How to Apply

We receive over 7,500 applications per year and select several candidates to interview, including both Categorical and Preliminary candidates. We base selection upon a number of factors, including your academic performance (particularly in Medicine clerkships), personal qualities, letters of recommendation, USMLE scores, and clinical performance. Below is a guide for how to apply to residency at Upstate.

Upstate Medical University Department of Medicine participates in the NRMP and accepts applications through ERAS only.

As part of the ERAS forms, we require:

  • A letter from your dean
  • A letter from your Chairman of Medicine (or designee or Chairman of alternate residency for preliminary candidates)
  • At least three additional letters of reference, preferably from faculty members who have worked with you in clinical settings

Other Requirements:

  • Your medical school transcript
  • A personal statement
  • An updated CV and a valid ECFMG Certificate (ECFMG Certificate eligible pending Medical School Diploma will suffice), if applicable
  • All applicants who are male, U.S. born or naturalized citizen, parolee, undocumented immigrant, asylum seeker, permanent resident or refugee, must have registered between the ages of 18 and 26 for the U.S. Selective Service (the registry used for United States armed service) in order to work at the VAMC Syracuse (If you are female, or a male on a current non-immigrant visa, or are applying to a program that does not rotate to the VAMC Syracuse, please put N/A)
  • A pre-employment drug screening
  • Promulgated by the New York State Department of Health, provides that an individual who graduates from a non-LCME accredited foreign medical school may not train in New York State if his/her medical school education includes more than 12 weeks of clinical clerkship rotations outside of the country in which his/her medical school is located unless the individual is eligible for licensure under New York State Education Law

In addition, we require a first-attempt passing score on Step 1. For those (i.e., IMGs) in which additional testing is necessary in order to apply, we require a 1st-attempt passing score on Step 2CK and Step 2CS.

The deadline for completed applications is December 1. Interview days are held from early November through mid January. We will begin reviewing files as soon as the ERAS post office box opens in October. Invitations to interview will be sent via ERAS email.

We look forward to receiving your application!

For the 2022 ERAS® cycle, our program encourages, but does not require applicants to complete a supplemental ERAS application, offered through the AAMC’s ERAS program. Please be reminded that regardless of participation in the supplemental ERAS application, all applicants are required to complete the standard MyERAS application.

The additional information collected will help our program staff learn more about applicants’ medical education journey, including more meaningful information about work, volunteer, and research experiences, and will help us better identify applicants who fit our program environment and mission.

This supplemental ERAS application will be delivered on a survey platform that is separate from the MyERAS application and must be completed between September 1-30.

2022 ERAS Cycle

For the 2022 ERAS® cycle, our program will be participating in the supplemental ERAS application offered through the AAMC’s ERAS program. Applicants will be required to complete the MyERAS application, and participation in the supplemental ERAS application is optional.

Additionally, it has come to our attention that the Terms and Conditions you agreed to in order to participate in the supplemental ERAS application for 2021 included a term that was incorrectly linked to the NRMP Match Participation Agreement. Specifically, the Terms and Conditions (Page 2, Section 3.c.i) state that a participating program is prohibited from disclosing the number of Signals a program has received “consistent with NRMP Match Requirements.” To clarify, Page 2, Section 3.c.i of the Terms and Conditions is an AAMC reference specific to the supplemental ERAS application and is independent of NRMP Match Requirements.