Interventional Cardiology Fellowship: Match & ERAS 2027

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Interventional cardiology is a 1-year fellowship after an internal medicine residency and a 3-year cardiovascular disease fellowship. You apply after your second year of general cardiology through the ERAS July cycle (submissions open July 1, 2026) and the NRMP Medicine and Pediatric Specialties Match (Match Day is December 2, 2026). For the 2027 cycle, the AAMC ERAS directory lists 194 interventional cardiology programs, with 168 participating in ERAS. Sources: AAMC ERAS 2027 Participating Specialties & Programs: Interventional Cardiology, AAMC 2027 ERAS Fellowship Application Timeline, AAMC Fees for ERAS Fellowship Applications. Last checked November 4, 2026.

What is an interventional cardiology fellowship?

According to the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), interventional cardiology focuses on the diagnosis and therapeutic management of cardiovascular diseases using percutaneous catheter-based interventional procedures and advanced imaging techniques. The AAMC ERAS specialty directory notes that training covers structural heart modification and revascularization in peripheral and coronary vascular beds, alongside clinical research.

The typical fellowship lasts 1 year. Before starting, you must complete an internal medicine residency and a 3-year cardiovascular disease fellowship (which includes 1 year devoted to research). When interventional cardiology joined the NRMP Match in 2024 for the 2025 appointment year, the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) shifted the timeline so trainees apply upon completing their second year of general cardiology training.

To rehearse for your fellowship interviews out loud, Confetto runs AI mock interviews for residency and fellowship applicants with follow-up questions on your clinical and research background. Start your free week on our Residency Interview Questions and AI Practice page.

2027 ERAS and NRMP Match timeline

Interventional cardiology is an ERAS July Application Cycle specialty and participates in the NRMP Medicine and Pediatric Specialties Match, sponsored by SCAI. You must register separately with ERAS and with the NRMP.

According to the AAMC 2027 ERAS Fellowship Application Timeline, the 2027 ERAS season begins on June 4, 2026 at 9 a.m. ET, and the ERAS Fellowships Documents Office (EFDO) distributes tokens to fellowship applicants on June 5, 2026. July cycle fellowship applicants may begin submitting applications to programs on July 1, 2026 at 9 a.m. ET, and July cycle fellowship programs may begin reviewing applications on July 15, 2026 at 9 a.m. ET. The 2027 ERAS season ends on May 31, 2027 at 5 p.m. ET.

On the Match side, the NRMP Medicine and Pediatric Specialties Match calendar and SCAI publish the key dates for July 2027 appointments: the Match opens for registration on August 26, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET, Ranking opens on September 30, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET, the Quota Change and Withdrawal Deadline is October 28, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET, the Rank Order List Certification Deadline (when ranking closes) is November 18, 2026 at 9:00 PM ET, and Match Day is December 2, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET.

Program count and ERAS participation for 2027

In the AAMC ERAS 2027 Participating Specialties and Programs directory (posted October 27, 2025), 194 interventional cardiology programs are listed across the United States: 168 are participating in ERAS, 20 are not participating, 3 are unregistered, and 3 are no longer accepting applications. Not every accredited program uses ERAS or accepts applications every cycle.

By our calculation from the AAMC ERAS 2027 directory, 86.6% of listed interventional cardiology programs (168 of 194) are participating in ERAS for the 2027 cycle, while 13.4% (26 of 194) are either not participating (10.3%), unregistered (1.5%), or no longer accepting applications (1.5%).

Because ERAS does not offer refunds for applications sent to nonparticipating programs, check a program's status on the ERAS directory and confirm deadlines directly with the program before you pay. On the Match side, SCAI also publishes a list of interventional cardiology training programs committed to the NRMP Match on its website.

ERAS fellowship application fees and worked cost table

ERAS fellowship application fees are tiered by how many programs you apply to within the season. The AAMC charges $115 for up to 10 programs, $17 each for programs 11 to 20, $20 each for programs 21 to 30, and $27 each for 31 or more programs. Exam transcripts are a separate fee assessed once per season: $70 for a USMLE transcript and $80 for a COMLEX-USA transcript. Applicable sales tax is added based on your billing address.

