Update from Leadership
Dear Colleagues,
This spring, the AAMC team has enjoyed connecting with many of you at conferences and meetings across the country. Your candid feedback and shared perspectives directly inform ongoing improvements and future innovations across the transition to residency continuum. With several events still ahead, we look forward to continuing these conversations and meeting more of you in person.
We also invite you to join a series of upcoming webinars as we prepare for the 2027 Electronic Residency Application Service® (ERAS®) season. These sessions will highlight key updates, tools, and resources to support the community, and you can find more details and a link to register below.
For applicants and those who support them, our Specialty Spotlight webinar series brings together program directors and medical school advisors to share specialty-specific guidance. Each session offers practical insights and a live question-and-answer segment, and recordings will be available on demand after each event.
In the months ahead, we are expanding our webinar offerings with sessions focused on key updates for the upcoming season. Several webinars are designed specifically for programs, medical school staff, and advisors and will highlight important tools, including the Dean’s Office Workstation (DWS), DWS Analytics, the Program Director’s Workstation (PDWS), and the Residency Explorer™ tool.
We encourage you to visit the new ERAS and Transition to Residency webinars webpage to explore the full schedule and register for upcoming sessions. We look forward to connecting with you, whether in person or online, in the weeks ahead.
Patrick Fritz
AAMC Senior Director for Residency and Fellowship Services
Specialty Spotlight Webinar Series for Residency Applicants and Advisors
The AAMC ERAS team is hosting a series of webinars featuring specialty-specific guidance for medical school advisors and 2027 residency season applicants. Each webinar includes a program director and an advisor who will share best practices in preparation for the 2027 ERAS application season. The webinars also include a Q&A and will be recorded for later viewing. The series kicked off in April and continues May 21 with an inside look at anesthesiology. See all webinars on the ERAS and Transition to Residency Webinars page.
Get Ready for the 2027 ERAS Season
Registration is now open for residency and fellowship programs participating in the 2027 ERAS season.
We encourage you to explore the following resources for the latest updates:
- What You Need to Know About the 2027 ERAS Application Season
- Program Signaling for the 2027 MyERAS® Application Season
- ERAS Timelines for Programs
- Timelines for ERAS Medical Schools
- ERAS and Transition to Residency Webinars
New AAMC Letter Writer Resources Available for the Upcoming Season
Beginning with the 2027 ERAS season, the AAMC will transition to the AAMC Letter Writer Portal, replacing the current ERAS Letter of Recommendation Portal (LoRP). To support your team and letter writers through this transition, the ERAS team has new resources available to explore.
ERAS for Letter Writers Webpage: Visit our recently launched ERAS for Letter Writers webpage for overview information, timelines and key dates, frequently asked questions and more.
On-Demand Webinar: Watch the recording to learn more about the new functionality and the integration of Standard Letters of Evaluation (SLOEs) for three specialties for the 2027 season.
We hope you will access these resources to stay informed and help ensure a seamless experience for your applicants and letter writers.
Explore the Updated ERAS Data Dashboards
As part of our broader commitment to transparency and timely insights, we continue to add new data to the recently launched dashboards on the ERAS Statistics page. 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.
To dive a little deeper, you can also watch the recording of our webinar, The Data Landscape: Continuing to Deliver Insights with the New ERAS Statistics Dashboard and Thalamus Data Analytics. The dashboards are updated during the first week of each month, and we encourage you to check back regularly as the new season approaches.
What We’re Hearing About the ERAS Program
“I’ve used ERAS for many years. I love how user friendly it is.”
Lynn Heather, Institutional Coordinator, University Medical Center of Southern Nevada
Wrapping up the Season with Thalamus
Thalamus provides insights key for reflection and powering analytics in Cerebellum, helping programs and institutions evaluate recruitment outcomes and plan ahead.
Take the following steps to ensure your records are complete and ready for next season:
Mark your applicants as Matched: https://customercare.thalamusgme.com/hc/en-us/articles/34041010945559-Mark-Applicants-as-Matched
Download your final reports and data: https://customercare.thalamusgme.com/hc/en-us/articles/9165288481303-Reporting-and-Data-Exports
Coming Summer 2026: Updates to the Residency Explorer Tool and Careers in Medicine® Program
This summer, the AAMC is introducing several updates to the Residency Explorer tool and Careers in Medicine® (CiM) program to better support learners from specialty exploration through residency program decision-making.
