Residency Explorer™ Tool

The Residency Explorer tool offers an unparalleled depth of information, providing insights into more than 5,000 individual residency programs across 25 specialties. The tool enables you to gauge your competitiveness relative to previous applicant pools and align your personal preferences and career interests with program offerings. The user-friendly interface and transparent data simplify your navigation of the complex residency landscape, ensuring you have the critical information needed to excel in your journey. 

• What Sets the Residency Explorer Tool Apart?
• What's Available in the Residency Explorer Tool?
• Training and Guidance
• Specialties in the Residency Explorer Tool and Availability of Program Signaling Data
• Sponsoring Organizations

What Sets the Residency Explorer Tool Apart? 

The Residency Explorer tool is the premier resource for residency program research due to its extensive collaboration with leading national organizations. By integrating comprehensive data from six organizations, the tool ensures you have access to the most reliable and thorough insights available. 

Residency Explorer tool delivers insights and information based on: 

• Residency applicant data and interview data from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). 
• Residency program directory information from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). 
• Program positions offered and filled data from the National Resident Matching Program^® (NRMP^®). 
• United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) data from the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) USMLE Program.  
• Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the United States (COMLEX-USA) data from the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME). 
• Program characteristics jointly administered by the AAMC and American Medical Association (AMA). 

What's Available in the Residency Explorer Tool

• Personalized Profile Comparison: Discover how programs align with your personal needs and career interests by building a profile with relevant program characteristics. 
• Filtering Programs: Use filters, alignment data, and competitiveness data on the Explore page to reduce hundreds of programs to a more manageable list of options. 
• Detailed Program Comparison: Review and compare more detailed alignment and competitiveness information to further refine your list. 
• Program-Level Interview Invitation Data: Applicants can assess the likelihood of receiving an interview invitation by reviewing 2024 cycle interview invitation data based on signaling, geographic alignment, and other characteristics. 

Training and Guidance

Here is a series of short videos designed to help applicants find, interpret, and use alignment and competitiveness data, navigate the tool, and explore sample use cases:

• Interpreting Alignment Data: Alignment between a program and applicant reflects how well a program supports the applicant’s professional and personal needs and interests.
• Interpreting Competitiveness Data: Competitiveness data provides insights into how likely an applicant is to be invited for an interview. It presents interview invitation rates and applicant pool data for various application characteristics, such as signaling, geographic alignment, exam pass/fail status, and applicant type, which research has shown to play a role in programs’ selection processes.
• Integrating Alignment and Competitiveness Data to Inform Application Strategy: This video demonstrates how to use alignment and competitiveness data in the Residency Explorer™ tool to make informed application decisions. Learn to balance these data to develop a portfolio that optimally supports your professional and personal needs.
• Use Case Example for Aspiring Annie: This example use case depicts an allopathic medical student, Aspiring Annie, who is interested in primary care in rural areas, along with strong geographic preferences, and how she might utilize the Residency Explorer tool to strategically build an application portfolio. Learn how the tool's features and data can guide your decisions.
• Use Case Example for Driven Daniel: This example use case depicts an osteopathic medical student, Driven Daniel, who is seeking an advanced specialty, along with considering an academic career, and how he might utilize the Residency Explorer tool to strategically build an application portfolio. Learn how the tool's features and data can guide your decisions.
• Use Case Example for Motivated Mika: This example use case depicts a non-U.S. international medical student, Motivated Mika, who is seeking a Pediatrics residency program in an urban setting with opportunities to build relationships with other residents, and wants to know how they might utilize the Residency Explorer tool to strategically build an application portfolio. Learn how the tool's features and data can guide your decisions.

• General How To’s: This video demonstrates the general process and features of the Residency Explorer tool.

Specialties in the Residency Explorer Tool and Availability of Program Signaling Data

The following table lists all available specialties in the Residency Explorer tool and indicates whether program-level signaling data is available. For specialties that haven't changed the number of program signals offered from the 2024 cycle, applicants will have access to program-level interview invitation rates based on these signals. 

Sponsoring Organizations