Application Review and Interview Process

Application Review

• Our selection committee will begin reviewing applications in late September when ERAS opens.
• We are committed to a holistic review to identify a diverse group of motivated, thoughtful, and conscientious future residents.
• For the upcoming residency application season, all Internal Medicine applicants will be allotted 3 “Gold” and 12 “Silver” program signals.
• Our residency will use program signals as one element of our holistic review process.
  • For applicants to our Categorical, Primary Care, and Physician-Scientist programs, we will preferentially review applications and extend interviews to qualified applicants who signal our program, but we will also consider applicants who do not signal us.
  • Due to the high number of applications and limited positions in our Preliminary Medicine program, we are very unlikely to extend interview offers to applicants who do not signal our program.
  • Please understand that a program signal does not guarantee an interview.

Interview Invitations

For our Categorical, Primary Care, and Physician-Scientist programs:

• We will extend interview invitations via Thalamus on Tuesdays and Fridays after 3pm EST, starting October 7^th.

• We will only extend interviews for the number of slots available. The majority of our interview invitations will be sent out by November 25^th. After this time, we may continue to offer additional limited interview invitations as they become available.
• Applicants will have 48 hours to respond to an interview invitation before the interview slot will be released to other applicants.
• We will notify all applicants for whom we cannot extend an invitation no later than December 9^th.

For our Preliminary Medicine program:

• We will extend interview invitations via Thalamus on Tuesdays and Fridays after 3pm EST, starting December 2^nd.
• We will only extend interviews for the number of slots available. The majority of our interview invitations will be sent out by December 12^th. After this time, we may continue to offer additional limited interview invitations as they become available.
• Applicants will have 48 hours to respond to an interview invitation before the interview slot will be released to other applicants.
• We will notify all applicants for whom we cannot extend an invitation no later than December 19^th.

Interview Logistics

• We use email as our primary method of communicating with applicants. Please check your email regularly.
• Interviews will be held from late October through December for our Categorical, Primary Care, and Physician-Scientist programs, and we will have 2 interview dates in January for our Preliminary Medicine program.
• All interviews will be conducted virtually, in accordance with national recommendations.
• With your invitation to schedule an interview, we’ll request information to help personalize your experience and ask you to complete the Acknowledgement of Documents and Promise attestation, which is a required interview activity. You’ll also receive information including residency eligibility criteria, a summary of salary and benefits, and a sample contract.
• You’ll receive an interview schedule, Zoom link, and access to a library of informational videos about our program a few days before your interview date.
• Interview experiences for candidates for our Categorical, Primary Care, and Preliminary programs occur over a half-day timeframe.
• Candidates for our ABIM Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP) participate in 2 consecutive days of interviews, meeting with core residency and fellowship faculty as well as subspecialty clinical and research faculty.

After The Interview

It’s common for questions to arise about residency programs in the days, weeks, or months after interviews, as applicants reflect on their interview experiences. If you have lingering questions about the University of Rochester’s Internal Medicine Residency or a special interest that you’d like to learn more about, please contact us. Our faculty, residents, and administrative staff welcome your questions, and we’d be happy to connect you with the appropriate individuals here at University of Rochester to help you explore.

Voluntary Rank Order List (ROL) Lock Pilot

Our residency will be participating in the NRMP’s “Voluntary Program Rank Order List (ROL) Lock" pilot in the 2026 Main Residency Match. This pilot allows participating programs to voluntarily lock their certified rank list early (on or before February 9^th), in anticipation of offering optional in-person visits to interviewed applicants. The goal is to provide transparency in letting applicants know that our rankings has been finalized and that opting to visit or not visit our program will have no impact on ranking.

Optional In-Person Visits

• We will be offering optional in-person visits after our virtual interview season is completed and our rank list has been finalized and locked (i.e. no changes can be made.) The sole purpose of these optional visits is to provide applicants who are not familiar with our program an opportunity to visit if they feel it would be helpful for their program selection process. The decision to visit or not visit will have NO impact on our rank list.
• Applicants applying to the categorical, physician scientist (PSTP), and primary care programs will be eligible for these visits.
• Additional details, including February visits dates, will be provided to all eligible applicants who interview with our program during the virtual interview process.

Post-Interview Communications Policy

Program Communication 

• We will respect the integrity, confidentiality, and autonomy of applicants in the interview and ranking process.
• We will be precise and honest in our communication and not use misleading language.
• We will not make statements about an applicant’s likelihood to match in our programs. Specifically, we will not use terms such as "ranked to match" or coded language implying rank position.
• Post-interview communications from any program representative will be limited to applicant-initiated requests and responses.
• Any program-initiated informational outreach or event invitations from faculty or program representatives will be available to all applicants or all applicants within a specific group (i.e., all PSTP applicants).
• Applicant participation in post-interview events is completely voluntary and will not impact rank status.
   

Applicant Communication

• Applicants are welcome to email our residents, administrative staff, faculty, and leadership with any questions about the program and can expect an individual response, but these responses will not indicate an applicant’s likelihood to match in the program.
• Applicants are not expected to reply to any communications from our program after they complete their interview, and a lack of response will not impact rank status.
• There is no expectation for applicants to send thank you notes or e-mails. Such communications will have no impact on ranking decisions and may not routinely receive a reply.