How to Apply
How and Where to Apply
Deciding where to apply is one of the most important steps in the residency selection process. Discussing your application list with faculty members is a good way to become acquainted with them and to gain valuable information about different programs.
Click here for a chart that illustrates the length of post-graduate training for physicians by specialty programs. Information regarding programs is available online at Opportunities or FREIDA.
Ask your clinicians if they know of graduates who are now on the faculty of a particular residency program; this might be a program you would like to consider. Members of your faculty have come from all over the country; find out where and investigate those programs.
Once you have created a list of programs to which you will be applying, it's time to request program information. This is the simplest part of the process, although somewhat time-consuming.
When reviewing the residency program directories, AOA’s Opportunities, the AMA’s Green Book (available in the Office of Clinical Education), or FREIDA, note the programs you are interested in and decide if you will need additional information about that particular program.
For both AOA and AMA programs, as well as most military programs, you will more than likely be using ERAS to make application.
Your Dean's Letter
Your Dean's letter follows specific guidelines for format and content and is required by most programs. Although it is reported to rank below letters of recommendation from preceptors, your Dean’s letter is an extremely important part of the residency quest process. It is so important that each of you will sit for a senior interview prior to the writing of your Dean’s letter.
Beginning in April of your fourth year, you may schedule your senior interview by contacting Andy Axsom at 817.735.2501. Prior to your interview with Dr. Bruce Dubin, you will review the biographical information contained in the first section of your Dean's letter. This section includes a brief summary of your undergraduate academic and extracurricular experiences, as well as UNTHSC activities, committees, honors and research projects. It is the only section of the Dean's letter where you have an opportunity for actual and substantive input.
Your Senior Interview
Prior to your senior interview, you will need to complete the Dean's Letter Personal Profile online. At the time of your senior interview, you'll need to bring a copy of your CV and personal statement with you. These documents don't need to be in final form when you sit for your interview; a work in progress is acceptable.
The second section of your Dean’s letter contains clinical clerkship grades, including comments made by preceptors, from at least six core clerkships. The third and final section provides for a summary statement on your behalf. This statement is based on your senior interview and is not open to discussion.
You are reminded that any leave of absence or difficulty of record, academic or otherwise, will be addressed in your Dean’s letter. You may wish to take the opportunity provided to review your Dean’s letter before it is mailed out.
