Career Goal Advising Program

• North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians
• Virtual Family Medicine Interest Group: National  –The Academy of Family Physicians at the national level has a great resource page for students to help with residency selection process.
• Virtual Family Medicine Interest Group: State – The North Carolina Academy has another web page that is great for students choosing careers in Family Medicine.
• AAFP Directory of Family Practice Residency Programs – Online Directory of Family Practice Residency Programs. Contains links to programs on the Web.
• Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) – Home page for information about the new electronic application service
• National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) 
• The Family Medicine Physician Scientist Pathway Program

January-April of your third year

• Attend Class meeting
• Seriously considering family medicine? Schedule an initial meeting with Liza Straub, Lead Career Goal Advisor (liza_straub@med.unc.edu). She will review the residency interview process in light of your personal needs and issues; discuss the Kansas City meeting and assign you a faculty advisor based on your needs and interests.
• Meet with your assigned Faculty Career Goal Advisor to:
  • Consider whether an “audition” elective in a certain geographic area is needed/desired.
  • Decide your interview months (students usually interview between November and January).
  • Discuss the type of residency program you are considering

May–August of your third year  

• Begin working on your Personal Statement and meet with Career Goal Advisor for feedback
• Update your CV – this will be the basis of your ERAS Application.
• Kansas City Meeting:   The National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students ( aka FUTURE Conference) is held the last weekend of July each year.  Please contact Kayla Bonnell at  kayla_bonnell@med.unc.edu if you would like to attend.  Funding is available to cover your registration – apply HERE, and email Kayla with your conference registration confirmation.

June

• ERAS Opens: Begin completing the application and uploading required documents.

August

• Attend the Residency Trail Info Session hosted by UNC Residency program (usually 3rd week of August, info to be sent out on FMIG list serv)
• Consider doing a practice interview with your advisor before hitting the interview trail.
• Schedule interviews. Do not schedule your most desired program first.  Rather, schedule one or two interviews to become familiar with the process
• Letters of Recommendation:  following up with those who have not sent them in! Make sure that programs have received the letters, too.
• Meet with advisor to review your list of programs to be interviewed

September

• Have your ERAS materials completed by this deadline!  Residency programs will access them and contact you for interviews quickly!

November – January,

• Interview with programs.

January before graduation

• Contact advisor to discuss program rankings

February before graduation

• Turn in Rank List to Dean’s Office

March before graduation and Match Day

• If you have not matched, you will be notified by e-mail by ERAS on Monday of Match Week. They will also contact the Dean’s Office.  Don’t panic.  Contact your advisor and they will work with you to identify unfilled family medicine residency programs.   Unmatched students will be able to submit supplementary applications for unfilled programs.

The NRMP matches applicants and programs in favor of the students.  Students get their highest ranked programs when the programs rank them highly; residency programs do not get their highest choices when students have ranked other programs higher.  Given that mechanism, it follows that:

1. Rank your first choice first, even if you feel your chances of matching are low.
2. List seven to ten programs, even if you are confident of your top three. If your academic record is uneven, you may want to list more than ten.
3. Consider having a “safety” program ranked at the bottom. Not matching is problematic, even though there are usually good programs which do not fill.
4. DO NOT rank a program that you really do not want to go to. You break a legal contract if you do not attend a program you matched, and it is foolish to go where you would be unhappy.  You are better off NOT matching and going through the SOAP (Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program) process for a spot.

Use fourth year rotations to your educational advantage!  The Individualization Phase is a “choose your own adventure” that gives you more opportunities to shine while filling in gaps in your clinical education.  While it might be tempting to register for the minimum number of electives you need to graduate, remember this is your last opportunity to choose from a broad range of clinical rotations and garner letters of recommendation.  Your Individualization Phase experiences will be the freshest and most visible to residency programs to which you apply.  Craft a 4th year that shows the kind of residency you would be attracted to and the kind of physician you seek to become.  The courses you choose for blocks 1-4 are especially important because they will be reflected in your ERAS application on your transcript and MSPE.

Picking Electives:  Electives can fill gaps in knowledge and skills, but can also be used to feed a passion; explore an area of specialization within primary care, such as geriatrics or substance abuse; and give you some cool experiences that can make great material for personal statements and stories you will need for residency interviews.

Browse the CATALOG for FMME courses.