To help guide and prepare students through the process of deciding on a career specialty and applying for residency, the staff at the Pritzker School of Medicine provides students with a comprehensive career development program.
Career Advising
Each fourth-year medical student is assigned to a career advisor who provides one-on-one career mentoring.
MSPE Director
The MSPE Director, H. Barrett Fromme, MD, MHPE, is responsible for meeting with all fourth-year students, overseeing the construction of each student’s Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE), and reviewing the MSPE with each student.
Residency Advising Meetings
Class meetings are held throughout the fourth year to answer questions about ERAS and issues of residency.
Away Rotations
Are you entering a specialty where an away rotation is recommended? Learn more about away rotations.
ERAS - Electronic Residency Application Service
- ERAS 2027 season opens: Thursday, June 4, 2026, 8 a.m. CT
- ERAS application submission opens: a Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, 8 a.m. CT
- Residency programs may begin reviewing applications: Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, 8 a.m. CT
*Updates will be added as they become available*
Emergency Medicine
- EM transition to ResidencyCAS
- 2025 ResidencyCAS Application Worksheet
- EMRA Advising Guide
- Application Fee Waiver Information
Obstetrics & Gynecology
- 2025-2026 Residency Application Cycle Guidance
- ResidencyCAS FAQ
- 2025 ResidencyCAS Application Worksheet
- Best Practices Webinar slides
- Application Fee Waiver Information
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
It is now strongly recommended that PM&R applicants have at least one Standardized Letter of Evaluation (SLOE) from a clinician or group of clinicians in place of a traditional letter.
The following changes are being implemented for the 2027 MyERAS application cycle:
Updated Letter of Recommendation Portal and Request Workflow
The AAMC has updated its Letter of Recommendation Portal (LoRP) to make the experience smoother for letter writers and programs. The impact on students is minimal, but students will see slightly different fields when requesting letters, and applicants in dermatology, urology, and plastic surgery will have the ability to request a Standardized Letter of Evaluation if their application requires it.
Specialty Questions
Last year, applicants in anesthesiology, neurological surgery, and plastic surgery were required to provide responses to specialty-specific questions as part of a pilot in the standard MyERAS application. Responses to these questions were only be available to programs in the specialty for which the questions are being answered. These pilot questions will continue for further evaluation in the 2027 cycle.
Program Signals
For the 2027 MyERAS season, the following participating specialties have changed their program signal allotment:
- Vascular Surgery - 3 Gold signals, 12 Silver signals
Additionally, applicants in Anesthesiology and Plastic Surgery will again be asked to participate in a pilot program in which applicants sending a program signal are asked to make a brief statement explaining why they have signaled each program.
Geographic Preferences
In the 2027 MyERAS cycle, most applicants will still be able to use the Geographic Preferences section to indicate up to three preferred geographic regions. However, a pilot for opting out of this section at the specialty level includes Otolaryngology and Orthopaedic Surgery opting out of geographic preference signaling. Students applying in these specialties will be able to indicate geographic preferences, but programs in these specialties will not see them. Accordingly, applicants dual applying to one of these two specialties and another specialty will have the ability to send geographic preference signals to the other specialty. Programs in Otolaryngology and Orthopaedic Surgery will NOT receive those signals.
Read more: What's New for the 2027 MyERAS Application
The AAMC has begun hosting a series of webinars dedicated to application in specific specialties, featuring a Program Director and advisor specific to the specialty. The following Specialty Spotlight webinars will be offered this year. Sign up for Specialty Spotlight Webinars here.
April 28 - Neurological Surgery
April 28 - Plastic Surgery for MS1s and MS2s
May 21 - Anesthesiology
May 28 - Pathology
June 2 - General Surgery
June 3 - Dermatology
June 4 - Internal Medicine
June 9 - Psychiatry
June 11 - Orthopaedic Surgery
June 16 - Public Health and Preventive Medicine
June 18 - Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R)
July 7 - Adult Neurology
August 6 - Interventional Radiology
August 18 - Radiation Oncology
All deadlines and information may be subject to change. The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine Career Advising team closely monitors and updates information received from AAMC, ERAS, NRMP, other application platforms, and individual programs as it becomes available. The general advising calendar provides current dates and timelines.
