MD & DO Co’22 ERAS Panic Thread

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I feel like this interview scramble and the need to schedule an interview RIGHT NOW is going to get someone killed. I just got an interview invite for a great TY program while on a 4-lane highway - your options at that point are either risk losing the spot, or pull over on a busy highway and schedule it / schedule it on your phone while driving. Amazing the situation these programs will put us in to minimize the work they would need to do to manually schedule an interview
 
calivianya said:
Well, just missed an interview for the first time. This is such crap, honestly. The link looked funny on my phone, as in I wasn't sure if it was legit, so I took the time to open my computer, which took about 1 minute and 30 seconds... and all of the interviews were gone by then.

And just in case you don't know, because I didn't, interviews from HCA (for TYs at least) come from a website called 3rdfriday. That's why I decided to look a little closer before I opened the link.

So, tl;dr - 3rdfriday really is an interview scheduler, even though I've never heard of it before. It's not spam.

I hate everything right now.



Edit: is this just me? Am I literally the only person on the planet that didn't know about 3rdfriday and thought that the only main schedulers were ERAS and thalamus?
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Ugh i'm sorry this happened to you. Why are PDs so impatient that they're willing to torment MS4s and force them to sabotage their clinical duties, threaten to get them in last minute near traffic incidents to pull over to respond and other crazy things when they can reserve that slot for 24 hours?

PDs keep idiotically doing this garbage every single year as if they're drunk on power and can get away with this with zero regard to anyone. It's infuriating
 
Ganon said:
I’ve already had to use 4 different scheduling systems and it’s very frustrating. Why can’t we all just agree to use the one we (the applicants) pay for?!
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Yeah i was under the mistaken impression it was all done on ERAS alone but apparently programs are using many other schedulers as well

This process is a complete mess. You'd think the leaders in medicine would be able to streamline and make this process simpler for everyone but i frankly think they don't care at all.
 
NotAProgDirector said:
There's no perfect answer. If you're certain the program knows you'll be there, then you probably don't need to reach out at all. If the SubI was arranged via a medical school (i.e. VSAS), then the program might not know about you at all. In that case, might be worth reaching out now -- but don't "ask for an interview". Just tell them you're excited to have the opportunity to complete a SubI at their institution and include the dates.
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Why shouldn’t you ask for an interview? Everyone and their dog know why you reaching out. Maybe just say hope they will consider your application?
 
This week was "supposed" to be a big week. Had 3 II last week and now nothing. 😕
 
NicMouse64 said:
Im sorry that blows. Wish they could put out a timeline in each specialty so we didn't have to have this constant anxiety and knew where we were at.
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Yeah i am being told by one of the kids on here from last years panic thread that DOs with my stats didn't get invites until after they had a step 2. I am really in a horrible position right now and its killing me
 
Deecee2DO said:
Yeah i am being told by one of the kids on here from last years panic thread that DOs with my stats didn't get invites until after they had a step 2. I am really in a horrible position right now and its killing me
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Sorry, hang in there bud. I had a mini panic moment this morning where I told all the residents on my AI I'm with to put in a good word for me with the PD who wrote my LOR lol.
 
Ganon said:
I’ve already had to use 4 different scheduling systems and it’s very frustrating. Why can’t we all just agree to use the one we (the applicants) pay for?!
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I really wanted to use ERAS for scheduling. We decided to go with one of the other companies. The main issue with the ERAS scheduler is that once you have booked an interview, you can't waitlist for other days. Our eperience has been that students like to waitlist for other full days, in the hopes that if someone cancels that they can then change their date. I do wonder whether this matters as much with virtual recruiting. (We don't overinvite, so there's always a date available). I'd love feedback from here -- biased as it may be.

Some of the other platforms also offer more functionality - video interviews, schedules, etc.
Lawpy said:
Yeah i was under the mistaken impression it was all done on ERAS alone but apparently programs are using many other schedulers as well

This process is a complete mess. You'd think the leaders in medicine would be able to streamline and make this process simpler for everyone but i frankly think they don't care at all.
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The problem is that there isn't really a "leader". Who is going to force the issue? And none of you have to pay for IB/Thalamus/etc.
 
NotAProgDirector said:
I really wanted to use ERAS for scheduling. We decided to go with one of the other companies. The main issue with the ERAS scheduler is that once you have booked an interview, you can't waitlist for other days. Our eperience has been that students like to waitlist for other full days, in the hopes that if someone cancels that they can then change their date. I do wonder whether this matters as much with virtual recruiting. (We don't overinvite, so there's always a date available). I'd love feedback from here -- biased as it may be.

Some of the other platforms also offer more functionality - video interviews, schedules, etc.

The problem is that there isn't really a "leader". Who is going to force the issue? And none of you have to pay for IB/Thalamus/etc.
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Absolutely reasonable.
The next question is why ERAS cannot handle all the necessary functionality.
 
