Eras

[Renovar]

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A ******ed question, but thought I'd bring this up.

As I am finishing up my ERAS application and selected my programs, it ask me whether or not I want to assign my LoRs, use my PS and submit my USMLE. The LoR section is giving me a lot of headache lately, as I just can't make up my mind as to which ones to send to which program. I am fortunate enough to have 5 faculty member who has agreed to, and is in the process of, writing the letter for me. There are 2 out of the 5 letters I want to go to every program I apply. But I can't make up my mind about which one (or two) out of the next 3 I want to send to each program. Each program requires a MINIMUM of 3 letters, a couple requires 4.

So my long-winded question is: is there any way for me to just submit my application by 9/2 (it's all done) and just empirically assign the 2 letters to each program? Can I go back later and assign additional letters to a program AFTER i have submitted my application after I have made up my mind? Or the assignment has to be set by the time I submit my app on 9/2 and i wont be able to change it?

Another question is, would the school be able to update my transcript once the original transcript is loaded on the system on 9/2?

I would appreciate any input on these questions.

 

[unregistered]

I know you can go back later and de-assign letters and re-assign letters. The problem is that the school may have already downloaded the earlier version of your file prior to your change. So, you can solve this by calling the residency program and telling them of the change in your application.

I have a question,
I will not have my 3 LORs ready by Sept 2. Can I still complete my application and send it out with 2 letters? Or will this prevent my application from being downloaded immediately by programs? I plan to have my third LOR ready by late September.

 

[Apollyon]

Renovar -

ERAS will upload the most recent transcript, regardless of how many are sent (ie, you're not limited to 2 or 5 or whatever).

Unregistered -

You can send your app with as many or as few letters as you want; you don't have to wait for a 'critical mass' of one or two letters before they send it out. With my app, my letters were all skewed, so I sent the app, and got interview offers (well, 1) after the first letter was received.

 

[Renovar]

I know that you DEFINITELY dont need to have all letters scanned on the system on 9/2 if you plan to complete your application then. If you plan to assign the letter, you should have the letter record on the system and have it assigned to programs.

Ie. If by 9/2 you know you will definitely have 3 letters (ie. writer already agreed and is in process of writing), and only 2 letters are scanned by that time, I know you can complete your file and some programs will download incomplete files and make their decision base on it. However, the 3rd letter writer's name should be on the application, and assigned to program as you wish to assign it to. The programs that you assign it to will have access to the letter when it get scanned and become available later in the cycle. But your file will be "incomplete" if you assign a letter that is not there yet. Some programs will interview without completed files, while others will wait for completed files.

 

[ckent]

Renovar,
Are you applying for IM? How many programs did you come across or which programs did you come across that required 4? I kept hearing that just getting 3 letters would be ok over here, but I haven't looked into specific program requirements.

 

[Renovar]

Originally posted by ckent
Renovar,
Are you applying for IM? How many programs did you come across or which programs did you come across that required 4? I kept hearing that just getting 3 letters would be ok over here, but I haven't looked into specific program requirements.

Among the programs of interest to me, I know of 2 that REQUIRE 4, and many that says MINIMUM of 3. My advisor says 3 is a reasonable number for 90% of programs, and I'd say 50-60% of the IM people from my school will roll with 3 in their file. But for some programs especially the one you really want to go to, it may be good idea to play politics and "match" letters (ie. send a letter from a well-known guy to an elite program, etc) but obviously that requires you to have the luxury.

 

[Cremaster]

The ERAS site says (over and over and over again) the bit about de-assigning and re-assigning. What if you don't want to assign anything right now? From what I understand of Renovar's post, you can't do that. You have to make the assignment upfront and can't "begin" to assign LoRs after the application is sent. Am I getting this straight?

Thanks,
Cremaster

 

[Renovar]

Originally posted by Cremaster
The ERAS site says (over and over and over again) the bit about de-assigning and re-assigning. What if you don't want to assign anything right now? From what I understand of Renovar's post, you can't do that. You have to make the assignment upfront and can't "begin" to assign LoRs after the application is sent. Am I getting this straight?

