September 25, 2026 for the 2027-2028 General Surgery Match.

• All ERAS* materials
• Medical school transcript
• Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE)
• USMLE Step I and Step II scores (or complex exam equivalents)
• 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.

The General Surgery Residency Training Program at the University of Cincinnati plans to match seven categorical residents for the 2027-2028 year, and no preliminary positions (except for a preliminary position reserved for our advanced interventional radiology resident).

Our applicant review committee will read all applications that signal us. As intended, this means a desire on the applicant’s part to train in Cincinnati and implies that the applicant feels they would be successful here and an appropriate fit for their career goals. Selected non-signaling applications may be read pending interview slot availability.

Competitive applicants have an exceptional medical school record, above average standardized test scores and a demonstrated interest in academic achievement. Our residency is rigorous and demands a strong work ethic, resilience, strong interpersonal skills and self-motivation to achieve well beyond minimal competency requirements.

Our program has continued full accreditation with no citations.

Passage on first attempt of Step I is required. Competitive applicants have a USLME Step II score (or complex equivalent) above median, > 250.

Our initial release of the first wave of interview invitations will occur starting October 21, 2026. Additional invitations will be sent on rolling basis as applications are often still being evaluated after this date or as interview slots become available. As per APDS guidelines, an invitation will only be sent if an interview slot is available, however, this interview slot is not guaranteed if we do not receive a response within 48 hours.

We will have 3 in-person interview dates this year and a virtual 4th back-up date reserved for disrupted travel related issues. There will be a “Meet the Residents,” social event/dinner the Tuesday evening before your Wednesday faculty interviews. On Wednesday morning you will attend our Morbidity and Mortality conference, Grand Rounds and then interview with the Chair of Surgery, Program Director, an Associate Program Director and several other surgical faculty members as well as tour the hospital and again meet with current residents.

Information on housing and transportation to be provided with interview invitation.

• Tuesday, November 17 / Wednesday, November 18, 2026 in person
  
• Tuesday, December 1 / Wednesday, December 2, 2026 in person
  
• Tuesday, December 17 / Wednesday, December 18, 2026 in person
  
• Tuesday January 5 / Wednesday January 6, 2027 virtual backup date if rescheduling required

Yes. It is important that you have ample opportunity to learn about our program, resident culture and the city of Cincinnati from our residents themselves. This process begins on Tuesday evening with an informal reception and dinner in downtown Cincinnati. Dress is casual. Transportation from the medical center will be provided.

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.

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. Although the majority of residents stay in Cincinnati during these 2 years of academic differentiation, some residents work at other sponsoring institutions. In the past, this has included 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 covers most travel costs for all accepted abstracts and other approved educational opportunities.

Learn more about resident publications

Moonlighting is allowed during academic development years and several opportunities are available at UCMC and other partner institutions appropriate for the resident’s level of training at that point. This allows maintenance of clinical skills and is a source of additional income for interested residents. Total hours worked must be in accordance with ACGME duty hour policies. Moonlighting is not allowed during clinical years.

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). This has allowed us not to take preliminary residents for strictly service needs and focus on our categorical resident training. 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.

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, HPB, or surgical oncology fellows in order to preserve the operative experience for our General Surgery residents.

All graduates are prepared for independent General Surgical practice. Some do so directly; however, many proceed on to additional subspecialty training. We are proud that 100% of our graduating residents for the past 10+ years have been able to train in their subspeciality of choice.

For more information, please see “Where Are They Now.”

Yes, core general surgery rotations at the University Hospital (acute care surgery, transplant, surgical oncology, elective general and colorectal surgery and breast) are covered by a joint night float service. In-house call on SICU and trauma rotations averages every third night over the course of a month. Rotations at the VA and our community hospitals usually include home call every third to fourth night. Chief resident call, analogous to attending call, is to back up more junior residents and is not in-house.

Yes. There is an 6-8 week elective available in Malawi, Africa for third and fourth year clinical residents. This both professionally and personally rewarding experience is supported by the department and is distinctly not an international developed world surgery rotation. Residents work in an under-resourced environment, immersed in the local culture, caring for the local population’s surgical needs while in addition, helping to teach the country’s own health care trainees.

For more information, visit surgery opportunities.