Frequently Asked Questions for ERAS® Fellowship Applicants

The AAMC Support Center (ASC) is available to provide technical support with the MyERAS application but cannot advise you on how to fill out your application. You should contact your Designated Dean’s Office if you need advice on how to fill out your application. 

• July fellowship applicants can begin certifying and submitting their application on July 3 at 9 a.m. ET.
• December fellowship applicants can begin certifying and submitting their application on Nov. 13 at 9 a.m. ET.

Note: This date is the first day that the MyERAS portal will allow applicants to certify and submit their application. It does not mean that an applicant must certify and submit their application on this date. 
 
Once you have certified and submitted your application, it will be irrevocably locked, and no changes will be permitted. Your application, once certified and submitted, is provided to all programs to which you apply during this ERAS season. Please take the additional time to proofread your application for any errors or omissions. 

Once you have certified and submitted your MyERAS application, you will not be able to make any changes or updates outside of the information provided under the Personal Information section. There are no exceptions.

For the 2025 ERAS season:

• Applicants can begin applying to July cycle fellowship programs on Wednesday, July 3 at 9 a.m. ET. However, July cycle fellowship programs will not be able to view your applications until Wednesday, July 17 at 9 a.m. ET. 

• Applicants can begin applying to December cycle fellowship programs on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 9 a.m. ET. However, December cycle fellowship programs will not be able to view your applications until Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 9 a.m. ET. 

For the 2025 ERAS season:

• July cycle fellowship programs can begin viewing applications on July 17, 2024 at 9 a.m. ET. 

• December cycle fellowship programs can begin viewing applications on Dec. 4, 2024 at 9 a.m. ET 

No. The MyERAS portal only requires that you select a training type in order to apply to programs. Documents can be assigned any time before or after applying to programs. 
 
However, it is important to keep program deadlines and requirements in mind when assigning documents and applying to programs. 
 
The Assignments Report, which can be found in the Programs menu, is a detailed report of training selections and document assignments for programs you have saved and applied to. Use this report to ensure that the documents assigned to the program meet their application requirements. 

Individual programs set their own deadlines for receiving applications. It is your responsibility as an applicant to research programs thoroughly and in advance of applying to programs. 
 
Also, the ERAS season ends on May 31 of each year, at which point you will no longer have access to your MyERAS account and will not be able to apply to additional programs for the season. Programs will no longer be able to receive new applications or supporting documents when the season closes.   
 
If you intend to use the repeat applicant function, please be sure to certify and submit your application. You may refer to the Repeat Applicant FAQs for more information. 

The first step is to certify and submit your MyERAS application before you can apply to programs. We encourage you to confirm individual programs deadlines and requirements prior to applying to ensure you have submitted all of the required documents. Each program has their own deadlines and requirements. ERAS administrators do not set deadlines or requirements for programs. When you search for programs in the MyERAS system, a blue icon will appear next to the name of programs that have provided additional information. 

The decision to give applicants the option to enter up to 10 experiences in the MyERAS application was informed by medical student response data from prior ERAS application cycles and focus groups with medical school advisors and residency program directors. During the focus groups, participants discussed how applicants feel pressure to focus on the quantity of experiences more than the quality or substantive aspects of experiences, and the implications of this for students during their education and training and when completing their application and for program staff who attempt to review application content. All agreed that limiting the number of experiences would help focus an applicant’s time and energy and more clearly and concisely communicate to programs who an applicant is, what they are passionate about, and what is most important to them.

In the past, the collection of applicants’ geographic information via the MyERAS application was unstandardized, leaving residency and fellowship programs to make inferences about where an applicant may want to live and work in the future. The addition of geographic preferences to the MyERAS application allows all applicants to have an equal opportunity to share their true preferences.

The AAMC values the importance of equity and fairness and emphasizes that the process of including an applicant’s geographic preference is more equitable than the previous process when programs were left to infer an applicant’s preferences.

Applicants may include up to 10 selected experiences that communicate who they are, what they are passionate about, and what is most important to them. For each of these ten experiences, applicants include information such as the type of experience, setting, primary focus, key characteristic, and their roles and responsibilities.  

After saving up to 10 selected experiences, applicants identify three of their selected experiences that they found most meaningful. For each of those three meaningful experiences, applicants can provide an additional reflection of up to 300 characters to explain why the experience was so meaningful and how it influenced them. 

The impactful experience is an additional experience that is not included in the 10 selected experiences. It is meant to be used if an applicant faced any significant challenges or hardships that influenced their medical education journey. This can include experiences relating to family background, financial background, community setting, educational experiences, and/or general life experiences. Programs do not expect all applicants to complete the impactful experience section. The impactful experience is intended for applicants who have overcome major challenges or obstacles. Some applicants may not have experiences that are relevant to this question. Other applicants may not feel comfortable sharing personal information in their application.

For the 2025 ERAS season, applicants in the December fellowship cycle can use program signals when applying to programs in participating specialties. Program signals will be available to July cycle fellowship applicants in the 2026 ERAS season, which begins in June 2025.