Frequently Asked Questions

The Medical Physics Residency Application Program (MP-RAP) is a program started by the AAPM Workgroup for Coordination of Medical Physics Residency Programs (WGCMPR) to do the following:
  • Make it easier for applicants to apply for residency programs.
  • Reduce administrative burden for residency programs that have to process these applications.

Related Links:

National Matching

MP-RAP does not determine if you are qualified for residency positions. We collect application data and make that data available to residency programs that will each make their own determination regarding qualifications and applicant desirability.

For general information about eligibility for CAMPEP-accredited residency positions, see the CAMPEP website. For information about the ABR Board certification process and eligibility, see the ABR website.

The MedPhys Match is a matching program for medical physics residency programs being run by National Matching Services. Many programs that participate in the MedPhys Match also use MP-RAP to collect application data, but some may choose to collect applications in other ways. While there is some cooperation between MP-RAP and the MedPhys Match, the MedPhys Match is independent of AAPM. Please see the NMS MedPhys Match FAQ for more information.

AAPM supports MP-RAP and MedPhys Match for the recruitment of physics residents. Therefore, during the MedPhys Match recruitment season (approximately October to March), only MedPhys Match positions may be posted in MP-RAP and all applicants for those positions must also be registered for MedPhys Match.

The AAPM careers site is primarily a site for employers to advertise and prospective employees to search for open positions. Some institutions participating in the MP-RAP system may choose to also advertise residency positions on the AAPM careers site. The MP-RAP was created to provide a common system to simplify the residency application process for applicants and is a separate system from the AAPM careers site.

Some institutions participating in the MP-RAP system may choose to also advertise residency positions through other methods, such as the AAPM or AIP careers sites. All institutions are responsible for the content of their ads. If an institution participating in the MP-RAP also has ads through other services, it is suggested that you reach out to that institution to clarify their expectations on submitting applications.

The MP-RAP is available for any program to use, but is not required. Many programs have existing application systems that their institutions require them to use or they may simply choose to not use the MP-RAP. If the program provides explicit application instructions that do not include MP-RAP, you should follow those instructions or reach out to the institution for clarification.

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New passwords must be 6-20 characters in length and contain at least one

  • uppercase character (A-Z)
  • lowercase character (a-z)
  • numerical character (0-9)
  • special character (!@#$%^&*?_-)
The activation email can get lost for a variety of reasons. If you need to resend the activation email, go to the Login page. You will find an entry blank for your MP-RAP user ID, and a button to resend the email.
Please refer to the CAMPEP website for standard qualifications to get into a residency program. For questions about a specific program, please contact the program directly.

If you have worked in a foreign country as a medical physicist for at least one year and have an MS or PhD degree, the ABR has an alternative pathway that is open to international graduates.

If you have a PhD degree from a foreign country, you are also eligible to enroll in a CAMPEP-accredited certificate program to gain eligibility for an accredited residency. See the CAMPEP site for more details about requirements.

You are also eligible to enroll in a CAMPEP-accredited MS or PhD program to start along the path to board eligibility.

The standard pathway is graduation from a CAMPEP-accredited medical physics residency program, but other pathways are available. Please refer to the ABR website for all board certification requirements.

All applications must submitted on or before the deadline date (US/Canada Eastern time zone).

The system was designed to be easy to use and robust for the applicant. A single, general application minimizes the possibility of mixing application materials and submitting a personal statement to the wrong institution.

The 3000-character limit includes all ASCII characters, including line feeds. Some common word processors do not include line feeds in their character count.

The personal statement that is in your application on the day the program chooses to download applications is the personal statement that they will get. Therefore, it is possible to have different personal statements. However, since you do not know when your application has actually been downloaded, you should not rely on this to customize your personal statement.

MP-RAP and AAPM have no control over when programs download applications, and it is entirely up to the applicant to choose whether they want to do this.

NMS is National Matching Services, and they are the company that runs the matching algorithm for the MedPhys Match. When you register with them, they will provide you with a 5-digit ID number that uniquely identifies you in the MedPhys Match. In order for programs to rank you, this number needs to be shared with them. NMS calls it a Match Code Number or Applicant Code Number, and you can see it when you log into the system. They also have a FAQ about this.

Similarly, programs will have a 5-digit ID number that uniquely identifies each institution and each track (e.g., 2-year and 3-year residency tracks) within the institution. You will use these program ID numbers to express you rank order preferences so that the matching algorithm can find your best match.

NMS ID numbers (the ID number for the MedPhys Match) do not carry over from one year to the next. Applicants that were using the system last year to apply for MedPhys Match openings should obtain a new ID number for this year's MedPhys Match. Any program that chooses to rank you needs to have the correct number to ensure that they are ranking the correct person.

