ERAS Timeline

Written by Rand Hashim, DO

ERAS is the application service to apply for residency programs. Similar to your medical school AMCAS/AACOMAS applications, it can get confusing with important dates and deadlines to ensure your application is complete and ready for submission. Hopefully, this blog post will simplify things for you and help guide you on how to approach your application. 

Timeline:

• June 8, 2022 ERAS Application Opens:

  • This means that you can download the application and begin filling out each section

• August 1, 2022 Supplemental ERAS application opens:

  • This is the opening date for the supplemental application which is utilized by certain specialties

• September 7, 2022:

  • Applicants can submit their applications to programs beginning at 9am EST

  • This is the very first day you can click "submit" on the ERAS application

• September 16, 2022:

  • If you are submitting a supplemental application, this is your deadline to complete it.

• September 28, 2022:

  • Programs can begin reviewing applications

Anything dated after September 28th will be considered “later”. This is the date that you want everything submitted (including LORs).

Supplemental Application and Signaling 

Beginning last year, some specialties and programs have decided to use a supplemental application that includes three additional sections for programs to learn more about their applicants. The supplemental application will open on August 1st and will close on September 16th. It will not include any additional fees. 

Past experiences:

• This section will allow applicants to elaborate on 5 meaningful experiences in a short essay including the details of the experience and how it affected you and your application.

• There is also a section within the past experiences that will allow applications to describe any other impactful experiences they want programs to know.

Geographical Preference:

• Applicants can select up to three geographic divisions that they prefer for their residency programs. There will also be a short section for applicants to explain their selection. Applicants may also indicate they have no preference. Your division preference will only be shared with programs within that division.

• Additionally, applicants will also be asked to indicate if they prefer an urban or rural setting or if they have no preference.

Program Signals:

• Signals are used to allow applicants to tell programs that they are interested in. Signaling can be used by programs when deciding which applicants to interview. The number of signals allocated is determined by each specialty and can be found in the table above.

Biographic Section:

Now that the dates and deadlines are figured out, you are probably wondering what the ERAS application entails. The first section is the biographic section. This section is likely the most straightforward but is still tedious to fill out. This would be a good section to start when the application first opens in July. This section includes your IDs (AAMC, USMLE, NRMP and NBOME, and AOA if applicable). Keep in mind you must sign up for the NRMP match separately from ERAS, but it is not necessary to have your ID immediately, you can always add it later. You are asked to include your mailing and permanent addresses—this can help if you are currently located in a different state than home and want programs to know where home is. This section includes your medical licensure information and if you have ever been ACLS/BLS/PALS certified. The biographic section also asks about your ethnicity and any languages spoken and includes a glossary of how to categorize your fluency in each language. 

I hope this post helps clear some confusion regarding the ERAS application and the important dates and deadlines. For more information, the AAMC website ( https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-residencies-eras/applying-residencies-eras) has plenty of resources to help navigate some of the specific details. Additionally, they also have put together a guide for the supplemental application (https://students-residents.aamc.org/media/12326/download?attachment) 

Good luck with this upcoming application season and stay tuned for more ERAS blog posts!