Update from Leadership
Dear Colleagues,
With Thanksgiving week upon us, I want to take a moment to thank you for your engagement throughout the season. We continue to feel incredibly grateful for this community — for your collaboration, your thoughtful questions, and the steady feedback that helps guide our work.
The AAMC Electronic Residency Application Service® (ERAS®) December fellowship cycle applicant opening on Nov. 12 went smoothly. This is the second year that program signals use has been available in the December cycle, and we’ve seen an increase in the number of specialties choosing to participate in signaling this year. With that momentum, we’re looking forward to a strong program opening on Dec. 3.
Earlier this month, many of us had the chance to connect in person at Learn Serve Lead 2025: The AAMC Annual Meeting. We are thankful for the opportunity to talk with so many of you, hear about your experiences this season, and gather both encouraging and constructive feedback that will help us prioritize improvements for future seasons. Before the holiday, I’d like to leave you with two brief updates:
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ERAS webinar on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. ET: Please join us for MyERAS® Content Refresh: Evaluation of New Specialty-Specific Essays, where we’ll share early findings from the 2026 season. Presenters will discuss preliminary data and emerging themes related to the specialty-specific questions and program signal statement pilots and will explore implications for the use of these data to support mission-aligned selection.
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New data dashboard coming in early December: A new program signal and interview dashboard will go live on the recently updated ERAS Statistics webpage the first week of December. You can read additional details below and we encourage you to visit the page and explore the latest data once it’s available.
Thank you again for your engagement and for all you do to support the transition to residency.
Warm wishes for a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving.
Patrick Fritz
AAMC Senior Director for Residency and Fellowship Services
Preview of 2027 ERAS Season Updates
We are making great progress toward improvements to the ERAS program for the 2027 recruitment season. These updates have been made based on research and community feedback to improve the application experience, including:
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AAMC Letter Writer Portal – Modernizing the Letter of Recommendation Experience: The AAMC is already in the process of implementing a new streamlined letter of recommendation system, the AAMC Letter Writer Portal, that allows easier, faster, and more transparent letter submissions. More information about this transition is coming soon.
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Specialty Standardized Letter of Evaluation (SLOE) Development – Enhancing Structured Evaluations:
The AAMC is also collaborating with several specialties to design and pilot new standardized SLOE forms. These new forms are intended to support more consistent evaluation practices across participating specialties. Additional details about the project and upcoming opportunities to learn more — including a planned webinar with our team — will be shared soon. -
MyERAS Scholarly Work Section: The AAMC is revising the 2027 MyERAS application to improve the way residency and fellowship applicants share their research and scholarly activities. When the season opens in June 2026, ERAS residency and fellowship applicants will see the section formerly called “Publications” renamed “Scholarly Work.” Learn more about these changes by viewing the 2027 MyERAS Enhancements: Highlighting Research and Scholarly Work webinar recording.
New Interactive ERAS Statistics Dashboard Supports Informed Decision Making
The latest enhancement to the recently updated ERAS Statistics webpage will be released in early December, featuring a new dashboard showing the relationship between program signals and interview invitations. All of the dashboards feature dynamic, interactive visualizations of residency and fellowship data; easy-to-navigate details including cross-application data, applicant and program metrics, signals and interview data; and specialty-specific views.
The dashboards are updated monthly throughout the season. Explore the ERAS Statistics webpage and watch the recording of the recent webinar, The Data Landscape: Continuing to Deliver Insights with the New ERAS Statistics Dashboard and Thalamus Data Analytics to learn more.
Research and Development: Upcoming Features in Progress
Several key innovations are currently under active research and development as we continue to enhance transparency, usability, and mission-aligned selection across the ERAS ecosystem.
Predicted Likelihood of Interview (In Development): The AAMC team, in collaboration with Thalamus, is exploring a new Predicted Likelihood of Interview feature. This data-driven tool—planned for the Residency ExplorerTM tool and Thalamus Cortex — is designed to support applicants and programs and is intended to increase transparency and personalize applicants’ understanding of their likelihood of receiving interview invitations. It also offers a tool for programs to help prioritize applications for more in-depth mission-aligned selection. We will continue to share updates about the progress of this program in development in the coming months.
Geographic Preferences: Exploring State-Level Preferences: We are continuing evaluation of the geographic preferences section. Research is underway to explore state-based preferences to overcome challenges with division preferences and capture applicants’ geographic ties, connections, and areas of interest — with the goal of increasing clarity and value for both applicants and programs.
What We’re Hearing About the ERAS Program
I’ve been using the ERAS system for 24 years and the new technology, by incorporating Thalamus, has made recruiting season a lot smoother and saves time.
- Ginger Cook, Program Manager, Florida State University Internal Medicine Residency Program
Meet Thalamus at the National Association of Designated Institutional Officials Annual Meeting
Thalamus will be in St. Louis at the National Association of Designated Institutional Officials (NADIO) Annual Meeting from Dec. 7-9. Connect with the team and discuss what’s ahead for Thalamus, including a brand-new product.
The Thalamus team looks forward to sharing updates, gathering your feedback, and exploring how they can continue supporting data-driven recruitment for your institution.
Visiting Student Learning OpportunitiesTM (VSLO®) Modernization Underway: New Platform Launching December and Updated Specialty Away Rotation Guidance
Our scheduled system outage is underway as we work to migrate institution data to our new platform, launching this December. Many of the recommendations we’ve received from institutions are reflected in the enhancements. We are excited to deliver a robust solution designed to provide a more intuitive and streamlined user experience.
When institution users gain access to the new system, they will have the opportunity to review and confirm that their institution’s data and user privileges have been accurately transferred. Student access will follow contingent upon having received an invitation from their Home institution.
We’re pleased to announce that the VSLO Away Rotation Guidance at the Specialty Level webpage has been updated for the 2025-26 season. This resource is designed to support institutions and students in navigating the away rotation process with greater clarity and confidence.
The updated page includes:
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Direct links to specialty organization guidance (where available).
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Information on away rotation support (financial, mentors, and more) across specialties.
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Data on the average number of unique elective applications submitted per specialty and sub-specialty available in the VSLO application service.
We encourage institutions to share this resource with students as they plan their rotations and explore specialty-specific expectations.
New Resources Added to Advancing Artificial Intelligence Across Academic Medicine Resource Collection
This artificial intelligence (AI) resource collection aims to address the immediate need to share timely, practical resources. The AAMC is pleased to share recent additions to this peer-reviewed collection of freely accessible tools to integrate AI into educational environments. Recent updates include topics such as tool selection and practical guidelines for implementing frameworks, guides to use AI to create presentations and visuals, and developing practice questions. Explore the full collection here.
Upcoming Webinars
ERAS Program Director’s WorkStation (PDWS) Q&A Session
Tuesday, Dec. 2, 1 p.m. ET
MyERAS Content Refresh: Evaluation of New Specialty-Specific Essays
Thursday, Dec. 4, 2 p.m. ET
New Webinar Recordings
2027 MyERAS Enhancements: Highlighting Research and Scholarly Work
Recording
The Data Landscape: Continuing to Deliver Insights with the New ERAS Statistics Dashboard and Thalamus Data Analytics
Recording
Join the ERAS Team
NADIO 2025 By DIOs For DIOs Annual Meeting
Dec. 7-9, 2025, St. Louis