The Stanford University Department of Radiology prides itself on the diversity and achievement of its residents. We welcome applications from enthusiastic, high achieving, and intellectually curious individuals of all ages and backgrounds.

Applications to our residency program are accepted only through the Electronic Resident Application Service (ERAS). Completed applications and supporting documents (personal statement, curriculum vitae, transcript from medical school, three letters of recommendation, Dean's letter, and a photograph) should be received by program's deadline. The Dean's letters (MSPE's) are usually sent slightly later. Receiving a Dean's letter after the October deadline will not affect your application.

USMLE Step 1 is required. We do not require USMLE Step 2 scores but do consider these scores, if available. 

For more information, refer to AMSER Guide to Applying for Radiology Residency.

Stanford Hospital and Clinics (SHC) primarily uses the J-1 visa program sponsored by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) for international medical graduates (IMGs). Graduates of Canadian medical schools must also use the J-1 program. In rare cases, SHC will sponsor an H-1B visa for exceptional applicants. 

We will be matching for 11 residents this year. Out of ~ 600 applicants, we will invite 80 to interview in January and February. Unfortunately, this means that we cannot interview all interested or qualified applicants. 

We review applications to our program holistically. Because of the impact that Radiology has on patient care, strong clinical skills are paramount. Successful candidates will have demonstrated outstanding performance in the core clinical clerkships. Candidates should have the personal integrity, resilience, collegiality, and growth mindset necessary to thrive in clinical medicine.

A program signal is highly encouraged to let us know that you have a strong interest in our program. The majority of applicants selected for interview will have sent us a program signal. Additional emails or letters of interest are not necessary, and we may not be able to respond due to the busy recruitment season.

Letters of recommendation from faculty members who know you and your work very well are preferred over faculty members who are prominent in the field, but who do not know you personally. Ideally, you will have a mix of letters from clinical faculty in diverse specialties, both from Radiology and your other clinical clerkships. If you have done substantial research, for example in an MD-PhD program or a dedicated research year, an additional letter from your research mentor or advisor is expected.

Although most candidates selected for interviews have high USMLE scores, we do not use a fixed "cut-off” score, and more importantly, we do not grant interviews based on high scores alone. Factors such as specific research or clinical achievements, clerkship grades and narrative evaluations, personal characteristics and distance travelled, and path to radiology are heavily considered. Please note that a rotation spent here during medical school is neither necessary nor sufficient to obtain an interview. You should view an away rotation as an opportunity to learn about our program.

Finally, Stanford is a premier research institution in addition to being an internationally recognized clinical referral center. We thus hope that our trainees will explore the opportunities presented by our numerous and varied research programs. 

Candidates are interviewed on one of five days during the months of January and February. Candidates will be interviewed by five faculty members and our chief residents. Each committee member interviews every applicant so that we can develop the fullest possible understanding of each interviewee. The tight time frame makes for an intensive interview process but enables us to maintain a vivid picture of each applicant during the ranking process.

Approximately 16 applicants are interviewed each day. Half of the interview group will interview in the morning and half in the afternoon. Further details regarding the interview day and virtual social hours are provided with an invitation to interview. As we do not provide “second-look” visits, please plan to glean as much information as possible about our program on the interview day. 

Radiology faculty and residents work one-on-one every day, all day, throughout the residency program. Therefore, the interview is a very important factor in resident selection. When the dust has settled and USMLE and clerkship grades have been tabulated, MSPE and recommendation letters have been decrypted, and personal statements have been deconstructed, the selection process depends a great deal on whether we feel applicants' character and personality are a good fit for our program. Our residents are highly intelligent, intellectually curious people who strive to excel in whatever they do. Most importantly, we pride ourselves on the esprit de corps and camaraderie among our residents, fellows, and faculty. Meeting applicants is vital to our selection process. We believe you should view the interview day as an opportunity to meet us and determine whether Stanford is where you want to spend the four most important years of your medical training.

Best of luck and congratulations on your choice of the most exciting and dynamic medical specialty there is--Diagnostic Radiology!