MD & DO co'21 Residency Panic thread

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sunshinefl said:
Anyone with 4, 5, or more letters think about using different configurations of 3-4 letters for programs in case a letter is meh? Like if a letter is bad/not good but unknown to you, to hedge your bets by not using any single letter at every program? Or am I going down the anxiety rabbit hole?
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12jas said:
Where are you finding these letter requirements? I was just going to assign four letters to everyone...
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I picked my best 4 LORs and assigned them to every program I applied to. A poster before said that having an extra LOR did not impact their application whatsoever
 
Dr. Rafiki said:
This is exactly how I did it. For instance, I know that 2 of my letters are really strong. So they're assigned to all programs. The other 2 are more of a toss up, so I flipped between 1 or both, depending on the program's instructions on how many LORs to upload. My thought is if they say "2 LOR" then they'll pick 2 at random and discard the rest, so I'd rather be the one picking which 2 they read. Same for when they say "3 LOR" on the requirements page, etc.
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I had no idea some of you were thinking so deep about this lmao. This gave me anxiety just reading it
 
CavsFan2016 said:
I had no idea some of you were thinking so deep about this lmao. This gave me anxiety just reading it
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I only thought so deep upon the advice of the 3 PD's I asked with regard to LOR instructions haha. Consensus was "if you can't follow directions on our website, then you're not truly interested and your app goes in the trash"

I was also told that no one reads 4 LORs so at best 1 will be randomly disregarded at almost every program. Don't you (the applicant) want to decide what gets read and what doesn't?
 
Dr. Rafiki said:
I only thought so deep upon the advice of the 3 PD's I asked with regard to LOR instructions haha. Consensus was "if you can't follow directions on our website, then you're not truly interested and your app goes in the trash"

I was also told that no one reads 4 LORs so at best 1 will be randomly disregarded at almost every program. Don't you (the applicant) want to decide what gets read and what doesn't?
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Sounds like PDs I wouldn’t want to have if they throw your app out for petty reasons like that
 
Dr. Rafiki said:
I only thought so deep upon the advice of the 3 PD's I asked with regard to LOR instructions haha. Consensus was "if you can't follow directions on our website, then you're not truly interested and your app goes in the trash"

I was also told that no one reads 4 LORs so at best 1 will be randomly disregarded at almost every program. Don't you (the applicant) want to decide what gets read and what doesn't?
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That's completely understandable. I'm just going off of my own experience calling and talking to various program coordinators. Everyone I talked to didn't really care if 3 or 4 LORs were submitted to their programs. The general consensus was 'if an additional letter provides something that your other letters don't touch on, go ahead and submit it'. My fourth LOR was focused specifically on my research so I went ahead and submitted it to the vast majority of programs I'm applying to. If it was just another general LOR to throw in the mix, I might have been more hesitant.

This was just my experience, it could very well be specialty-specific. I would encourage people to reach out to the programs and ask if you have any hesitation about submitting 4 LORs as opposed to 3.
 
I forgot to add a great hobby/interest to talk about and I already submitted. how do I angle it in. bring it up early in the interview?
 
boolin_1 said:
I forgot to add a great hobby/interest to talk about and I already submitted. how do I angle it in. bring it up early in the interview?
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I bet it’ll get asked about in the interview like a “what else do you like to do” type thing
 
So we know there is a certain time delay for the transmission of USMLE scores to the programs (I've heard anywhere from 24h to 3 business days). Does anyone know how we can tell if our scores have been transmitted?
 
boolin_1 said:
I forgot to add a great hobby/interest to talk about and I already submitted. how do I angle it in. bring it up early in the interview?
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I’ve heard a common question during interviews is “tell me something about you I can’t find from reading your app” I feel like that’d be a good opportunity to talk about it
 
Noemata said:
So we know there is a certain time delay for the transmission of USMLE scores to the programs (I've heard anywhere from 24h to 3 business days). Does anyone know how we can tell if our scores have been transmitted?
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The USMLE/COMLEX transcript status shows up on the application dashboard on the main ERAS page. Comlex went thru in a few minutes, and the USMLE took like 15 minutes for me.
 
Screen Shot 2020-10-19 at 7.36.51 PM.png



Did we decide as a family to only send 2 letters if it says this?
 
If I didn't take USMLE (just took COMLEX) do I still have to authorize?
 
Is there any way to assign different personal statements to two programs at the same institution?

I'm applying psych for categorical as well as combined child and adolescent programs. I wrote two separate statements for the heck of it and was hoping to use them for the general vs combined programs. It may be my lack of ERAS savvy but it seems like I'm only able to use one statement for each institution and not each individual program for whatever reason.
 
Pumpkin1234! said:
For those whom have submitted. Anyone notice when you expand the assigned documents button on the "programs you applied to tab" that the specialties of your assigned letter writers are not aligned with their actual specialties. Like all 4 of my letters are showing up as IM, including my FM and GS letter writers. I recall when assigning them as my letter writers I had to assign them to the specialty I was applying into and that it said it would not be visible on their end, but the way that ERAS is formatted under this tab really reads off as if all my letter writers are from IM.
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That’s just there to help YOU with organization. In case you had the same doc write 2 letters for 2 different specialties.
 
massdaly said:
Is there any way to assign different personal statements to two programs at the same institution?

