This week, we’re highlighting Career Advising as part of our ongoing series on the 2026 AAMC Graduation Questionnaire (GQ) results. Graduating students reported increased overall satisfaction with career advising services, continuing a positive trend over the past three years!
As a reminder, the AAMC Graduation Questionnaire (GQ) is administered annually to graduating medical students.
Highlights from the results:
- Overall Satisfaction with career advising services: 77% of MS4’s were satisfied or very satisfied with career advising services in 2026, up from 69% in 2025 and 70% in 2024. The 2026 result was above the national average of 73%.
- Information about specialties: 77% were satisfied or very satisfied with the information they received about specialties compared with 76% in 2024. This year’s national average was 79%.
To sustain this momentum and support continued growth the Career Advising Team is currently working on the following initiatives:
- Increasing Career Planning Support and Advisor Availability for All Students: Career Advising continues to enhance career planning resources and support for all students. Current efforts include a quarterly career planning newsletter for Foundations students, a Patient Care Phase career planning newsletter, weekly office hours for Foundations students with their dedicated career advisor and programming for first-generation students in partnership with the Career Advising Student Advisory Board.
- Enhancing Career and Elective Selection Planning for All Students: The team conducted a survey of 24 Career Advising Student Advisory Board members to better understand their elective selection needs and improve services and resources accordingly. New initiatives based on student feedback include; the creation of an election selection webpage with elective guidance by class, an elective selection panel recording for each class with frequently asked questions around elective selection with advice from senior students, a career advisor and an associate program director. Specialty specific elective selection guidance was also added to each Specialty Guide in partnership with Specialty Career Advisors.
- Expanding Career Advisor Availability: Dr. Beth Hasseler joined the team as a fourth career advisor in January 2026, increasing the team’s capacity to support students.
The increase in overall satisfaction is an encouraging sign of progress. Through our continuous quality improvement process, we will continue to monitor GQ trends alongside student feedback, identify what is working well, and look for opportunities to strengthen the information and support students receive as they explore specialties and plan for residency.
Connect with Career Advising
Career advisors can help with specialty exploration, career planning, and residency applications. To book a one-on-one appointment, visit the Schedule with Us page and select “All Student Appointments: Schedule via CAS.” For questions or help finding an appointment time, email medadv@uw.edu. The team also offers WWAMI-wide virtual office hours Monday through Wednesday, noon–1 p.m. PT, for brief questions.
Have a question or idea? Share feedback on this update or suggestions for improving the student experience through the EQI Feedback Form.