MORE REASONS FOR SEPTEMBER APPLICATION DEADLINE

Why Stress so much on applying on Day 1 ? There are more Reasons that you think there were. Besides the logical reason that most programs look at applications on a first-come-first-serve basis, there is another often overlooked technical reason to do so: ERAS ! Yeah - ERAS too treats applicants on a first-come-first-serve basis. You will begin to understand what I am blabbering about after you consider this fact:

ERAS begins to scan your documents and upload them to your virtual online "mailbox" on MyERAS ONLY AFTER you have applied to atleast one program and paid for it.

That's right ! To repeat with great emphasis: However early you send your documents to ERAS before September, though your documents may get scanned before, your documents get loaded to the 'mail box' for programs to download scanned ONLY when you pay (i.e. Apply) for atlteast one program - and that takes a few days, depending on the waiting list of candidates - and that can be pretty big, especially in September.

This is especially important for those people who plan to apply AFTER September 1st for various reasons - like awaiting ALL scores before applying, not completed a list of places to apply or waiting for accumulating $ to apply and stuff.

Let us labor to explain this with a sample scenario:

Suppose Melissa decides to apply on, say, September 20th - since she only completes compiling her list of residency programs by then. She hits the pay button on MyERAS and 'sends' her application. We assume that Melissa has already posted her paper documents to ERAS way back in August - Yet, on that day, only her Common-Application-Format (CAF) and Personal Statements will reach the programs - her other important documents like LORs and Dean's Letter/MSPE will be relayed to the programs AFTER ERAS digs out her documents from their scanned images pile and then loads it to the 'mail box' - which will take another 3-4 days or more depending on which part of the week you apply! (fridays are the worst - he he)

On the other hand, on the Residency Program's side, the Program Coordinator (PC) gets an alert that Melissa has applied to their program but then she notes that her application is yet incomplete since some documents cant be downloaded yet - so the PC puts the application on hold awaiting the documents. Until Melissa's documents arrive on day 3, the PC receives another 35-50 complete applications and is busy with those...while Melissa's application stays on the backburner for sometime..

While this may be especially true for highly competitive programs like Internal Medicine ..he he..for the other specialties, maybe I took the situation too far - but I hope you get the point ! Why let competition ever get the better of you ?

Do Note that once loaded, any subsequent programs that Melissa applies to will have NO such delay in receiving everything, since everything is already scanned and ready by then.

Now, What does this teach us ?

It tells us that you shoud Apply & pay for ATLEAST ONE Residency program on the first application day of September , so that ERAS starts your document scanning process and keeps them ready for your subsequent applications. I hope I drove home the point why you should be doing this even if your not ready to apply for whatever reasons - like application scores are not complete, your program list is not complete or whatever !!

For those who are ready to apply , do ahead and apply to ALL programs on day one...g/l

:-)


So, Remember Remember , the first day of September.......LOL - did anyone watch "V For Vendetta ? " ;-)

Questions for me ? Use my USMLE - Residency Forum