I'm applying psych for categorical as well as combined child and adolescent programs. I wrote two separate statements for the heck of it and was hoping to use them for the general vs combined programs. It may be my lack of ERAS savvy but it seems like I'm only able to use one statement for each institution and not each individual program for whatever reason.
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Yes you can add as many PS to ERAS as you want. Then you assign each PS to whatever program! GL!
 
sunshinefl said:
ughh I wish this was all clearer. I've read the ERAS manual and multiple medical schools' info sheets. Can we only trigger a payment to USMLE which triggers them to send the transcript AFTER we have certified our app? Like does the order go: certify, apply to programs, then pay USMLE/ERAS fees together?! So if we don't certify until 10/21 at 7am and they take hours/days to send the transcript, we wouldn't be complete when the apps get sent?

I authorized release and assigned them to all of my saved programs 10 days ago, but the status is still just "authorized"
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I have this exact same question. Do we pay first for the USMLE transcripts to show up? I just certified, authorized my USMLE score release (but i don't actually see my USMLE score report) and haven't applied to any programs yet. For instance , in order for me to see this screen, i first need to apply to the programs right?
1603181887676.png
 
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Prehealth1011 said:
I have this exact same question. Do we pay first for the USMLE transcripts to show up? I just certified, authorized my USMLE score release (but i don't actually see my USMLE score report) and haven't applied to any programs yet. For instance , in order for me to see this screen, i first need to apply to the programs right?
View attachment 320923
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I don't think you actually see the report. What you see in the attachment is what you get for your money.
 
Anyone applying to transitional years at programs where you're not applying to an advanced program? I have a feeling it might be a waste of a spot if the advanced PDs may have input and have their candidates ranked higher because they might actually stay there
 
P
Vulfington said:
Anyone applying to transitional years at programs where you're not applying to an advanced program? I have a feeling it might be a waste of a spot if the advanced PDs may have input and have their candidates ranked higher because they might actually stay there
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Plenty of programs where there's a transitional year but no accompanying residency after it... don't worry about it
 
Just caught that my MSPE is missing a 'period' on the first page...worth it to contact someone about it or should I just let it slide?
 
Do people apply to both the advanced and categorical position for specialties like radiology at the same program? Or do you just apply to the either or.
 
libertyyne said:
Do people apply to both the advanced and categorical position for specialties like radiology at the same program? Or do you just apply to the either or.
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gotta apply to both, pretty sure it counts as one program though
 
libertyyne said:
thats odd, because the categorical meants you get full residency and the advanced means you need a seperate intern year.
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some places have both categorical and advanced positions. For example- one place has 9 total spots: 6 categorical, 3 advanced. Usually whoever they rank higher ends up getting the categorical spots (if they want it)
 
ritts said:
some places have both categorical and advanced positions. For example- one place has 9 total spots: 6 categorical, 3 advanced. Usually whoever they rank higher ends up getting the categorical spots (if they want it)
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thanks.
 
Any tech people can help me understand why my iPhone email app doesn't seem to show me email notifications immediately? Nor does my gmail app, nor does it go through to my apple watch consistently. It'll go to the watch randomly, but not all of my emails do. I have all the settings to "push", everything is updated. I've tried every "solution" google has shown me. I'm at a loss here. My school makes me use my school email for eras so that's what i have it set as. I've built a microsoft outlook rule to forward everything directly to my phone. But I can't for the life of me understand why the email app is so slow to notify me.
 
Espressso said:
Any tech people can help me understand why my iPhone email app doesn't seem to show me email notifications immediately? Nor does my gmail app, nor does it go through to my apple watch consistently. It'll go to the watch randomly, but not all of my emails do. I have all the settings to "push", everything is updated. I've tried every "solution" google has shown me. I'm at a loss here. My school makes me use my school email for eras so that's what i have it set as. I've built a microsoft outlook rule to forward everything directly to my phone. But I can't for the life of me understand why the email app is so slow to notify me.
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By rule to forward to your phone do you mean SMS?
 
Espressso said:
Any tech people can help me understand why my iPhone email app doesn't seem to show me email notifications immediately? Nor does my gmail app, nor does it go through to my apple watch consistently. It'll go to the watch randomly, but not all of my emails do. I have all the settings to "push", everything is updated. I've tried every "solution" google has shown me. I'm at a loss here. My school makes me use my school email for eras so that's what i have it set as. I've built a microsoft outlook rule to forward everything directly to my phone. But I can't for the life of me understand why the email app is so slow to notify me.
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My outlook app on my phone can include my gmail address and tends to notify me more. I have no idea why it doesn't notify us
 
Espressso said:
Any tech people can help me understand why my iPhone email app doesn't seem to show me email notifications immediately? Nor does my gmail app, nor does it go through to my apple watch consistently. It'll go to the watch randomly, but not all of my emails do. I have all the settings to "push", everything is updated. I've tried every "solution" google has shown me. I'm at a loss here. My school makes me use my school email for eras so that's what i have it set as. I've built a microsoft outlook rule to forward everything directly to my phone. But I can't for the life of me understand why the email app is so slow to notify me.
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There is probably a setting with how often your watch refreshes.
 
Oedipa Maas said:
By rule to forward to your phone do you mean SMS?
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Yes

Chibucks15 said:
My outlook app on my phone can include my gmail address and tends to notify me more. I have no idea why it doesn't notify us
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Wait, are you saying the outlook app on the phone works really well in this regard? Ie notifying you and pushing notifications right away?
 
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