Applicants must have a medical degree prior to the residency program start date from one of the following:
- Medical schools in the United States and Canada accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME); or
- Colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States accredited by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA); or
- Medical schools outside of the United States or Canada recognized by the California Medical Board
We encourage application by a broad pool of diverse applicants; UCSF is fully committed to nurturing diversity in all of its many permutations. For more general information, go to the campus diversity website. For information specific to residency training at UCSF, go to the UCSF Graduate Medical Education website.
As our vision statement reads, we are firmly dedicated to training “Leaders in Psychiatry,” and thus, we are particularly interested in recruiting residents planning careers in research, academic psychiatry, and/or leadership positions in clinical settings such as community mental health clinics or large health care organizations.
UCSF Virtual Visiting Elective Scholarship Program (VESP)
To supplement the UCSF School of Medicine Visiting Elective Scholarship Program, the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has chosen to participate in a virtual iteration of this program. We encourage fourth year medical students who are underrepresented in medicine or disadvantaged to apply. Each accepted medical student will be connected with a resident and faculty mentor to learn more about UCSF Psychiatry and to provide application guidance.
Note: The UCSF Psychiatry Residency Training Program is no longer accepting VESP applications for 2024-25. Applications for next year's virtual VESP will reopen in spring 2025.
Applying to our program
All applications to the UCSF Psychiatry Residency Training Program are accepted through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS). Our NRMP Program Categorical Code is 1062400C0. If you are a current student or a graduate of a medical school located outside of the United States, please be sure to read the information below under the header “International Medical Graduates” before applying.
We also offer a dedicated pathway for residents committed to pursuing future careers as full-time physician-scientists in basic science, translational science, clinical, and health services research. The goal of our Resident Research Training Program (RRTP) is to help residents advance to postdoctoral fellowships or research positions following residency training. Applicants interested in applying to the RRTP should apply using NRMP Program Research Code 1062400C2.
Application checklist
To complete our application process, all of the following materials must be completed and submitted through ERAS:
- Medical/osteopathic school transcript
- MSPE (dean’s letter) from medical/osteopathic school
- Personal statement
- Curriculum vitae
- USMLE Transcript: A passing score on USMLE Step I and Step II is required for all trainees prior to beginning a UCSF GME program. To meet this requirement, applicants should have passed USMLE Step II prior to placement on UCSF rank order lists. In selected cases, with the approval of the program director and the Office of Graduate Medical Education, applicants may be placed on UCSF rank order lists without the USMLE Step II score.
- Three letters of recommendation. At least one letter needs to be from a faculty psychiatrist who can comment directly on your clinical performance in psychiatry (a departmental letter from your home psychiatry department is not expected; letters from individual faculty members are preferred.) Of the remaining letters, at least one needs to be from a non-psychiatrist commenting directly on your clinical work in a different specialty such as pediatrics, OB/GYN, medicine, etc.
Supplemental ERAS application
For the 2025 ERAS cycle, our program will be collecting and reviewing data from applicants’ supplemental ERAS applications. The (optional) supplemental ERAS application is designed to help applicants share more information about themselves and assist our program in finding applicants that fit our program’s setting and mission.
The supplemental ERAS application provides:
- Geographic preferences (by division and by urban or rural setting)
- Information about an applicant's most meaningful experiences and other impactful life events, if applicable
- Program signals
Interviews
Interviews cannot be scheduled until all required documents listed above have been received. It is the responsibility of each applicant to ensure that their application is complete.
- Complete applications will be screened, and approximately 100 candidates will be invited to interview for 16 PGY-1 positions.
- Interview days are held from mid-October through late January on Mondays and Fridays.
UCSF Psychiatry Supplemental Application (for interviewees)
If you are invited for an interview, our residency program asks all applicants to complete a supplemental application. You can access the supplemental application form online.
Applicants interviewing for the Resident Research Training Program must also complete the research supplemental form.
These internal supplemental applications are required elements of an overall application to our program, but do not need to be completed unless you are offered an interview.
Interview day structure
- Program orientation
- Program welcome (program director and department chair)
- Interviews with program director, faculty, and residents
- Group Q&A session with residents
- Group Q&A session with the program director
- Opportunities to view recorded sessions (program overview, program highlights, virtual tours of the health systems, day-in-the-life of a resident, etc.)
- NOTE: if you are interested in applying to the Research Resident Training Program (RRTP), you will be invited for two days of interviews (one specifically for research and one for the general program).
The explicit goals of the interview day are:
- For you to get answers to any questions you may have about the program
- For you to get a sense of our three main training sites, San Francisco, and the San Francisco Bay Area
- For you to have an opportunity to talk to residents from all four training years
- For you to meet one-to-one with several faculty members and residents
- For us to get to know you as well
In addition, prior to your interview you will receive additional written materials about the program and UCSF, and you will have an opportunity to review a sample contract.
Deadline
The firm application deadline for Match 2025 is September 27, 2024. Applications received after this date will not be screened.
International medical graduate requirements
Each state has its own Medical Practice Act, and the requirements for training and licensure for graduates of international medical schools vary. The UCSF School of Medicine requires that all international medical school applicants:
- Be a citizen or hold permanent resident status or qualify for a J-1 visa
- Possess a valid ECFMG certificate
- Possess a California Medical Board "Applicant Evaluation Status Letter" certifying that you may start post-graduate medical training in California
- Register with the National Resident Matching Program
If you are not a citizen of the United States, and you do not hold Permanent Resident status, you will be required to secure the ECFMG-J1 and an H1B visa to enter UCSF for medical training. Our program—on a very limited basis—sponsors H1B visas.
