Already finished looking at internships, or finished with your internship all together? Then it is time to start researching residency opportunities on:
http://opportunities.osteopathic.org/.

Here are some helpful tips for applying to your osteopathic residency program:
 

• For positions beginning in 2006, the AOA is implementing the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) for students to use to apply to programs. ERAS is a separate and distinct service from the Match. ERAS is used by students to apply to programs, while the Match determines the final placement of students into programs.
• Interviews are conducted according to schedules announced by individual training institutions. Students are responsible for contacting individual institutions and for arranging their own interviews. It is advisable to interview with several programs in order to make an informed decision regarding the best program for your individual needs.
• Students and institutions may express their interest in each other and may discuss their expected rankings of each other. Institutions may inform their most preferred applicants that they are in a favored position, and students may similarly inform their most preferred programs. However, institutions and students must not make statements implying or requesting a commitment, and must not pressure each other to reveal their ranking intentions. Although institutions or students may volunteer how they plan to rank each other, they must not request such information. Volunteered information must be limited to "very likely", "likely", or "unlikely" to rank in a top position.
• Students and institutions must not make any verbal or written commitments or contracts for appointment prior to the release of the Match results. Any such verbal or written commitments are non-binding and have no effect on the Match. Institutions shall not impose or enforce local requirements in an attempt to subvert the fair application of these rules. Institutions violating Match rules by requesting ranking information from students, or by requiring students to make verbal or written commitments or contracts before the release of the Match results, may be sanctioned by the AOA and prohibited from recruiting in the subsequent Match.
• The Rank Order Lists submitted by students and programs for the Match will be the sole determinant of their respective preferences for the Match. Only the official Match results constitute binding obligations between students and institutions.
• The Match is administered on behalf of the AOA by National Matching Services Inc. (NMS). Each student must register directly with NMS in order to be eligible for participation in the Match. To register for participation in the Match, each student must complete an Applicant Agreement and return it, together with the Match registration fee, to NMS.
• Following interviews, students will identify on their Rank Order Lists, in numerical order of preference (first choice, second choice, etc.), the internship programs where they would like to serve as interns. Students should include on their Rank Order Lists only those programs where they would agree to accept a contract. Likewise, institutions identify on the programs' Rank Order Lists the students to whom they are prepared to offer contracts, in numerical order of preference. The results of the Match are binding for both the students and the institutions. Match participants will be required to enter their Rank Order Lists for the Match via the internet. All students and programs must submit their completed Rank Order List no later than January 26, 2007.
• COUPLES: Two applicants who are participating in the Match at the same time and who wish to coordinate their matches (e.g. obtain positions in the same location) may participate in the Match as a "Couple". The matching of couples to positions in proximity to each other involves special procedures which allow the members of a couple to submit "pairs" of program rankings. Instructions regarding the submission of Rank Order Lists by couples will be included in the information provided to students in November.