If you are comparing how fellowship portal rules differ from residency, see our guide to the ERAS Application and Timeline 2027: Sept 2 Submit, Sept 23 Review. Below are worked cost examples using the AAMC's 2027 fee tiers.

Programs Applied To	Application Fee Breakdown	ERAS Fee Only	Total With $70 USMLE Transcript
10 programs	$115 base (up to 10)
20 programs	$115 + (10 x $17)
30 programs	$115 + (10 x $17) + (10 x $20)
40 programs	$115 + (10 x $17) + (10 x $20) + (10 x $27)

What programs weigh, ACGME requirements and Match context

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When fellowship programs evaluate applicants and verify eligibility for an NRMP Specialties Matching Service Fellowship Match, official NRMP, ERAS, and ACGME sources outline the foundational criteria that must be in place. Prior to the start of training, you must complete all required prior training: an internal medicine residency and a 3-year cardiovascular disease fellowship with 1 year devoted to research. You must also meet all requirements for entry into graduate medical education prescribed by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), satisfy any additional eligibility requirements provided by the sponsoring institution (such as a teaching hospital), and transmit your exam transcripts through ERAS ($70 for USMLE or $80 for COMLEX-USA).

On the ACGME side, the Review Committee for Internal Medicine publishes the Interventional Cardiology Program Requirements and FAQs (effective July 1, 2026) alongside the Interventional Cardiology Milestones and Supplemental Guide. The Program Requirements specify the Core Competencies and standards of quality and education for the subspecialty, and the Milestones framework tracks trainee progression across those competencies. Framing your general cardiology clinical performance, procedural readiness in the catheterization laboratory, and research year output around these ACGME Core Competencies and Milestones gives interviewers clear evidence of your readiness for a 1-year subspecialty program.

Interventional cardiology joined the Match to improve how candidates and programs connect. According to SCAI, the Match replaced a compressed, high-pressure recruitment environment with a regulated, transparent, and equitable process. Applying upon completion of the second year of general cardiology gives fellows more time to decide which subspecialty is the best fit, provides a standardized timeframe to interview and assess programs without an unreasonable deadline to commit, and establishes a binding agreement so accepted positions cannot be abandoned later.

For broader context on the Medicine and Pediatric Specialties Match, NRMP data from the 2025 Match (conducted in December 2025 for the 2026 appointment year, about a year old) shows 18 Internal Medicine subspecialties participated with 2,296 program tracks offering 6,721 certified positions, filling 5,971 positions for an 88.8% fill rate. Across the entire 2025 Medicine and Pediatric Specialties Match, 78.7% of the 10,840 active applicants matched. The combined Match also allows you to rank multiple subspecialties on the same rank order list or participate as a couple.

The interventional cardiology interview day and sample answers

Under NRMP policy, fellowship interview dates and formats are set by individual programs. Because programs begin reviewing ERAS applications on July 15, 2026 and the NRMP Rank Order List Certification deadline is November 18, 2026, interviews take place inside that July-to-November window. Both applicants and programs are required by NRMP policy to provide complete, timely, and accurate information throughout the application, interview, and matching processes.

Your invitation email from each program will state whether the interview is virtual or in person, how many faculty members and current fellows you will meet, and how long each conversation runs. For a broader look at subspecialty interview formats, read Fellowship Interview Questions: What Programs Ask, or review foundational behavioral prompts in Residency Interview Questions and Example Answers (2027 Match).

We wrote the practice prompts below around the scope of practice and training structure described by the NRMP, ERAS, and SCAI.

To show how to structure your responses beyond the primary motivation question in the practice box below, here are 2 additional sample answers written by our team for the complications and research prompts.

Prompt: Tell me about a diagnostic catheterization or PCI case where the plan changed on the table or a complication occurred. How did the team communicate, and what did you take away from it?

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented. "During a second-year rotation in the catheterization lab, I scrubbed into an elective diagnostic angiogram for a patient with exertional angina. As we engaged the right coronary artery, the patient developed acute ST elevations and bradycardia, and angiography showed a catheter-induced spiral dissection at the ostium. My attending stayed calm and immediately assigned roles out loud: he asked the nurse to prepare atropine and fluids, asked the technologist to pull a workhorse guidewire and guide catheter, and talked me through maintaining coaxial position while we wired the true lumen and confirmed placement with intravascular ultrasound before deploying a stent. What stayed with me was how quiet and structured the room became once the complication was named clearly. Afterwards, we debriefed the pressure waveform dampening that preceded the injection and spoke transparently with the patient and family at the bedside. It taught me to watch the hemodynamic monitor before every contrast injection and showed me how explicit closed-loop communication keeps a cath lab team steady under pressure."

