Soap Phone interview time and location question

[Thomaswolf]

Hello

My question is basically about the interview over the phone for the soap. I am at the hospital during the week. I can get the afternoon times off. But probably not the morning unless I know what times the interviews come in.

I just want to know will they call my cell phone unexpectedly, there are reception issues where I am at too. It's fine if I can find a place with some privacy. Are there times when they will just accept an applicant without interview?

2ndly, whats the policy with step 2 CS and soap, is this up to the individual program.

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[Jessipeds]

You need to have Step 2CS passed before you start residency, so programs usually would like to see a passing grade at least by ROL time.

 

[Jessipeds]

You need to have Step 2CS passed before you start residency, so programs usually would like to see a passing grade at least by ROL time.

And by SOAP time

 

[Thomaswolf]

Ok thank you Jessipeds, how about my other question then

 

[GoSpursGo]

It's actually very much program-dependent as to whether they care about a CS score prior to ranking you--I would actually say most programs in most specialties won't care unless: a) you barely passed step 1 or 2 CK (and they may or may not care even then), or 2)you're an IMG, in which case they almost certainly will want it.

As for your second question, aPD said this last year:

I think it's fair to say that no program is going to extend an offer to someone they haven't spoken to. That would be crazy.

Honestly, if you're SOAPing, I can't imagine you would be so clearly more competitive on paper than everyone else in the SOAP that they would offer a spot without speaking to you--there will be plenty of equally-qualified people who they did manage to talk to, and they will get the offers. They can call any time. If SOAPing is a serious concern for you, I would strongly recommend speaking with your team and finding out if there is any way for you to get Monday afternoon and then maybe Tuesday all day off. If you miss the call... they're going to move on to the next candidate.

 

[gutonc]

If SOAPing is a serious concern for you, I would strongly recommend speaking with your team and finding out if there is any way for you to get Monday afternoon and then maybe Tuesday all day off. If you miss the call... they're going to move on to the next candidate.

This, this, a million times, this. The entire purpose of 4th year is to do a SubI and find a job. That's it. Nothing else matters. If your team can't do without an M4 for a day or 3 while you try to find that job...F*** them.

You should seriously bring it up now with your attending/chief/senior/whatever.

 

[thecampuslegend]

This, this, a million times, this. The entire purpose of 4th year is to do a SubI and find a job. That's it. Nothing else matters. If your team can't do without an M4 for a day or 3 while you try to find that job...F*** them.

You should seriously bring it up now with your attending/chief/senior/whatever.

I don't really agree with taking time off, because honestly, if you don't show up....then who's gonna do all the DREs?

 

[Sheldor]

Try and find the threads from last year. I seem to recall Monday afternoon being very slow, as in very few calls, but they picked up Tuesday.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Try and find the threads from last year. I seem to recall Monday afternoon being very slow, as in very few calls, but they picked up Tuesday.

That's what I vaguely remember as well; given the more orderly pace to the SOAP than the scramble, programs seemed to actually spend a decent amount of time on Monday reviewing the apps they got, then made calls on Tuesday. Nevertheless, if you can get that all that time off please do so, as obviously taking every call is much more important than getting honors on this essentially meaningless 4th year rotation.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

You are unlikely to get many calls on Monday afternoon. Each program gets 1000's of applications, and downloading all of them takes awhile. Each application is around 4 megabytes, so it's a slow process. ERAS downloads all applications before you can even start viewing them. So many programs spend hours on Monday simply downloading applications, and then Monday evening reviewing them. Hence, most phone calls will be on Tuesday.

 

[ActionFigure]

just a question about the phone calls:

if you live in Canada are programs willing to make that international call to interview you?

 

[Sheldor]

just a question about the phone calls:

if you live in Canada are programs willing to make that international call to interview you?

If I were you I'd get a Google number in the US, why take the chance?

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Probably. It's hard to tell that a number is Canadian, unless you know the Canadian area codes. Plus, it's not really expensive to call Canada. I think it will only become an issue if you need to dial country codes, etc.