Do Residency Signals Actually Signal Intent? Insights From the 2024 Family Medicine National Resident Survey
In the setting of the growing need to train more family physicians and the growth of available residency slots, there is also increasing concern about the decreasing percentage of family medicine (FM) residency positions being filled in the primary Match process and the increased reliance on the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) to fill residency positions.1,2 The American Academy of Family Physicians announced in April 2025 their Residency Selection Improvement Initiative to evaluate residency selection and recruitment in FM with one of the goals being to improve the efficiency and function of the FM residency selection process.3 One of the tools identified for evaluation are the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) program signals and geographic preferences.4 These ERAS tools were created as an aid for applicants to highlight their interests and preferences and for programs to more easily identify interested applicants who are best suited for their program as part of a holistic application review. After being piloted by several other specialties, FM adopted program signaling where applicants could use up to five signals of interest to specific programs and signal geographic preferences in the 2023-2024 cycle.
