How do you get new LORs for the SOAP?

[BlondeDocteur]

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Asking for a friend...

I'm helping a good friend who expects to be in the SOAP this year (only one interview in the regular Match). I read in the threads re: last years inaugural SOAP that some people were able to get, and upload, new LORs all in that ultra-short time frame. How does this work? In the regular Match your referee snail-mails a copy of your letter to ERAS, where it's uploaded to your app. This takes about four weeks. How can it be done so quickly?

 

[Stellar Clouds]

Letter writers can directly upload letters to ERAS.

I don't think any LORs are sent via snail mail any longer.

 

[BlondeDocteur]

My friend has a paper letter in hand from a professor in her field of interest from her home country. It's obviously not waived. Is there any way it could be uploaded and attached to her app? Can she do it directly, as an unwaived letter?

 

[xrevision]

That sure doesn't seem sketchy.

 

[septoplasty]

My friend has a paper letter in hand from a professor in her field of interest from her home country. It's obviously not waived. Is there any way it could be uploaded and attached to her app? Can she do it directly, as an unwaived letter?

I'm assuming IMG?

If so, you can do this through the ECFMG (which acts as your deans office). You can scan and it shuold be up in a few days (check in myERAS).

 

[engineeredout]

Do people in SOAP need new LORs? The existing ones from the initial application process aren't good enough?

 

[BlondeDocteur]

Normally preexisting letters are good enough. My friend is attempting to buff her application as much as possible, in case she needs to cast a wider specialty net. Her professor sent her the LOR directly, rather than to ECFMG or ERAS, so she didn't include it in her app since it wasn't waied. Now we think, why not?

 

[engineeredout]

Normally preexisting letters are good enough. My friend is attempting to buff her application as much as possible, in case she needs to cast a wider specialty net. Her professor sent her the LOR directly, rather than to ECFMG or ERAS, so she didn't include it in her app since it wasn't waied. Now we think, why not?

Okay, so just in general what is required for SOAP from the applicant aside from what is already in ERAS? Would a new personal statement be necessary if trying to SOAP into different specialties?

 

[Torsades42]

Normally preexisting letters are good enough. My friend is attempting to buff her application as much as possible, in case she needs to cast a wider specialty net. Her professor sent her the LOR directly, rather than to ECFMG or ERAS, so she didn't include it in her app since it wasn't waied. Now we think, why not?

You can scan and upload it via OASIS. It'll be unwaived of course. I do think that it may take 7-10 days between scanning it in OASIS and it being there to use in ERAS (or so there was a delay way back in September). I'm pretty sure there's still a four letter of recommendation cap per application so she'll have to drop a letter to add this one.

 

[BlondeDocteur]

That is awesome, thank you. It's a bit the blind leading the blind here since we come from opposite corners of the Match universe.