As the 2026 Electronic Residency Application Service® (ERAS®) residency application season kicks off, the AAMC has unveiled new data, tools, and interview support to improve the process for residency and fellowship applicants.
More data in the Residency Explorer™ tool
The free, one-of-a-kind Residency Explorer™ tool has just been updated with even more program-level data to help applicants make personalized, data-driven decisions on where to apply for residency. The tool, powered by data from the AAMC and our six trusted partner organizations, continues to offer in-depth insights into thousands of residency programs across 40 specialties. Users can explore and compare programs based on how well they align with what matters most to them — whether that’s geographic location, program features, or competitiveness factors such as license exam score ranges, interview invitation rates, and applicant and interview pool composition. Newly added eligibility and application criteria allow users to see program-specific requirements such as away rotation, letters of recommendation, and license exam requirements, as well as interview format offered.
“The AAMC-supported Residency Explorer tool is the only place where applicants can see both where they align and where they are competitive,” says Dana Dunleavy, PhD, director of the AAMC Admissions and Selection Research and Development Program. “Applicants now have access to data from more than 5,000 programs across 40 specialties, including program signal and interview data. It’s a game changer for this year’s applicants.”
New ERAS and specialty resources
This year, applicants can access 12 new specialty spotlight webinars that all feature a program director and an advisor sharing best practices. The series is available on demand.
“This is the first time we developed a webinar for anesthesiology applicants, and it was wonderful to have so many of them attend,” says Jed Wolpaw, MD, MEd, associate professor for anesthesia and critical care medicine and residency program director at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “It was a great way to help them hone their applications for our specialty.” Anesthesiology has chosen to stay with the ERAS program after testing an alternate application service during the last application cycle.
Applicants can bookmark the What You Need to Know About the 2026 ERAS Application Season and newly redesigned Apply to Residencies with the ERAS System pages to keep track of the essential season details.
They can also browse the updated ERAS Statistics page for the latest end-of-season data from the 2025 ERAS year, including key trends in residency and fellowship applications across specialties, which offer valuable insight into past applicant behavior and program activity. In late September, look for new, more intuitive and interactive data dashboards.
“These new dashboards will improve transparency, usability, and data-driven decision-making for the entire transition to residency community,” says Patrick Fritz, AAMC senior director of residency and fellowship services.
The ERAS Participating Specialties and Programs page is continually updated and includes access to the new Program Directors Association Guide for Residency Applicants. These guides are available for multiple specialties through links at the top of each specialty section. Applicants are encouraged to check this page regularly to find specialty specific recruitment season information.
More ways to customize applications
Applicants now have even more ways to customize their MyERAS® applications, through new pilot projects with five specialties: Anesthesiology, Neurosurgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, and Plastic Surgery-Integrated. These pilots, which include specialty-specific questions, geographic preference opt-out, and program signal statements, are all designed to help applicants share more information about themselves and their career goals with programs.
“The collaborative process in developing pilots for the 2026 ERAS season was truly a positive experience between the ERAS team and our specialty,” says Amber Leis, MD, associate professor and program director for the plastic surgery residency program at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. “It is rewarding to see the mutual efforts of both teams coming together to support both applicants and programs. We look forward to seeing the outcomes of our work and use this information to continue shaping future recruitment seasons.”
Program signals, designed to help applicants indicate their interest in programs at the time of application, continue to grow in popularity. Twenty-six specialties support program signaling for their residency programs. And for the first time, 2026 ERAS fellowship applicants in both the July and December cycles can share signals with programs in participating specialties. “It’s important for applicants to use program signals because they are more likely to get an interview if they do,” says Dunleavy.
Recent research examining general surgery ranking and match data further suggests that signals have a positive effect on rank order list inclusion.
Finally, the AAMC ERAS and Thalamus teams are also continuing to support the Secondary Urology Match and Rolling Offer Process.
Easier interview management and timely data
This year, the interview management experience will also be easier for applicants. Why? In past years, applicants interacted with multiple interview management systems. Now they will receive interview invites, and can track and manage their interviews, in one place, because 90% of all residency programs use Thalamus Core through the AAMC-Thalamus collaboration. Advisors also have a wealth of data to provide support when it’s most needed, thanks to the ERAS Dean’s Office WorkStation Analytics for Schools.
“This integrated experience and level of data have never before been possible,” says Fritz. “We’re committed to supporting the entire transition to residency community with the data, tools, and research-based innovations we all need to ease the transition to residency and beyond.”