NotAProgDirector said:
I do wonder whether this matters as much with virtual recruiting. (We don't overinvite, so there's always a date available). I'd love feedback from here -- biased as it may be.
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I think even with virtual interviewing there's still scheduling issues people want to try to avoid - back to back interviews, overlapping socials, school activities, other life events to plan around. Even without travel, all day zoom interviews are tiring and it can be nice to have space between them to relax and read up on your next program, rather than going straight from one to the other. So they might like to take a less desireable date (say, one the day after another previously scheduled interview) just to get something in the books but have other dates that would be far more ideal if they can get off the waitlist. Or they want to interview earlier in the season (less burnt out, or just trying to frontload things and get it all done faster) but will take a late season date and waitlist earlier ones
 
DrStephenStrange said:
Got my first straight up rejection today. I guess that's better than programs that just ignores you for the whole cycle.
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Honestly I wish programs would flat out reject ASAP if they're not interested. I want an answer either way rather than just being ghosted for 3-4 months. At least then I know exactly where I stand.
 
NotAProgDirector said:
I really wanted to use ERAS for scheduling. We decided to go with one of the other companies. The main issue with the ERAS scheduler is that once you have booked an interview, you can't waitlist for other days. Our eperience has been that students like to waitlist for other full days, in the hopes that if someone cancels that they can then change their date. I do wonder whether this matters as much with virtual recruiting. (We don't overinvite, so there's always a date available). I'd love feedback from here -- biased as it may be.

Some of the other platforms also offer more functionality - video interviews, schedules, etc.

The problem is that there isn't really a "leader". Who is going to force the issue? And none of you have to pay for IB/Thalamus/etc.
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Agreed with this. Favorite thing about Thalamus is being able to waitlist and getting a notification instantly. I’ve already changed multiple dates within the first couple days of invites. I think many students just grab the first thing they see then later go back to actually look at their schedule.

Still, I definitely would prefer everything in one place. Having to create a “Master” calendar and manually add/update from all the sources is a major PITA.
 
Yup, picking dates is really annoying. A lot of programs don't have that many and I have one week where I literally have 3 interviews back to back. Would definitely WL for other days if possible but I'm also running into the issue that many programs have pretty short interview seasons, like dates are November-december and then that's it. Forcing me to put multiple every week (obviously I recognize this is a good problem to have but just worried about making a good impression).
 
Interviews have really dried up for me...havent gotten much in my region of interest yet (NYC)...whats upppppp ugh
 
NotAProgDirector said:
The problem is that there isn't really a "leader". Who is going to force the issue? And none of you have to pay for IB/Thalamus/etc
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I guess i don't understand why ERAS can't monopolize this and be the only interview scheduler.
 
Seems like the programs the furthest away from my desired location are the ones getting back to me lol. One interviw outta five programs in my desired location, really hope to hear more soon.

Had my first interview the other day and it was wayyyyy more chill than I would have thought. Did not do a lot of prep but found giving answers much easier that I would have thought. No Idea if I did well or not but I was not thrown for a loop with anything or struggling to answer. figure thats a good sign.

Like others have said, scheduling is starting to become an issue. My calendar is getting pretty full. Would not be surprised if I end up having to do 3-4 in a row one week. Peds world seems to be flying ahead with the amount of interviews being sent out according to the spreadsheet. a lot of people with 7-10+ invites, but some programs are also still very quiet.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Yup, picking dates is really annoying. A lot of programs don't have that many and I have one week where I literally have 3 interviews back to back. Would definitely WL for other days if possible but I'm also running into the issue that many programs have pretty short interview seasons, like dates are November-december and then that's it. Forcing me to put multiple every week (obviously I recognize this is a good problem to have but just worried about making a good impression).
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This is my worry too. Since I missed the first wave in several places I'm interested in, if I do get invites later on, it's going to be entirely in December and January. Right now I have a couple this month and only one next month but I already have three in December and now I have to keep those dates memorized so I don't possibly double book. It'd be a good problem to have but I'd prefer to not do nothing all November then be stretched thin through December and January.
 
Found a typo in my personal statement, which I corrected earlier today, but then the thought occured to me whether or not "editing" my PS moved my application down the pile. Am I being paranoid?
 
tryingmybest99 said:
Found a typo in my personal statement, which I corrected earlier today, but then the thought occured to me whether or not "editing" my PS moved my application down the pile. Am I being paranoid?
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I had a similar thought after updating my phone number. After a few minutes of searching, I read that making edits/updates to your application does not change your application submission date.
 
How far down the rank list do most people fall? And does having a top heavy list put you at higher risk of falling down your list?
 
It's weird to me I got a couple interviews very quickly after submitting, and then pretty much have been on silence since. This is a weird process lol
 
Lawpy said:
I guess i don't understand why ERAS can't monopolize this and be the only interview scheduler.
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They can't force everyone to use it. Once I have the application data, I can do whatever I want with it. If they offered a really good scheduling product, then people would probably use it because it would be much easier that way. I'm somewhat surprised -- they came out with the ERAS scheduler several years ago and it was "pretty good" right out of the starting gate. But then they have made no upgrades or improvements, at all, since launching it.
tryingmybest99 said:
Found a typo in my personal statement, which I corrected earlier today, but then the thought occured to me whether or not "editing" my PS moved my application down the pile. Am I being paranoid?
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The "last date of submission" of your PS would be updated. But NO ONE CARES ABOUT THAT. Each item in your application is dated -- the app itself, USMLE, med school transcript, each LOR, PS, etc.
Chelsea FC said:
How far down the rank list do most people fall? And does having a top heavy list put you at higher risk of falling down your list?
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The data are published each year as far as top 4. But it's not really helpful -- although it may tell you the chances of matching in your top four, that doesn't tell you if YOU are going to match in your top 4.

