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 2026 season opens: Wednesday, June 4, 2025, 8 a.m. CT
- ERAS application submission opens: a Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, 8 a.m. CT
- Residency programs may begin reviewing applications: Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, 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
Plastic Surgery
Integrated Plastic Surgery programs will be returning to participation in the MyERAS application after several years of using the independent Plastic Surgery Common Application (PSCA). Plastic Surgery programs will allot applicants 20 program signals in MyERAS.
The following changes are being implemented for the 2026 MyERAS application cycle:
Specialty Questions
This year, applicants in anesthesiology, neurological surgery, and plastic surgery will be required to provide responses to specialty-specific questions as part of a pilot in the standard MyERAS application. Responses to these questions will only be available to programs in the specialty for which the questions are being answered.
Interruptions & Extensions
The "Extensions & Interruptions" section has been renamed the "Academic/Professional Interruptions & Extensions" section, with two separate questions:
- "Have you had any academic extensions, leaves, gaps, or breaks in your educational program due to repeated or remediated coursework?"
- "Have you had any professional extensions, leaves, gaps, or breaks in your educational program due to professionalism sanctions or any other adverse actions by your medical school or its parent institution?"
Information is only collected if the applicant responds "Yes," and "Yes" responses include the prompt "If yes, please explain the reason, timeframe, what steps you took to address it, and what you learned from it" and a free-response text box.
Applicants should select "No" if they had an interruption or extension for personal or health reasons.
Program Signals
For the 2026 MyERAS season, the following participating specialties have changed their program signal allotment:
- Diagnostic Radiology - 15 signals (6 Gold, 9 Silver)
- Interventional Radiology - 8 signals
- PM&R - 20 signals
- Plastic Surgery - Integrated - 20 signals
Additionally, applicants in Anesthesiology and Plastic Surgery will 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 2026 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 2026 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:
May 20, 2025 - Neurological Surgery
May 22, 2025 - Child Neurology
June 3, 2025 - Pediatrics
June 10, 2025 - Anesthesiology
June 26, 2025 - Adult Neurology
July 1, 2025 - Psychiatry
July 8, 2025 - Family Medicine
July 10, 2025 - General Surgery
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)
- PSCA (Plastic Surgery)
- 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 24, 2025: M3 CV/SMS Workshop presentation slides
- Sign up for your first MSPE Meeting
- MSPE Survey Instructions
- Noteworthy Characteristics Worksheet
- Sign Up for ERAS/Graduation Photos
- LOR request template
- Personal Statement Guidelines
- Dr. Woodruff's Personal Statement Worksheet
- Slides from Dr. Woodruff's Personal Statement Workshops
The Pritzker School of Medicine Alumni Ambassador Program connects current students with Pritzker alumni. Sign up and select "Pritzker School of Medicine Student" as your membership type to begin connecting with alumni at residency programs across the country.
- Program Signaling in MyERAS
- Refer to the Pritzker Program Signaling Guide (offline only) for more detailed advice on Program Signals
Class of 2025 Meeting Materials
- MS4 Meeting #1 (5/28/25): Road to Residency
- MS4 Meeting #2 (6/23/25): ERAS & Residency Applications in Focus
- MS4 Meeting #3 (9/15/25): Interviewing for Residency
- MS4 Meeting #4 (1/20/26): 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 ERAS 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)
Optional Workshop: Optimizing Your Personal Statement - Monday, May 19 (in person)
- 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 - Wednesday, June 11 (via Zoom)
- MS4 Class Meeting #2: ERAS & Residency Applications in Focus
- Learn the logistics of applying for residencies via the Electronic Residency Application System (ERAS) as well as ResidencyCAS and SFMatch
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 24 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.
- Applicants in ophthalmology can register online at the San Francisco Matching Service to begin working on their applications.
- Military match participants should check with their branch of service to being the residency application process.
- Target date for completing early match applications.
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 SF Match and AUA rank lists
- Notification of match results
- AUA rank list deadline - TBD January 2026
- San Francisco Match (ophthalmology) rank list deadline - TBD January 2026
Note: The 2026 Residency Interview process may see more programs return to some degree of in-person interviews. While most programs remained virtual for residency interviews ni 2025, many across specialties hosted in-person "second look" events after interview season. Many surgical programs (orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery, ENT, general surgery) returned to all in-person for interviews last year. Additional programs could follow suit in 2025-2026.