Friday, September 14, 2012

September 15 is not the ERAS application deadline!

September 15 is not the ERAS application deadline! Although it is the first day that you can send out your applications, you are not required to do so. Residency program directors will be downloading applications throughout the rest of the month until they can retrieve the MSPEs on October 1, and quite possibly even beyond that date.

What does this mean? Instead of submitting a poorly edited personal statement and an incomplete Common Application Form on the 15th, you should take the time to have your application professionally reviewed. Residency directors don't need your application immediately; they would prefer that you take your time and submit your best effort later this month.

I've been supporting medical students since January 2001, and I would be happy to share more than eleven years' worth of expertise with you. I will give you feedback on your personal statement and ERAS application, and if you'd like, I can go deeper and tell you how residency directors might react to your MSPE and letters of recommendation too. Please contact me for a free consultation. It's not too late to have the residency application you deserve!

4 comments:

  1. Thanks a lot for this post... I was getting a bit nervous that I'll be submitting ~ 9/17 and was wondering the impression that would make on residency directors.

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  2. Thanks david, I was worried too because I will be late in submitting my application for 2015. Is it ok if I submit on 7th October coz that is when my Step 2 CS results will be out?

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    1. Applicants delay for all types of reasons, including late LORs or to wait for new USMLE scores. A short delay is not likely to cause program directors to have a negative impression of you. Even applying at the very end of September is not so bad, and I have had some clients in prior years who applied in October and still matched successfully.

      Having said that, unless you failed CS on the first attempt and you don't want to apply with a failed score, you might consider applying this month. As long as the rest of your application is complete, many program directors will start to review it, and then if you have your CS results transmitted to your programs next month, your application will become complete.

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