Hello,

I am going to apply to mostly CA internal med residency programs. My question is how important is applying early for the schools to have flexibility in getting later interview date?

My dilemma is that I have an option of taking step2CK in mid July or mid August. Since I feel that doing SubI will allow more time for me to review and study, I wanted to opt taking the CK in mid August. Would this mean that waiting to have my score included in my application will delay my application substantially?

As far as letters and Step 2 scores go, what is the procedure to have them included in the ERAS application? For the letters, I am assuming my school will scan it, but beyond that, I have no idea how I would have it be included in the application.


The reason for my question is again to know, if indeed I was to take Step 2 in mid July in hopes to submit the application asap, could I theoretically have letters, scores, etc ready for them to be submitted ASAP? (One of the letter will come from subI rotation that ends in midAugust). Would I have to wait anyway for the letters to be uploaded that taking Step 2 CK early would not really mean earlier submission?

My hope is that it is alright to take Step 2CK midAugust and I need some reassurance that I wouldn't be at disadvantage by having the application submitted mid Sept.

Thanks!

First, your application will not be "complete" until your dean's letter is uploaded, and generally programs will not look at your app until thats done. Most schools do this around the same time, so the basic answer is No, there is no advantage to finalizing your part of the app early. I don't even think that you can start your app on ERAS until a certain date.

Second, I am not sure what type of sub-I your school has, but that is generally the busiest time of medical school.

You step-II score will only take 6 weeks or so to come back, so that will be done well before your application is completed. Its just a check-box in ERAS.

Finally, regarding letters, you identify who will be writing them, you print out a coversheet, they write the letter and send it to your dean's office and then they upload it. You choose which letter-writer go to each programs.

Good luck!

Hello,

I am going to apply to mostly CA internal med residency programs. My question is how important is applying early for the schools to have flexibility in getting later interview date?

My dilemma is that I have an option of taking step2CK in mid July or mid August. Since I feel that doing SubI will allow more time for me to review and study, I wanted to opt taking the CK in mid August. Would this mean that waiting to have my score included in my application will delay my application substantially?

As far as letters and Step 2 scores go, what is the procedure to have them included in the ERAS application? For the letters, I am assuming my school will scan it, but beyond that, I have no idea how I would have it be included in the application.


The reason for my question is again to know, if indeed I was to take Step 2 in mid July in hopes to submit the application asap, could I theoretically have letters, scores, etc ready for them to be submitted ASAP? (One of the letter will come from subI rotation that ends in midAugust). Would I have to wait anyway for the letters to be uploaded that taking Step 2 CK early would not really mean earlier submission?

My hope is that it is alright to take Step 2CK midAugust and I need some reassurance that I wouldn't be at disadvantage by having the application submitted mid Sept.

Thanks!

To answer many of your questions, take a look at the ERAS website -- particularly the Timeline (http://www.aamc.org/students/eras/timeline/start.htm) and the application process guideline (http://www.aamc.org/students/eras/guideline/start.htm).

You should register for MyERAS now so that you can see what the format is like and how you designate specific LORs to be sent for each of your programs. You can start working on your app now if you want, but you won't be able to submit it to programs for a while.

Your application will not be held up if you wait till later to take Step 2. In fact, many, if not most, people apply without ever having taken the exam. As lurkerboy said, asking for your step 2 score to be submitted is just a box that you check off on the site. You can always request that it be submitted after you have already submitted your application. So basically taking Step 2 early would not mean earlier submission because you can submit your app without the scores. Your application would be considered complete even if you didn't have step 2 scores at all, since they are not a requirement for application.

You can also submit your app before your letters get there if you want. Once the letters get uploaded to ERAS, you can designate which letters you want sent on the ERAS website, and track them as the programs download the items you've designated. Keep in mind that programs will usually not review your application until it is complete, so you will have to wait until November 1st for your Dean's office to submit your Dean's letter anyway before the programs will look at your application.

So don't worry about whether things show up in September vs October. As long as everything's there by November 1st, you're right on track.