- ERAS - Electronic Residency Application Service
- NRMP - National Resident Matching Program
- AUA Match (Urology)
- SF Match (Ophthalmology)
- ResidencyCAS (OB-GYN & Emergency Medicine)
- AAMC Careers in Medicine
- FREIDA (Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database)
- Career MD
- AAMC Apply Smart for Residency
- Residency Explorer Tool
- AAMC Report on Residents
- Sample Medical Student CV (Word doc will download automatically)
- March 9, 2026: M3 CV Workshop presentation slides
- Sign up for your first MSPE Meeting
- MSPE Survey Instructions
- Noteworthy Characteristics Worksheet
- Sign Up for Residency Application/Graduation Photos
- LOR request template
- Personal Statement Guidelines
- Dr. Woodruff's Personal Statement Worksheet
- Slides from Dr. Woodruff's Personal Statement Workshops
- Program Signaling in MyERAS
- Refer to the Pritzker Program Signaling Guide (offline only) for more detailed advice on Program Signals
- 2026-2027 Residency Process Book
- 2026 MS3 'Spring' Intro to Residency Application Presentation (2/16/26)
Class of 2027 Meeting Materials
- MS4 Meeting #1 (5/12/26): Road to Residency
- MS4 Meeting #2 (6/11/26): Building Your Program List for Residency Application
- MS4 Meeting #3 (9/14/26): Interviewing for Residency
- MS4 Meeting #4 (1/19/27): Creating Your Rank List
Please note that we will add information from announcements as it is received. This list will not be comprehensive. All times are Central.
First Meeting with Career Advisor:
Individual 30‐60‐minute meeting with your career advisor to discuss specialty choice and fourth year schedule.
- MSPE Meeting & Advisor Meetings
• Schedule your Medical School Performance Evaluation (MSPE) meeting with Dr. Fromme - Continue to meet with your Career Advisor to finalize specialty choice and develop an application strategy
- Meet with your specialty advisor to discuss program selection
- Work on your personal statement and CV
- Ask for LORs
- Schedule a time to have your residency application/graduation photo taken at Pritzker
Prepare your residency application
- Personal Statement Check‐In with Career Advisor
• Review and finalize your personal statement with your Career Advisor’s input (can be done over email)
- MS4 Class Meeting #1: Residency Application Overview
- Review the timeline for the residency application process
- Learn details and strategy for assembling your application
Optional Workshop: Optimizing Your Personal Statement - Monday, May 18, 5 p.m. (in person)
Optional Workshop: Optimizing Your Personal Statement - Tuesday, June 9, 5 p.m. (via Zoom)
- MS4 Class Meeting #2: Building Your Program List for Residency Application
- Learn the logistics, strategy, and resources of building an appropriate list of programs for your residency application.
Deadline to take Step 2 CK
- Program List Meeting with Career Advisor
- Schedule a 30‐minute meeting with your Career Advisor to review
your program list for depth and breadth - Practice interview strategies
- Schedule a 30‐minute meeting with your Career Advisor to review
- Submit ERAS Application before September 23 deadline
MS4 Class Meeting #3: Interviewing for Residency
- Learn tips from UCM Program Directors on how to interview successfully
Pritzker mandated deadline to register for the Match with NRMP
*Not required for SFMatch or AUA Match; SF Match applicants may have to register for NRMP Match after learning their match result
Rank List Meeting with Career Advisor
- Schedule a 30‐minute meeting with your Career Advisor to discuss strategies for finalizing your rank list.
MS4 Class Meeting #4: Preparing Your Rank List
- Learn how to enter your rank list and strategies for finalizing it
Certify your Rank List in NRMP system by 8 p.m. CST
Match Day!
The timeline for ophthalmology (SF Match), urology (AUA Match) and the military match closely follow the timeline for the regular match above, except for a few key differences noted below.
- Urology applicants can register online at the AUA website. Application occurs through ERAS; matching occurs through the AUA.
- Applicants in ophthalmology can register online at the San Francisco Matching Service to begin working on their applications. Application and matching occur through SF Match.
- Military match participants should check with their branch of service to being the residency application process.
- Target date for completing early match applications in ophthalmology.
Interview & Decide Your Rank Order
- Accept interviews quickly
- Meet with your career advisor after you're done interviewing to discuss how to rank your programs
- Second half of October - All Urology program interview offers extended (must accept or decline in three days)
- Deadlines for submitting AUA (late December) and SF Match (January) rank lists
- Notification of match results
- AUA rank list deadline - TBD December 2026
- San Francisco Match (ophthalmology) rank list deadline - TBD January 2027
Note: The 2027 Residency Interview process may see more programs return to some degree of in-person interviews. While most programs remained virtual for residency interviews in 2026, many across specialties hosted in-person "second look" events after interview season. Many surgical programs (orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery, ENT, urology, general surgery) returned to all in-person for interviews last year. Additional programs could follow suit in 2026-207.