Graduation from medical school by June.  For international medical graduates, we prefer a graduation date by early May.

• 3 letters of recommendation (LOR), with at least one being a clinical LOR from an internal medicine faculty .  We also encourage a department chair’s summary letter of evaluation when available.
• Pass for either USMLE or COMLEX.  We do not require a Step 2 score to interview or rank.
• We require all international medical graduates that have not completed rotations in the United States to complete at least 4 weeks of observerships in at least 2 different clinical settings. Hands-on experience is preferred.  We will consider international graduates who are applying less than 3 years since graduation.

Our internal medicine residency program utilizes a holistic review of all applicants who apply to our program.  A holistic review allows us to have a flexible, individualized process that gives a balanced consideration to each applicant’s experiences and attributes.  Under this framework, each candidate is evaluated by criteria that are mission-driven and specific to the needs of our institution and the community we serve. No one metric or academic credential is used to assess the candidate pool.  Our goal is to ensure that each of our residents bring their unique experiences and skills to positively add to our learning climate.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we followed the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine recommendations for the residency application cycle by holding all interviews virtually for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 interview seasons.  For the 2022-2023 interview season, we will continue to hold all interviews virtual regardless of local or national trends on COVID-19 cases.

To be eligible for a residency/fellowship appointment contract with the UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program, all current or expected trainees must possess one of the following for the duration of their  anticipated years of training:

• be a United States citizen
• be in possession of a green card
• be in possession of an EAD (work permit)
• possess an ECFMG –sponsored J-1 visa

Please note that we accept applications with documentation of J-1 Visa status, but cannot accept any other category of visas (e.g. H1B).

As our trainees rotate to the VACCHCS, they must follow Federal Law and register for Selective Service. Trainees are not eligible for employment in programs that rotate to the VACCHCS if they have not registered for Selective Service or obtained a Status Information Letter from Selective Service indicating they were either not required to register with Selective Service or are exempt from the registration requirement. Additional information regarding Selective Service can be found at www.sss.gov

Effective January 1, 2020, a Postgraduate Training License (PTL) is required for all trainees participating in a California ACGME program who have less than thirty-six (36) months of postgraduate training. A trainee must obtain a PTL within 180 days after enrollment in a board-approved postgraduate program. Trainees who have successfully completed thirty-six months of board-approved postgraduate training, with at least 24 consecutive months in the same program, must obtain a full and unrestricted California medical license.

UCSF Fresno is committed to selecting and hiring the most capable house staff in order to pursue its strategic goals of excellence in teaching, learning, research, scholarship, creative activity, and service to the community. All offers of appointment to UCSF Fresno-sponsored GME programs are specifically conditioned upon a criminal background investigation. An agency will carry out background checks on behalf of the UCSF Fresno Graduate Medical Education Office. By signing the background check release form, prospective trainees are consenting to a background investigation

You must be in possession of an ECFMG (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates) certificate in order to begin residency training in the United States Please visit the ECFMG website at www.ecfmg.org for additional information on how to obtain certification.