Because you require a visa, you are not eligible to work in the US (without the visa). You need assistance to get a work permit. MP-RAP collects relevant applicant information and passes it along to programs who will ultimately determine eligibility for the position. If you have questions about a specific program, you should contact them.

For the US and Canada, (xxx)yyy-yyyy, xxx.yyy.yyyy, xxx-yyy-yyyy, xxxyyyyyyy, and others are all acceptable, as long as there are 10 digits. For international numbers, please include the country code at the beginning (e.g., +33 for France) followed by the phone number. Feel free to use standard punctuation or spacing to make it easier to read. Do not add any regular characters (e.g., "[France]") to the phone number field.

While we do try to verify that the entered phone number is a plausible phone number, we have no way to really verify if it is correct, so adding a bit of spacing or standard punctuation can make it easier to read so that you can catch if you make a typo. It also makes it easier for programs to call the correct number if they want to contact you.

You can click the Contact Us link at the top of the page to send us a question. If appropriate, questions and answers will be added to this page.

The application will ask for the following information:

  • Personal Information (name, address, contact information)
  • ABR Certification status
  • Disclosure of criminal behavior, academic violations, and/or licensure actions
  • Employment History
  • Military Service history (if applicable)
  • Education (undergraduate and graduate transcripts)
  • Names of 3 references (suggest including one from a current advisor or department head)
  • Personal Statement (maximum 3000 characters) indicating why you want to go into medical physics, and anything else you want to communicate to the applications reviewers (this is instead of a cover letter).
  • Uploaded CV (should include awards, publications and presentations)
  • Transcripts and a copy of TOEFL results (if applicable)
    • Can be uploaded (preferred), or
    • Official copies can be mailed to
      • AAPM Medical Physics Residency Application
      • 1631 Prince Street
      • Alexandria, VA 22314

On the References page, you enter the names and email addresses for three (3) references. You then need to click a button to tell MP-RAP to send them an email with instructions for how to upload or enter their reference letter.

Once you do that, it is suggested that you send a separate email to your reference writer to tell them that you have done that. If they don't see the email, they should check their spam folder, and you should also check that you entered their email address correctly. If you apply to multiple programs, the reference letter will be attached to each application automatically. The reference writer can only submit one letter, so it should not be specific to any program.

No, your reference writer will receive an email with instructions for submitting the reference letter.

In addition, you will receive an email confirming that you requested the reference letter. When the reference has been submitted, both of you will receive an email confirming that the letter has been saved, and you can also check the status on the Application or References page.

That is not possible within MP-RAP at this time, and there are no plans to change this in the future. Please ensure that the references that you name in the application are prepared to provide a reference letter for you. You can instruct your reference writers to send individual reference letters to programs, but we can't guarantee that programs will accept references in this manner.

The system is not built to handle more than three reference letters, and this was decided upon by a consensus of residency program directors.
Yes, if you are enrolled in a CAMPEP certificate program, then add it as a "Cert" degree graduate program, and indicate that it is CAMPEP accredited.
You can list this under graduate education, but you should indicate "Other graduate (see CV)" for degree. You can then list the individual courses that you are taking on the CAMPEP page.
Truncate or abbreviate the thesis title as best you can. The full title should be in your CV.
If the CAMPEP page is not available, then one of your education records indicates that you have a CAMPEP-accredited graduate degree. If that is true, then there should be text indicating that you don't need to enter anything on this page. If that is not true, you will need to go back and correct your graduate degree records to indicate that your graduate degrees were not from a CAMPEP-accredited program.
You will need to bookmark a program before you can apply to the program. You can bookmark programs on the Programs page, or you can bookmark them on the Openings page (if they have a current opening). Then go to the payment page and pay for application credits. When you are sure that the application is complete, go to the Bookmarks & Apply page to apply for the program (provided they have a current opening). Further information can be found on those pages.

You need to have uploaded transcripts (you can do this yourself) before applying to a program, but you do not have to wait for references to be uploaded.

Programs may download your application at any time after submission to begin their evaluation, but they are aware that references may not be attached to the application until the deadline date. As references are received, they will be added to your data, and will be available when the program downloads your application after the deadline date. It is your responsibility to ensure that your application materials are accurate and complete when the program retrieves the application.

On the Application page, you will see a summary of all your entered data. Please check it carefully to ensure that it is complete and accurate before entering your password near the bottom of the page to electronically sign the application.

Signing the application creates a snapshot of your data that residency programs are able to download, but only after you submit your application to the program. If you change any of your data, you should re-sign the application to update the snapshot and make the new data available. Programs can download applications at any time after you submit the application.

