ERAS Insights

The 2026 September Residency Cycle is Around the Corner

Aug. 31, 2025

Update from Leadership

Dear Colleagues,

As September approaches, the 2026 AAMC Electronic Residency Application Service® (ERAS®) residency recruitment cycle is in full view. This time of year is always exciting, but we’re especially energized as we prepare to debut new, more intuitive and interactive data dashboards to improve transparency, usability, and data-driven decision-making for the transition to residency community. These enhancements reflect our ongoing commitment to provide accurate, relevant data that can shape your recruitment strategies and help programs and institutions make confident, informed decisions. Stay tuned for the release in the coming weeks.

We’ve also updated our website with the latest end-of-season data from the 2025 ERAS year, including key trends in residency and fellowship applications across specialties, as well as program signaling and interview data. This information offers valuable insight into applicant behavior and program activity. All of this is in addition to the free, one-of-a-kind Residency Explorer™ tool that’s just added even more program and specialty data to empower applicants to make personalized decisions (see below).

Through the AAMC–Thalamus collaboration, Cortex is complimentary for all ERAS-participating residency and fellowship programs, supporting holistic application review. To help programs get the most from this tool, the ERAS and Thalamus teams hosted a six-part virtual learning series earlier this summer. All session recordings, along with other informational webinars, are available on our website.

Thank you for continuing to work with us in supporting the next generation of physicians and in advancing a more transparent, data-informed recruitment process. As the September cycle gets underway, and throughout the 2026 ERAS season, please continue to share your questions and feedback.

Patrick Fritz
AAMC Senior Director for Residency and Fellowship Services

Preparing Students for the 2026 ERAS September Residency Recruitment Cycle

As we enter the September residency application season, we encourage academic advisors to explore our online resources and share them with students, including:

The ERAS Participating Specialties and Programs webpage, which enables students to search for specialty specific information as they explore specialties and make plans for applying to programs. Watch our Specialty Spotlight webinar series to learn more.
The Program Signaling for 2026 MyERAS® Application Season webpage details what programs are participating in program signaling.
The ERAS Webinars for Applicants collection includes recorded webinars to help students prepare to apply to residency.
The 2026 MyERAS Applicant User Guide provides in-depth information about every section of the 2026 application and the overall application process.
The What You Need to Know About the 2026 ERAS Application Season page.
The ERAS Statistics webpage makes updated 2025 ERAS season data accessible.
The ERAS Tools and Worksheets for Residency Applicants webpage helps applicants prepare their application.
The Residency Explorer™ tool helps applicants make more informed application decisions.

We’re pleased to work with you in guiding residency applicants through the next phase in their careers.

Recordings Available On Demand: ERAS Specialty Spotlight Webinar Series

You and your students can still access the 12 Specialty Spotlight webinar recordings (each highlighting a different medical specialty) for valuable insights. Each webinar features a program director and an advisor who share best practices in preparation for the 2026 ERAS application season. Visit our website to access the entire Specialty Spotlight series and register for upcoming transition to residency webinars.

What We’re Hearing About the ERAS Program

The ERAS system and its integration with Thalamus made my first recruitment season seamless.
—Jasmine Reyes, Program Coordinator, HCA Orange Park Hospital

I used ERAS for the first time this year and it was intuitive, customizable, and very much appreciated!!
—Marissa Barbadoro, Program Manager, Southwest Healthcare Medical Education Consortium

Thalamus Training and Resources for the 2025-26 Season

Free Cortex Training

Preparing for the Season (offered Sept. 4, 10, 23) – Ensure your Cortex and Thalamus Core platforms are ready for application review, including the new Cortex UI and Cortex Sandbox.
Cortex Office Hours (offered Sept. 9, 23, 30) – Ask Thalamus’s expert team any questions you may have about their products.

NEW! Thalamus Pro: Super User Master Course

This half-day, live, virtual workshop is designed for experienced users ready to elevate their skills. Led by Thalamus Program Success Managers, this hands-on training will deepen your expertise, enhance your reporting capabilities, and connect you with peers.
- Plus, gain insider access to the Thalamus Product team for upcoming feature previews and direct feedback opportunities.
When? Monday, Sept. 22 from 1 – 5 p.m. ET.
Limited seats available — reserve yours today.

Explore the suite of Thalamus training opportunities to equip your program with cutting-edge tools and techniques. Contact the Thalamus Customer Experience Team with questions.

Residency Explorer™ Tool: More Data, More Specialties, More Transparency

The Residency Explorer tool has always been the most comprehensive, free resource for applicants, advisors, and programs—bringing together verified data from multiple organizations to provide unmatched transparency in the residency application process. The Residency Explorer tool is the only place where applicants can see both where they align and where they are competitive — saving time, setting realistic expectations, and helping them apply more strategically.

Applicants can explore programs by characteristics that matter to them, see program-level interview invitation rates, examine applicant and interview pool composition, view license exam score ranges to better understand their competitiveness, and more.

In August 2025, we added even more program-specific details that help applicants quickly determine whether they meet eligibility and application requirements, including:

Application and matching service used
Interview format
Interview eligibility criteria
Updated license exam requirements
Letter of recommendation requirements
Away rotation requirements

In addition, 19 new specialties are now included, expanding coverage for students across the medical education continuum.

Journal of Surgical Education: Understanding the Ranking and Matching Behaviors During the 2023 and 2024 General Surgery Match Cycles: A Program Signaling Approach

A new study finds that although signaling is not a requirement to be ranked, ranked competitively, or matched to a program in General Surgery, those who signaled were ranked and matched at a higher percentage, with signals having the strongest effect on rank order list (ROL) inclusion. Read More.

Upcoming VSLO® System Modernization Activities

The Visiting Student Learning Opportunities™ (VSLO®) team is continuing to make progress toward the December launch of the modernized system. We are excited to share a new video that highlights a few of the key changes you will see in the modernized VSLO software.

We’ve scheduled VSLO office hours in September and October to focus on the transition to the modernized system. Please visit the Demonstrations and Training for Institutions page to register for a session.

Visit the VSLO Program Updates page to learn more and check out our upcoming system modernization activities.

AAMC responds to Wall Street Journal op-ed: Medical school admissions, training remain rigorous

A letter to the editor by AAMC President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, in response to a recent op-ed asserting that U.S. medical schools are admitting and graduating unqualified students, has been published in The Wall Street Journal. “The data say otherwise: From admission to graduation, and through residency training and medical licensing, data show that physician standards are comprehensive, demanding, and as strong as ever,” Skorton wrote. Read More (subscription required)