ERAS Support Services for Applicants

Fifth Pathway Certificate

The Fifth Pathway was a pathway by which certain students who completed four years at a foreign medical school were able to complete their supervised clinical work at a U.S. medical school, become eligible for entry to U.S. residency training, and ultimately obtain a license to practice in the United States.

To indicate that you participated in a Fifth Pathway program, you need to enter “Fifth Pathway” as your school of graduation on the registration page of the MyERAS application. Otherwise, programs may wonder why you do not have an ECFMG Certificate.

You must include the Fifth Pathway Certificate as one of your LoRs in your applications to programs. As a result, you can assign up to three LoRs and the Fifth Pathway Certificate to any program. List the certificate as one of your LoRs by entering “Fifth Pathway Certificate” instead of a letter writer’s name in your application on the AAMC’s MyERAS website. Then send to ERAS Support Services a copy of the certificate, accompanied by a completed DSF. Send these documents to the appropriate address, as indicated on the DSF. Do not send your original certificate to ECFMG. Documents submitted to ERAS Support Services for the ERAS 2013 season will not be returned.

Back to top