I've noticed some programs have downloaded my photo from the ERAS post office. Does it download and then they can't see it until after they offer an interview? I thought that it was locked out to prevent against racial discrimination (or discrimination against ugly people I guess). I guess I should have spent more time combing my hair.
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ERAS Photo
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What the--?sdboy said:
Yo, Quinn (or someone on the program side of the process) ... that doesn't seem right to me. And I mean that both in the sense of "that can't be correct, can it?" and the sense of "wow, how morally repugnant." What's the 411 on how programs get pieces of a person's ERAS app? I can't really think of any legit reason to dl a photo only, and plenty of skeevy or offensive ones.
(Okay, maybe they go through and look at only photos on all their applicants, hoping to recognize the face of someone who rotated through. If the face prompts feelings of steely confidence, they dl the rest of the app. If it makes staff break out in gales of derisive laughter, they move on. If it looks like someone they've never seen before, they move on. I'm thinking the scene in "Animal House" where they throw stuff at the projector screen when Flounder's face comes up.)
Of course this would explain the statistically unlikely high incidence and prevalence of hotness among our residents, but it would still be wrong (...said the stocky bald guy).
Febrifuge said:
I recently finished an external elective at a teaching hospital with a residency program in the field I'm going into (not EM). The admin for the director was a 20-something, blond, reasonably attractive single woman. I know (because I asked for a letter) that she pretty much does everything for the director because he's essentially computer illiterate. She was also quite "flirty" while I was there.
Now, knowing this, I wonder how many admins out there, who probably get the electronic list from ERAS for their respective directors, are sneaking a peak at the potential "cuties" that may be coming through the door in the next few months.
It'd be interesting to compare notes and see who downloaded what (i.e., which program and whether it was just guys or girls, etc.) and then see if you can find the culprit when you go for the interview. You know, make a game out of it.
Just a thought...
-Skip
A valid point -- the people doing the downloading of the photos are not necessarily the people making the decisions. There's no way to know that, and it makes one wonder who the heck is working with the ERAS stuff if it's not the people choosing residents. It would be fun to open up the "black box" somewhat, and you'd think it would be in keeping with modern ideas about quality improvement and academic honesty to try. But in practice, I think you'd have to do illegal or unethical hacking-type stuff in order to expose any illegal or unethical discrimination against people of any particular group or level of hotness. Far, far too much of a quagmire.
I guess the best solution is to get the convenient digital photo as previously suggested, and make it as tastefully attractive as possible. What the hay; I was an acting/directing major. I'm not above wearing some makeup.
Anybody shows up to an interview, and your host says, "dang, we thought you were cuter," please post here.
I guess the best solution is to get the convenient digital photo as previously suggested, and make it as tastefully attractive as possible. What the hay; I was an acting/directing major. I'm not above wearing some makeup.
Anybody shows up to an interview, and your host says, "dang, we thought you were cuter," please post here.
I don't remember whether ERAS was handling photos when I was asst-chief or not. I do know that we took polaroids of all the interviewees. We were much more interested in having their picture when it came time to make the rank lists. We'd seen so many interviewees that even with the notes we took at the time of the interviews, unless our memories were jogged by a photo we really couldn't remember who a particular applicant was.
If nobody had anything particularly good or bad to say about an applicant or if the applicant just wasn't remembered well, they generally got put somewhere in the middle of the rank list. Having a good memorable photo (that actually resembles you) definitely helps when it comes to getting placed on the rank list. That is assuming you didn't offend everybody with whom you interviewed. 🙂
If nobody had anything particularly good or bad to say about an applicant or if the applicant just wasn't remembered well, they generally got put somewhere in the middle of the rank list. Having a good memorable photo (that actually resembles you) definitely helps when it comes to getting placed on the rank list. That is assuming you didn't offend everybody with whom you interviewed. 🙂
I dont' remember what the ERAS rules are but I don't think the program can open your photo until they have downloaded your whoel application. I'll ask my PD or RC but I know they can't do it the "immoral" way. I know, because I was asking to check out the photos of the applicants last year! When we reviewed the files, it was teh LORs, Board Scores, transcript, dean's letter, etc, but no photo. We didn't see the photos until interview day I believe. Not sure when the program can look at it. I'll get back to you.
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MD'05 said:
dood... what if they just d/l'ed a pic, and then "un-d/l'ed" it heheheh gee that abreviation is hard to read...
Correct. I asked our RC about it. You cannot download the photo until you've given the applicant an interview.
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drgirlnyu said:
Yep. Just hand that puppy over to them and they'll scan it and upload it.
At least at our school, this process is a tad sillly. Our photo dept. takes the pictures with a digital camera. We then buy a printed copy and give to our Dean's office to scan back into a digital format. Seems like a lot of unnecessary work (plus image degeneration, but that's just the photographer in me talking).
Take care,
Jeff