Prompt: Your general cardiology fellowship includes research training, and ERAS highlights critical research in interventional techniques and outcomes. Walk me through 1 project you worked on and what question you would ask next.

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented. "During my dedicated research time in general cardiology, I worked with two interventional faculty members to study institutional outcomes in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention for calcified lesions using intravascular imaging versus angiography alone. I reviewed the clinical and procedural records, tracked target lesion failure at 12 months, and worked with our biostatistician to adjust for clinical comorbidities. We found that routine intravascular ultrasound or optical coherence tomography changed stent sizing or post-dilation strategy in more than a third of cases and was associated with lower rates of repeat revascularization. Completing that project taught me how to turn everyday cath lab questions into clean clinical data. In a 1-year interventional fellowship, the next question I want to study is how physiological assessment and imaging together can guide staged revascularization of non-culprit vessels in patients who present with multivessel disease and acute coronary syndromes."

Motivation and timing: Now that applicants apply after their second year of general cardiology, what cases or rotations in your first 2 years confirmed that interventional cardiology is the right subspecialty for you?
Scope of practice: Interventional cardiology spans coronary revascularization, peripheral vascular interventions, and structural heart modification. How do you want your 1-year fellowship volume to balance those areas, and where do you see yourself practicing after graduation?
Complications and judgment: Tell me about a diagnostic catheterization or PCI case where the plan changed on the table or a complication occurred. How did the team communicate, and what did you take away from it?
Research and scholarship: Your general cardiology fellowship includes research training, and ERAS highlights critical research in interventional techniques and outcomes. Walk me through 1 project you worked on and what question you would ask next.
Teamwork under pressure: Primary PCI and complex catheterization cases require tight coordination with nurses, technologists, and attendings. Describe a high-acuity call night where teamwork made the difference.
Program fit: What are you looking for in a 1-year interventional training environment that you have not already seen at your home institution?

How to structure your clinical, procedural and research stories

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Because you apply after completing your second year of a 3-year cardiovascular disease fellowship, your interviewers are speaking to a senior cardiology fellow who has already spent 2 years rotating through the catheterization laboratory, cardiac care units, imaging laboratories, and research blocks. Your answers should sound like a peer discussing clinical decision-making, procedural preparation, and career direction.

Use these 4 frameworks to organize your preparation before your first interview date:

Connect the 2nd-year timeline to a deliberate choice: SCAI and the NRMP note that shifting the application deadline to the end of the 2nd year of general cardiology gives trainees more time to decide which subspecialty is the best fit. When asked why you chose interventional cardiology, point to specific comparisons you made across your 1st and 2nd years, such as comparing longitudinal heart failure management, imaging, or electrophysiology against hands-on revascularization in the cath lab, so your decision reads as tested rather than automatic.
Define your goals across coronary, peripheral and structural work: Both the NRMP and ERAS define interventional cardiology across percutaneous coronary intervention, peripheral vascular disease revascularization, structural heart modification, and advanced imaging techniques. Before each interview, review how the program structures its 1-year fellowship across those vascular beds and be ready to state clearly how your procedural goals align with the program's procedure mix.
Anchor your research story in the 1-year research requirement: Because the NRMP notes that a 3-year cardiovascular disease fellowship includes 1 year devoted to research, and ERAS emphasizes critical research enhancing patient outcomes through innovative techniques, prepare a concise summary of your research. Name the clinical problem you studied, your specific role in data collection or analysis, what the findings changed for patients, and 1 realistic question you can finish or contribute to during a 1-year interventional fellowship.
Plan your Rank Order List around SCAI's Match objectives: SCAI notes that the Match gives candidates a fair opportunity to assess the spectrum of programs that best meet their professional, personal, and logistic objectives, and that the combined Medicine and Pediatric Specialties Match allows ranking multiple subspecialties or matching as a couple. Score each program against your clinical volume goals, faculty mentorship, and geographic or couples preferences right after every interview so your list is ready when ranking opens on September 30, 2026.

