FAQ’s

1. What is your application deadline?
   October 10, 2025 for the 2026-2027 General Surgery Match.
2. What are your criteria for submitting an application?
   
   • All ERAS* materials
   • Medical school transcript
   • Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE)
   • USMLE Step I and Step II scores
   • Personal statement
   • Three letters of recommendation (see question #7 below)
   *We are registered with the National Rank Match Program (NRMP). All applicants must be registered in the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS®) and the NRMP to apply to our program. For more information, please visit: Main Residency Match All in Policy and Applying to Residencies with the ERAS® System.
3. How many categorical and preliminary spots do you offer?
   The General Surgery Residency Training Program at the University of Cincinnati plans to match seven categorical residents for the 2026-2027 year, and no preliminary positions.
4. What is your accreditation status?
   Our program has continued full accreditation/no citations.
5. What are your minimum USMLE scores?
   Passage on first attempt of Step I is required. Our minimum Step II score requirement is above median (> 250).
6. What are your requirements for letters of recommendation?
   The Dean’s letter (MSPE) and three additional letters of recommendation, one from the Chairman of the Department of Surgery, are required.
7. What are your interview dates?
   Tuesday, November 18 / Wednesday, November 19, 2025
   Tuesday, December 16 / Wednesday, December 17, 2025
   Tuesday, January 6 / Wednesday, January 7, 2026
8. Is the virtual reception the night before the interview mandatory?
   Yes. It is important that you have ample opportunity to learn about our program and the city of Cincinnati from our residents themselves. This process begins on Tuesday evening with an informal Zoom happy hour. Dress is casual.
9. Do you accept applications from international medical graduates?
   ECFMG certification is required at the time of application. Clinical rotations at a known U.S. site are strongly preferred.
   Applicants who are not US citizens must have an active, valid visa that allows for clinical training or must provide evidence of permanent US immigrant status. The visa must be active during the entire period of the residency/fellowship. Graduates of foreign medical schools, both US citizens and foreign nationals, must have a current and valid ECFMG certification. All IMG’s must enter training with a J-1 clinical visa unless they are US citizens or hold a valid US Resident Alien card and must have a valid IAP-66 to remain in training. The UC College of Medicine/University of Cincinnati Medical Center only allows individuals to train under an H1-B visa under exceptional circumstances. Individuals wishing to train on an H1-B visa and accepted outside the Match, must receive explicit approval through the Office of Graduate Medical Education and the DIO through their residency training program director.
10. Is research mandatory?
    Most residents spend 2 years in pursuit of academic differentiation in addition to the 5 clinical years of training. Exceptions are made in the face of military obligation or prior extensive research. A variety of options are available including basic science, clinical outcomes, innovation, and global health research. Prior experience in research or clinical programs is needed. Although the majority of residents stay in Cincinnati during these 2 years of academic differentiation, some residents work at partner institutions, including the NIH, MD Anderson, Northwestern University/Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, University of California-San Diego, and University of Duisburg-Essen. We encourage all residents to submit their original research to local, national and international conferences, and the Education Office subsidizes travel costs for all accepted abstracts and other approved educational opportunities. To learn more about resident publications, please click here.
11. Do your residents work with nurse practitioners and/or physician assistants?
    Yes. Many of the University Hospital surgical services—surgical oncology, acute care surgery, trauma, transplant and thoracic surgery—have at least one mid-level provider (MLP). There are also several dedicated outpatient MLPs who help coordinate patient follow-up. The MLPs are vital to our surgical teams; they assist with admissions, consults, orders, notes, discharges, transfers and other daily floor tasks, enabling junior residents to more easily scrub cases in the operating room. In addition to MLPs, our surgical services consist of nutritionists, pharmacists and nurse clinicians, all of whom are invaluable to patient care.
12. Do your residents work with fellows?
    The University of Cincinnati Department of Surgery offers fellowships in Surgical Critical Care and Transplant surgery. The critical care fellows spend a majority of their experience in the surgical and other subspecialty ICUs and function as junior attending surgeons. Transplant fellows assist residents on procurements and have appropriate degrees of autonomy in the OR. There are no minimally invasive surgery, colorectal surgery, or surgical oncology fellows in order to preserve the operative experience for our General Surgery residents.
13. What do Cincinnati residents typically do after residency?
    All graduates are prepared for independent General Surgical practice. Some do so directly however many proceed on to additional subspecialty training. For more information, please see “Where Are They Now.”
14. Do you have a night float service?
    Yes, core general surgery rotations at the University Hospital (ACS, transplant, surgical oncology, elective general and colorectal surgery, and breast) have a night float service. In-house call on SICU and trauma services averages every third night over the course of a month. Rotations at the VA and our community hospitals usually include home call every third night. Chief resident call is not in-house.
15. Do you have any global surgery opportunities?
    Yes. There is an elective in Malawi, Africa for third and fourth year clinical residents. For more information about visit surgery opportunities.