Once an application credit is used, there is no way to undo an application. Therefore, please be careful to only apply to programs that you intend to apply to. If you feel there was a software issue that caused you to submit an application in error please contact us with details.

You can update your application data at any time, but you need to re-sign your application to make the new data available.

When the program downloads your application, they get a snapshot of your current application, plus any reference letters that have been put into the system. Some programs choose to download applications as soon as they are submitted, and many programs wait until the application deadline has passed.

Since you do not know when each program will be downloading your application, you should not customize the application for each program. If you have updated information (e.g., updated transcript showing newly completed courses), you can update the data in MP-RAP, but you may also want to contact each program that you applied to and let them know about the updated information.

Adobe Acrobat has problems with some files and does not display the fonts correctly. There are a few solutions to the problem.

  • Use another PDF viewer (e.g., Mac Preview)
  • Open the file in a web browser
  • After opening the file in the browser, print the file to PDF using the system's PDF printing service
    • On Windows, use Microsoft Print to PDF
    • On Mac, print using system dialog and Save to PDF within that dialog

We are working on a more permanent solution.

Not all programs participate in the MP-RAP at this time. If the ad indicates that they are going to use the MP-RAP, they are probably in the process of registering. Please contact the program directly to indicate that you are waiting for them to register their program in the MP-RAP so that you can apply.

If you have a record of the TOEFL results, you should upload them, even if they have expired. Some programs may want to see those results for foreign applicants. You may contact individual programs directly to verify their requirements.

In the Openings list, there is a column labeled CAMPEP GRAD. It is intended as a way for programs to indicate whether a CAMPEP degree or certificate is required for the position. Applicants can sort the list of openings based on this criteria, and programs are encouraged to use it that way. Please see the description of the opening as well, and if you still have questions about specific program requirements, please contact the program.

Your CV and transcripts are uploaded on the Documents page. Your personal statement is also entered on the Documents page, and you will need to save it on that page.

Programs will see the latest version of your application and supporting documents when they choose to download them. Some programs will download when you apply, and some will wait until the deadline to download the data. If you make major changes to those documents that you want programs to be aware of, you may want to contact them to let them know about the updates.

Adobe online services (http://www.adobe.com/products/onlineservices/) has web-based tools that can help with combining pdf files. There are also other web-based services that have similar tools.

We do not endorse the Adobe (or any other) product, and do not guarantee that the output will be compatible with the MP-RAP. After uploading your files, you are responsible for previewing the application to check for data integrity.

A scanned copy is sufficient for MP-RAP applications, provided it is legible and looks like a transcript. Programs may require more information and this should be clear in their listing. If you are offered a position, you may be required to show originals prior to starting in the program.
When transcripts are uploaded into MP-RAP, they are not official since we are unable to verify that they are true and correct. Therefore, unofficial transcripts are OK to upload, provided they look like they are real transcripts. If it looks like a transcript to the person that is evaluating your application, it is OK. Please be aware that you may be required to provide official copies as a condition of employment, and that lying on your application is grounds for dismissal. It is also possible for a program to require applicants to send official transcripts (or anything else for that matter) directly to them, if it is indicated in their listing.

Upload your current transcripts. On the application, there is a place where you can indicate what courses are yet to be completed. Make sure your expected graduation date is indicated in your CV.

When you have updated transcripts, you can upload new transcripts to your application and then re-sign the application to make the data available to programs that download your application in the future.

Recent versions of Microsoft Office (and other open-source Office programs) can save to pdf using the Save As command. You can also use Adobe online services (see previous FAQ entry).
The fee is $150 for 10 applications, and is the same whether or not the opening is part of the MedPhys Match. You may enter your information before paying the fee, but the fee must be paid before an application can be officially submitted to any opening.

Yes, MedPhys Match and MP-RAP are separate programs and you pay separate fees to use each system.

The fee is $150 for 10 applications, and is the same whether or not the opening is part of the MedPhys Match. You may enter your information before paying the fee, but the fee must be paid before an application can be officially submitted to any opening.
Both programs and applicants pay fees to use the system. The fees that are collected cover the cost of creating and maintaining the application system. Applicants should find that it saves them time, being able to apply for multiple programs and only entering information once.
The payment is taken care of by the bank, not AAPM. For security reasons, the bank will check the entered billing address to verify that it matches your credit card information. The vast majority of payment issues are a result of a mismatch between the billing address and the address entered on the payment form. For example, if you enter your name in the address field, it will be rejected. If your billing address is different from the address you are using for the application, you need to enter your billing address.

Sorry, but there are no refunds available for unused application credits.