AOA undecided before early match

[agedwhitecheddar]

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For people with early match specialties, apps are usually due by mid august. My school doesn't decide AOA until September before ERAS deadlines. If I was to get AOA, would I be able to updated my SFMatch application? Or would it be something that has to be manually sent to all schools I've applied to. Thanks!

 

[LongLiveThanos]

I don't think AOA is as important to residency applications as they used to be. Many schools are starting to opt out of AOA.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Pretty sure you'd have to manually send an update to each school. If it's anything like ERAS, once you submit that's pretty much it except for updating USMLE transcripts.

Agree that it's not the end of the world, your school isn't the only one to decide AOA a little later and they'll still have your grades that support your academic excellence, but you'll certainly want to send that update.

 

[Gilakend]

I don't think AOA is as important to residency applications as they used to be. Many schools are starting to opt out of AOA.

Just from looking at matching data I think it is still pretty important for some competitive specialties.

 

[Dr. Doctor MD]

I don't think AOA is as important to residency applications as they used to be. Many schools are starting to opt out of AOA.

This is blatently incorrect in every way. AOA if anything has only increased in importance over the last decade especially with schools switching to Pass/Fail. And no, few schools are opting out of AOA, and we certainly aren't seeing an increase in schools opting out.

 

[ball123]

I imagine you’re applying to ophthalmology. AOA still VERY important, esp for ophthalmology!! Just say undecided for now, and if/when, you receive AOA, you can update the programs. If you know you’re junior AOA before apps go out in August - that will put you in a very competitive pool. However, programs usually want to be updated of this! It’s that important. You can easily do this via SF Match so don’t worry!

You can look at ophtho spreadsheets, but those with AOA received far more interviews than those without.