eras: applying to multiple specialities; putting off step 2 is bad??!

i have been told by people in my student affairs office that programs do not not what other programs you've applied to - whether it's in their specialty or any other. there may be other ways programs can figure out if you've applied to 2 specialties, but i don't think it's via ERAS.

fun8stuff said:

My counselor told me today that you can apply to multiple specialies via eras and that no one will know except you. Is this true? I thought I read on here that they could tell...

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You're right, they can't tell via ERAS. The way it works is you can create several Personal Statements and label them (for example "FM PS", "Gas PS", Surg PS", etc.) and assign them to programs you apply to. The FM programs you apply to will receive the "FM PS", and so on. You can do the same with letters of recommendation. You can have LORs that speak of your devotion to anesthesiology (and assign them to Gas programs you're applying to), and another set of LORs that praise your potential as a future surgeon (and assign them to surgery programs). The programs will only get the LORs and PS you assign to them, and the other programs you apply to (as well as the other documents in your folder) are invisible to them.