Your second question misses the point. Sure, a top heavy list might increase the chances of falling down your list. But it gives you more chances to match at a "top heavy" program, and if that's something you want you should do it. Falling down further on your list isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you were to rank 20 programs that you didn't apply to (hence they have no chance of ranking you at all), followed by your normal rank list, you'd match at the same place -- it would just be n+20 on your rank list.
hebrewBAMmer said:
It's weird to me I got a couple interviews very quickly after submitting, and then pretty much have been on silence since. This is a weird process lol
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Not necessarily surprising. Some programs might have "rule in" criteria. If you're from (some type) of school and have (some USMLE score) and (some visa need), then we are going to offer you an interview. Someone runs the filter, sends out invites. Other places may want to read through all the applications first -- that will cause a delay.
 
For all of you that were so nice - I kept refreshing that one program, and managed to refresh right as they added some dates and got a spot. It does make me think less of the program tbh… but I’d still be very happy to live in that city for one year. It’s somewhere fun that I’d really love to experience living in.

I am starting to feel much more confident. I did a multi-specialty app and I officially have at least one interview in everything. I have crap odds for matching any of the individual specialties, but would have pretty good odds if I had this number just for one specialty. Starting to feel like I’m going to get there.
 
Chelsea FC said:
How far down the rank list do most people fall? And does having a top heavy list put you at higher risk of falling down your list?
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I fell pretty far down my list, but most people seem to match in their top 3
 
Cath Up said:
DO applicant sitting on 3 psych interviews with silence this week, also terrified. Felt like I have a really strong app. Nice and terrified 🆘
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I’m not far off with the psych interviews. I have 4 at the moment. Definitely seems like they are taking their sweet time this year.
 
Deecee2DO said:
I GOT AN INTERVIEW!!! FINALLY!!
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Congrats!!! :clap::clap::clap: I knew you would!

I really think the next two weeks are going to be stuffed full of interviews for a lot of people, myself included.

Keeping all the dates straight/prep straight is going to become a bit of a task
 
EmilKraepelin55 said:
I’m not far off with the psych interviews. I have 4 at the moment. Definitely seems like they are taking their sweet time this year.
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Also a psych applicant sitting at 4. I asked a trusted advisor at my home program when I should expect the majority of interviews and he said “through December”. It seems as though 30+ of my programs have yet to send out interviews and the ones that have send them out in small bursts. Things feel different than last year and it seems we have plenty of road ahead of us.
 
InFreudWeTrust said:
Also a psych applicant sitting at 4. I asked a trusted advisor at my home program when I should expect the majority of interviews and he said “through December”. It seems as though 30+ of my programs have yet to send out interviews and the ones that have send them out in small bursts. Things feel different than last year and it seems we have plenty of road ahead of us.
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Yeah we gotta remember last year, I think their date for submission was later so as soon as they all submitted the interviews came flooding in
 
Deecee2DO said:
I GOT AN INTERVIEW!!! FINALLY!!
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Congrats man. I thought it was highly unlikely no one would offer you an interview without a step 2. Maybe some programs, sure, but all of them? No way. I just got an interview from a program that told me they received ~50%+ more apps this year than their average, so they are much slower in going through all of them. I still think we have a few weeks of big waves of invites coming.
 
InFreudWeTrust said:
Also a psych applicant sitting at 4. I asked a trusted advisor at my home program when I should expect the majority of interviews and he said “through December”. It seems as though 30+ of my programs have yet to send out interviews and the ones that have send them out in small bursts. Things feel different than last year and it seems we have plenty of road ahead of us.
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Well that’s very comforting to know! I will try to stop checking my email 50,000 times a day now.
 
hebrewBAMmer said:
Got an email from a neuro program last night at midnight..... telling me my app is still under review. Like bruh....
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I got that email too lol. Interesting thing is the spreadsheet says they've already sent out 2 rounds of interviews.
 
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I only have 1 interview for Anesthesiology. According to Reddit spreadsheet for Anesthesiology, most programs have not sent out invites yet. A lot of East coast programs only invite local in-state and own home schools. I am very nervous if the invites come in during my audition and sub-intern rotations coming up. I need advice from anyone that I can request days off during my audition and sub-intern rotations for interviews.
 
Was gonna post in the usmle comlex thread but most of u are here anyways. Just got my level 2 score back and I dropped (by 1 point) you think this matters? since I dropped like 10% in percentile. Many of you know I dont have a step 2 yet bc of my high step 1 (taking CK Nov 1st).

Level 1: 671
Level2: 670

Also how do I update my scores to ERAS?? Anyone know?
 
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