Residency Application System Cuts Section on Hobbies and Interests

The 2024 electronic residency application service (ERAS) season is scheduled to begin this week, with one major change.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) confirmed that it has removed the “Hobbies and Interests” section from its online residency application in an effort to streamline the process for applicants and reviewers.

The change has provoked concerns over its potential effect on applicants, who will no longer have a clear opportunity to share their non-academic pursuits ahead of potential interviews, according to online discussion.

“Disappointed to confirm that the AAMC has removed the ‘Hobbies & Interests’ field from the 2024 ERAS application. It might seem trivial, but that small field had value, and it’s going to make interviews less interesting and personal,” tweeted Tyler Lockman, MS, a manager in career advising & student services at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

Lockman’s concern was shared by healthcare professionals who also felt the change would negatively affect the interview process for themselves and residency applicants.

In a statement to MedPage Today, Michele Oesterheld, MBA, director of ERAS strategy and engagement for the AAMC, said the change was made based on findings from 2 years of research on the application process, in addition to feedback from applicants, advisors, and program representatives.

She explained that the change does not mean the applicant won’t have the opportunity to share their hobbies and interests. In fact, there will be a new category available under the “Selected Experience” section of the application, where applicants can describe their extracurricular activities, clubs, and hobbies in a short narrative section with a 750-character limit.

They will also have the opportunity to select a primary focus area and key characteristics label for all their experience entries, she added.

“Applicants will be able to identify and describe up to 10 experiences that communicate who they are, what they are passionate about, and what is important to them,” Oesterheld noted. “By having applicants focus on a maximum of 10 experiences, program directors can more efficiently evaluate whether the applicant will thrive in their programs.”

Not all healthcare professionals believe this change will be a loss for applicants. Bryan Carmody, MD, a pediatric nephrologist at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia, told MedPage Today this change will likely not have a major effect on the residency application and interview process.

“To be honest, I don’t think this is going to be a big deal,” he said. “I think many applicants are upset about it because they perceive that their hobbies have opened doors for them in residency.”

“The worry is conflating the ERAS application with your uniqueness and shared interest,” he added. “It’s not like ERAS is preventing you from talking about your hobbies. They’re just taking away a section that puts that front and center, and I don’t really think that’s a big deal because programs are still going to be interested in who you are as a person and what you do outside of work.”

Carmody said the one area where this change might have a negative effect for applicants is in receiving offers based on those unique hobbies and interests in the first place. Since those items will be included in another section of the application, it could result in an interest or hobby being missed by the application reviewer. But he pointed out that receiving an interview opportunity based largely on an applicant’s hobbies or interests is probably not a common occurrence, so the effect would be small anyway.

“Applicants should not worry about it. Interviewers should not worry about it,” Carmody said. “For many doctors, it’s a real physician skill to meet a person and get to know them in a short amount of time, and doctors are good at that — your interviewers are good at it. Sometimes less is more.”