Beating myself up over submitting ERAS late

[emerge]

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I'm applying for EM, got 6 letters in by 9/5, yet didn't submit ERAS until 10/15 because was studying for Step 2 CK and didn't want to disrupt studying to write ERAS application, research programs, etc. It was a lot of busy work that I wanted to take care of after CK, and that's exactly what I did, but in hindsight I'm thinking I should have concurrently worked on ERAS and submitted apps sooner. I submitted to 67 EM programs and have only 4 interviews so far, one of which couldn't even be scheduled because slots filled up when I was trying to schedule. Should I kick myself for submitting late or am I not really late? When do the majority of interviews come in?

 

[woeiru]

I'm applying for EM, got 6 letters in by 9/5, yet didn't submit ERAS until 10/15 because was studying for Step 2 CK and didn't want to disrupt studying to write ERAS application, research programs, etc. It was a lot of busy work that I wanted to take care of after CK, and that's exactly what I did, but in hindsight I'm thinking I should have concurrently worked on ERAS and submitted apps sooner. I submitted to 67 EM programs and have only 4 interviews so far, one of which couldn't even be scheduled because slots filled up when I was trying to schedule. Should I kick myself for submitting late or am I not really late? When do the majority of interviews come in?

Don't kick yourself too hard, there's nothing you can do about it now. Yeah, getting stuff in sooner may have given you a few additional interviews, but you never know (I know a few other people who submitted late). There are a number of programs that still haven't made any offers yet as well as those that do rolling and still have spots open. From reading the threads it sounds like a lot of people WAY over-applied this year, and thus as interviews continue to come out, they will be canceling others (likely moreso this year than others). You may end up having to do a lot of interviews in January as people drop later dates, but as long as you've scheduled electives appropriately, it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

...But take all of this with a grain of salt- I have no idea what your stats are, where you applied, or anything else about your application. Talk to your advisor or program director at your school and get their insight. Most of us on here are just as clueless as you, trying to make sense of things the best we can.

 

[EM_Rebuilder]

The number one thing you have COMPLETE countrol over to increase you chances to matching into residency, medical school, etc is a complete, timley EARLY application.


Regardless, you did not and you cannot change that. We have NO idea how well you will do; if you have decent scores and such, I am sure you will do fine. You probably limited yourself slightly, but dont lose sleep over something you cant change.

 

[KarlPilkington]

Yeah not trying to make you feel worse, but for the sake of those out who are going to apply in the future you need to get ERAS in as soon as you possibly can. Places will send out interviews early, and these slots fill up quick. Getting ERAS done needs to take top priority.

I would start calling programs and seeing if interview slots are opening up. There are going to be a lot of last minute openings late in the season so you may be able to pick up a good number of interviews post-christmas if you work the phones and stay flexible.

I'd meet with your advisor this week and have them try to make some calls to programs on your behalf and see if they can help get you some more interviews.

 

[DaisyDocYolo]

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