Thanks,
Cremaster

That is exactly my point and my question. I am positive I have heard that said somewhere, saying that the settings you have (letters, board scores, PS, etc) for each program at the time you hit submit button is final and you can't add or subtract after you apply. Any point of clarification would be much appreciated.

And a corollary of that is, say, what if I did well next month (september) and is going to get a letter from the attending at the end of the month? The letter will probably make my dean's office and ERAS mid October, and I wont know about whether or not I am going to get the letter until the end of sept. If say I applied to all my programs early up in Sept 2nd, does that mean I can't add the letter onto each program?

 

[Snoopy]

When I applied last year I assigned my four letters to all programs. As soon as they were assigned they were available to be downloaded and printed. About 72 hours after one of my letters went in, I found out that despite what the letter writer told me, the letter was less than flattering. I immediately de-assigned the letter and assigned another in its place. The programs could see the writer's name on my LOR list, but there was no document available. I got a call from one program asking if there was a problem with my documents and just said that there was an extra LOR. No one else even asked me about it. Fortunately, this was early in the process (early October) and no one had actually printed the letter.

The bottom line is that you can assign documents and later replace them but there is no guarantee that they have not already been printed and that a copy is not in your file.

Hope that helps.

 

[UI2003]

Exactly.

One of my letter writers (unfailing nice but slow as hell) still hadn't written my letter after 2 months (getting into Oct) so I de-assigned him from a lot of programs and reassigned another prof in his place. No one ever mentioned the change and I still received well over 15 offers for interviews.

The way it works is that you designate a list of LORs to each program and can change them at any time. Programs have a certain interval that they download info (one program only did it once a week!). In my case, the programs had downloaded everything and were just waiting on that one letter to send my completed app to their review board. Since I canceled the slow letter and substituted in a new one, my app then became complete. Piece of cake!

The only time this plan doesn't work is if you assign the full number of LORs (4 or 5 I can't remember) and the program downloads them all. In that case, you can't go back and reassign one of them because the program has the full set of letters in their paws and will not download your file again.

Good luck!

 

[Renovar]

From what I have read on this thread so far, seems like you can switch from one letter to another as long as programs has not downloaded it. Now correct me if I am wrong:

Is it then more advantageous to assign fewer letters early up and then assign more later, rather than assign the full complement all at once then trying to de-assign them later?

To put it in an example:

Program A requires 3 letters, you have 4 letters, 2 you are sure going to be on time, the other 2 letter writers are slow as hell and never promises you when they are goign to be done.

So is it better to apply now and assign 2 letters to it first, then assign the 3rd one as it becomes available (whichever writer finishes writing theirs first)? Or is it better to assign all 4 at first, and then de-assign the slower one?

Scenario 2: what if you submit your application in the earliest possible date, but then have another letter writer willing to write a good letter for you later? Say I submit my ERAS on 9/2 but by the end of september I have another letter writer? Can I add the letter to a otherwise-already-completed file? (ie. if a program requires 3 letters, and I already have 3 letters assigned to it and possibly have already downloaded the 3, can I assign a 4th one to it at a later date and expect them to download it?)

 

[Cremaster]

Thanks for the input everybody. I still have some questions, though...

Here is another scenario. The program requests 3 LoRs. The maximum number that can be sent to any single program is 4. I know that there will be a letter that I want to send to programs but don't have yet. However, I don't want that final letter to hold up the process of getting the rest of my application reviewed. So, should I send 3 letters and add the 4th when it becomes available or will the program stop downloading after the 3rd letter because it believes my application is complete? Or (to make matters more confusing), do different programs handle this differently?

Thanks again.

 

[Cremaster]

Renovar already asked that question.

My apologies...I'm slow.

 

[Cremaster]

So, now that it's the first day to submit ERAS...

Has there been any enlightenment on these issues?

As usual, thanks.