Updates from ERAS Leadership
Dear Colleagues,
Amidst planning for the 2025 ERAS season, our team is enjoying every opportunity we have to engage with you during medical education events from coast to coast. Your questions, concerns, and suggestions fuel our work. Four topics frequently come up in our conversations with you and are key considerations in our work to improve the ERAS system for the coming year and beyond:
- Sharing More Data: We’ve heard it loud and clear that you want more data. We launched Dean's Office WorkStation (DWS) Analytics for Schools; we regularly update ERAS Statistics; and we have added a webpage that includes specialty specific data snapshots from the 2024 ERAS season. In addition, our collaboration with Thalamus will provide greater insights through the Cerebellum™ Data and Analytics Dashboard and Thalamus Holistic Review, a competency-based scoring tool.
- Supporting Holistic Review: Following the full integration of program signals, geographic preferences, and revised experiences last season, the AAMC continues to look at how these factors impacted the 2024 residency cycle and support holistic review.
- Advancing Program Signals: We’ve shared several updates on the ERAS Statistics webpage that explore signal use and their impact during the residency season. We encourage program leaders to refer to them as those in the 22 participating specialties prepare for program signaling for the 2025 MyERAS® application season.
- Saving Programs Time with the Thalamus Integration: The full integration with Thalamus is underway. As you are registering for the 2025 ERAS season, you can opt in to Thalamus, where you’ll have access to efficient software that was designed to save program teams time and support holistic review. Thalamus also offers comprehensive interview management tools and a real-time scheduling system. We will provide training resources, webinars, and ongoing support in using these products in the weeks and months to come.
Please don’t hesitate to share your input with us either in-person at events or through our website.
Sincerely,
Patrick Fritz
Senior Director
AAMC Admissions and Selection Application Services
“Beyond the White Coat” Podcast Explores Innovations in the Residency Application Process
Patrick Fritz, senior director of AAMC admissions and selection application services, and Jason Reminick, MD, CEO and founder of Thalamus, recently joined the AAMC’s Beyond the White Coat podcast to talk about transforming the residency application process. They discuss how connecting learners with residency programs enables them to find professional and personal satisfaction while driving their organizations’ shared collaboration.
Thalamus Spring 2024 Product Updates
Thalamus has recently shared enhancements to its GME recruitment platform. Following the launch of Thalamus Holistic Review, the next batch of product updates includes upgrades to interview scheduling communication, the Thalamus mobile app, program rank lists and admin pages, Thalamus video, and more.
New AAMC Artificial Intelligence (AI) Technical Advisory Committee Established
The AAMC has created the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Admissions and Selection Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to develop a framework for member institutions to create an ethical and legally defensible AI function in undergraduate and graduate medical education (UME and GME) admissions and selection processes. The framework will be based on expert guidance from the AI TAC using their expertise and best practices to educate medical schools and residency and fellowship programs that are considering the adoption and implementation of AI in admissions and selection. We anticipate that the framework will be available later this summer and we plan to host a webinar with more information in July. Stay tuned for further details.
Smart Residency Strategy Resources for Advisors and 2025 Residency Applicants from Careers in Medicine®
Now is the optimal time for advisors to work with third-year medical students applying to residency in the 2025 residency application and match cycle to create their smart residency application strategy (sign-in required). These resources are designed to help Y3 students consider their residency training goals, find programs that meet those goals, determine how many and which programs to apply to, and more.
AAMC Updates Definition of Holistic Review and Core Principles
The AAMC has worked with a wide range of constituent collaborators to update its definition of holistic review and the related core principles. These critical components of the AAMC Holistic Review Framework:
- Are aligned with the June 2023 Supreme Court Harvard/UNC ruling on race-conscious admissions.
- Reflect how the implementation of holistic review has evolved to remain a best practice in medical school admissions and selection.
- Integrate experiences, attributes, and academic metrics with competency models used in undergraduate medical education and graduate medical education selection.
- Create a single framework in broadly accessible, neutral language that can be used by both UME and GME communities.