews. While your application provided a first impression to residency program directors, your interviews will be critical to their final acceptance decision. These interviews are also the best opportunity for you to determine how compatible each program is with your own professional goals and personal preferences.

After interviewing, you’ll rank the programs you interviewed with in order of preference for the Match.

Ross Med lab

The Match®


Each year, the third week of March is Match Week—a highly anticipated event in the world of fourth-year medical students.

During this process, the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP®) uses the rank order lists provided by both students and residency program directors to match students to residencies.

Match Week begins on Monday, when applicants learn if—but not yet where—they matched. For those who are matched, it is a thrilling moment. For unmatched applicants, there is disappointment, but all is not lost. The Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) offers unmatched or partially matched applicants the chance to fill residency spots left unfilled after the NRMP matching algorithm has been processed.

Friday—residency Match Day—is even more exciting: students—including many SOAP applicants—learn exactly where they will be training for their residencies and in what medical specialty.

Ross Med, like medical schools in the United States and Canada, holds a special celebratory ceremony every year as graduates receive the news that they have matched at leading teaching hospitals. Ross Med achieved a 98% percent first-time residency attainment rate for 2023-2024 graduates.1

1First-time residency attainment rate is the percent of students attaining a 2024-25 residency position out of all graduates or expected graduates in 2023-24 who were active applicants in the 2024 NRMP match or who attained a residency position outside the NRMP match. The current rate for 2025 is 95% as of Apr 22.

Match Day 2020 Cover Image
Students

Residency Prep FAQ's

Who is eligible to apply for a medical residency?

If you are eligible to enter graduate medical education (GME) on July 1 in the year of the match, you are eligible to apply for residency. You must meet all requirements for entry into GME as outlined by the ACGME.

When do I apply to residency programs?

You may begin applying to residencies on September 1. ERAS recommends that you apply no later than September 21 to ensure that your application is available when programs begin accessing applications on September 29. 

Do I have to register separately for ERAS and the NRMP?

Yes. ERAS and the NRMP are separate organizations, so you will register separately for each one.

When do I register for ERAS and the NRMP (The Match®)?

You may register for ERAS beginning in June. NRMP registration is available from September 15 through January 31. Programs cannot rank applicants until NRMP registration is complete.

When do I go to medical residency interviews?

Residency program interviews typically take place from October through February. 

When do I submit a rank order list?

You can submit your rank order list beginning February 1 until early March. You should rank programs in order of your true preference, not where you think you will match.

Is the NRMP MATCH decision final?

Yes. You enter a binding agreement with the NRMP when you register for the Match. Unless a special waiver is secured from the NRMP, you are obligated to attend training in the program to which you are matched.