2-month prep checklist before July 15

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This is our suggested preparation plan leading into the July 15 program review date and fall interviews:

Early June 2026: Claim your EFDO token when distribution begins on June 5, 2026 and log into MyERAS.
Mid-June 2026: Audit your target program list against the ERAS 2027 directory (168 participating programs) and SCAI's committed programs list so you do not pay nonrefundable fees for a nonparticipating program.
Late June 2026: Finalize your personal statement, CV entries, and USMLE ($70) or COMLEX-USA ($80) transcript requests in MyERAS.
July 1 to July 14, 2026: Submit your ERAS application starting July 1 at 9 a.m. ET so your file is complete before programs start reviewing on July 15 at 9 a.m. ET.
Late July to August 2026: Rehearse your career narrative, 1 catheterization lab case discussion, and 1 research summary out loud. Register for the NRMP Match when it opens on August 26, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET.
September to November 18, 2026: Track your program notes right after each interview day, enter rankings starting September 30, and certify your Rank Order List before November 18 at 9:00 PM ET.
To practice answering out loud with follow-up questions before your first program date, start your free week on Confetto.

Practice question

Why interventional cardiology, and what in your general cardiology training confirmed that decision for you?

See an example answer

Example answer written by our team. The applicant is invented. Coming into general cardiology fellowship, I enjoyed the physiology of the cardiac intensive care unit, so I wanted to use my first 2 years to test whether I belonged in critical care or the catheterization lab. During my first-year diagnostic cath blocks, what pulled me toward interventional cardiology was seeing how intravascular imaging and coronary physiology immediately answered questions we had been debating on rounds. In my second year, I followed a patient who presented in cardiogenic shock from an acute left circumflex occlusion. Watching the attending use intravascular ultrasound to size the stent accurately and restore flow while managing hemodynamic support showed me how much preparation and calm communication sit behind a 20-minute intervention. I also liked the longitudinal side of the work in clinic, talking through antiplatelet adherence and secondary prevention with the same patients months later. Applying at the end of my second year gave me time to finish an outcomes project on radial access complications and be sure that a high-volume coronary and peripheral training year is how I want to practice.

It names a real comparison the applicant tested during the first 2 years of general cardiology, anchors the choice in 1 concrete catheterization lab case, and connects procedural skill to pre- and post-procedure patient care and clinical research without sounding scripted.

Frequently asked questions

Does interventional cardiology participate in the NRMP Match?

Yes. Sponsored by SCAI, interventional cardiology joined the NRMP Medicine and Pediatric Specialties Match in 2024 for the 2025 appointment year and participates in both the ERAS July Application Cycle and the NRMP Match.

When do you apply for an interventional cardiology fellowship?

You apply upon completing your second year of general cardiovascular disease fellowship training. For the 2027 cycle, the ERAS season opens June 4, 2026 at 9 a.m. ET, applicants can submit starting July 1, 2026 at 9 a.m. ET, and programs begin reviewing files on July 15, 2026 at 9 a.m. ET.

What are the 2027 NRMP Match dates for interventional cardiology?

For July 2027 appointments, the NRMP Match opens August 26, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET, Ranking opens September 30, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET, the Quota Change Deadline is October 28, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET, Rank Order List Certification closes November 18, 2026 at 9:00 PM ET, and Match Day is December 2, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET.

How long is an interventional cardiology fellowship and what are the prerequisites?

According to the NRMP, the typical fellowship length is 1 year. Before starting, applicants must complete both an internal medicine residency and a 3-year fellowship in cardiovascular disease.

How many interventional cardiology fellowship programs are in ERAS?

The AAMC ERAS 2027 directory lists 194 total interventional cardiology programs: 168 participating, 20 not participating, 3 unregistered, and 3 no longer accepting applications.

How much does it cost to apply to interventional cardiology fellowships in ERAS?

ERAS charges $115 for up to 10 programs, $17 each for programs 11 to 20, $20 each for programs 21 to 30, and $27 each for 31 or more programs, plus a 1-time $70 USMLE transcript fee or $80 COMLEX-USA transcript fee per season. ERAS does not issue refunds for any reason.