Specialty pages currently on the CiM website will move into the Residency Explorer tool, bringing specialty-level context and program-level data together in one place. We’re also expanding specialty insights through new collaborations starting with family medicine. You will find added data from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) on areas like compensation, work-life balance, and scope of practice.
At the program level, updates to the GME Track® Program Survey will provide more relevant information about application requirements, aligned with resources like the Organization of Program Directors Association (OPDA) Guide for Residency Applicants.
The CiM program will continue to focus on self-assessment and advising, with enhancements to reports, advisor resources, and student activity insights.
Together, these updates are designed to better connect data and support more informed decision-making from Year 1 through the transition to residency.
Away Rotation Season in Full Swing: Monitoring Trends and Sharing Best Practice Recommendations
It’s the height of the away rotation season and the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities™ (VSLO®) team is keeping a close eye on application activity. In the coming months, the AAMC will share emerging trends and data from this season with you and your teams. We expect to see increases in student and program activity in the VSLO system similar to the previous away rotation season.
The AAMC Group on Student Affairs Committee on Student Records (COSR) recently sent best practice recommendations for processing visiting student applications to institutional colleagues. Additionally, COSR sent a letter to students to share key recommendations for a successful away rotation season. That letter can be accessed on the VSLO Student Resources page.
New Data on Surgical Residents’ Readiness
The AAMC Resident Readiness Survey is a standardized process for program directors (PDs) to provide feedback about graduates’ readiness for residency. Analysis of four years of national data, published in Journal of the American College of Surgeons, shows 96.6% of surgical Postgraduate Year 1s from U.S. Medical Degree-granting schools met or exceeded PDs’ expectations. Graduates from schools with (vs. without) required, specialty-specific transition courses were less likely, and non-categorical (vs. categorical) general surgery residents were more likely, not to meet/exceed PDs’ expectations. Undergraduate Medical Education (UME)–Graduate Medical Education (GME) collaboration and national feedback loops can guide curriculum design and support evidence-based improvements. Read More.
Resources to Recognize 150 Years of Academic Medicine
As the AAMC marks 150 years of advancing academic medicine, the association has created a new resource collection to help the community explore and engage with this shared history. From an interactive timeline to ready-to-use prompts for social posts and community discussions, these resources are designed to help community members connect past milestones to the work happening across their institution and networks today. Read More.
National Collaborative Showcases Recent Innovation in the Transition to Residency
The AAMC invites representatives from national organizations, societies, and groups across the UME-GME continuum to participate in the National Collaborative to Improve the Transition to Residency (NCITTR). The AAMC convened this national medical education collaborative to accelerate improvements in the transition from UME to GME, recognizing that this work requires the collaboration of many organizations across the transition to residency community. The next group meeting will take place on Thursday, June 11. Key topics will include specialty choice, program selection, readiness, and onboarding. To learn more about how to join the meeting and for questions about the collaborative, contact the NCITTR team.
Virtual Events
Enhancing Your Residency Application Experience: MyERAS Application & Residency Explorer Tool Updates
Tuesday, May 12, 1 p.m. ET
Supporting Your Students in the 2027 ERAS Season: DWS Training and Residency Explorer Tool Updates
Thursday, May 14, 1 p.m. ET
Anesthesiology Specialty Spotlight! Optimal Strategies for Your Residency Application
Thursday, May 21, 1 p.m. ET
Pathology Specialty Spotlight! Optimal Strategies for Your Residency Application
Thursday, May 28, 1 p.m. ET
Recent Webinar Recordings
Neurological Surgery Specialty Spotlight! Optimal Strategies for Your Residency Application
Access the Recording
Plastic Surgery Specialty Spotlight! Optimal Strategies for MS1s and MS2s
Access the Recording
2027 ERAS Letter of Recommendation Updates: Introduction to the AAMC Letter Writer Portal
Access the Recording
Program Signaling and Interview Invitation Findings from the 2026 ERAS Season
Access the Recording
ERAS Content Refresh: Evaluating Program Signal Statements and Specialty-Specific Essays Pilots
Access the Recording
ERAS PDWS Q&A Session
Access the Recording
Upcoming Meetings
The AAMC ERAS team will be presenting and/or exhibiting at the following meetings this spring.
The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Annual Spring Conference
May 2-6, New Orleans, LA
2026 American Orthopaedic Association Annual Leadership Meeting
May 11-15, Albuquerque, NM
2026 American Urological Association Annual Meeting
May 15-18, Washington, DC
The International Medical Graduates Event
Saturday, May 16, Miami, FL