online faxing for scramble?

[neckcramp]

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Is anyone preparing to scramble considering using online faxing services such as myfax or efax?

 

[mcl]

Is anyone preparing to scramble considering using online faxing services such as myfax or efax?

I wouldn't recommend that faxing by any means be your primary action plan for the scramble. A lot of programs (including mine) only use ERAS now as the means to receive applications during the scramble. But even if that weren't true, my experience with the scramble was having two fax machines working non-stop for two or three days (long after we'd filled the spot). Since I was trying to field phone calls (another hopeless task), I had other administrative staff trying to keep the fax machines filled with paper and ink and bringing me the applications that came through. It was literally reams of paper--and not unusual for the applications to get mixed up with each other.

I'd recommend planning to use ERAS and having all of your documents available as attachable files for email. See if you can get a faculty member in your specialty lined up to make phone calls and send emails on your behalf in case the Dean and PD are too busy to devote a lot of time to your particular cause.

Coordinators can help too and sometimes have back-line phone numbers to their counterparts at other institutions.

Best of luck! I hope all of this information will be completely unnecessary.

 

[harmnot]

I wouldn't recommend that faxing by any means be your primary action plan for the scramble. A lot of programs (including mine) only use ERAS now as the means to receive applications during the scramble. But even if that weren't true, my experience with the scramble was having two fax machines working non-stop for two or three days (long after we'd filled the spot). Since I was trying to field phone calls (another hopeless task), I had other administrative staff trying to keep the fax machines filled with paper and ink and bringing me the applications that came through. It was literally reams of paper--and not unusual for the applications to get mixed up with each other.

I'd recommend planning to use ERAS and having all of your documents available as attachable files for email. See if you can get a faculty member in your specialty lined up to make phone calls and send emails on your behalf in case the Dean and PD are too busy to devote a lot of time to your particular cause.

Coordinators can help too and sometimes have back-line phone numbers to their counterparts at other institutions.

Best of luck! I hope all of this information will be completely unnecessary.

Do applicants have to call the program first to see if the spot is still available before they submit their application? Thanks

 

[mcl]

Do applicants have to call the program first to see if the spot is still available before they submit their application? Thanks

I don't think so if you are acting within the initial stages of the scramble, as getting through by phone will be random at best. I only have one incoming line and had applicants, deans and program directors all calling at once. My voicemail inbox was full by the time I'd finished taking my second or third call, and the moment I put the receiver down another call came through. If you call a program on the unfilled list before applying you'd run the risk of the position filling before you could even get through to speak with someone. That's why most programs go with ERAS only or a mix of ERAS and email now--it's a lot more sane.

If you are still looking after the official scramble day, then it would probably be worth a phone call to see if the program still has a spot available.

 

[Law2Doc]

Do applicants have to call the program first to see if the spot is still available before they submit their application? Thanks

No, but realistically since there will be hundreds of people trying to fax long documents to every open program, and lots of fax machines breaking down, getting jammed, running out of paper, etc, (not to mention outgoing faxes of commitment contracts to successful scrambler's) the odds of getting your stuff faxed through early and have them consider it before giving out their few remaining spots is pretty low. The programs have access to your ERAS, so if you can reach them by phone, they can usually look at most of your stuff without faxing. So I believe folks generally use a multiple pronged approach, using telephone, email and faxing, and ideally having administration place calls to private contacts within programs, and hope you get through and looked at through one of those avenues. Bear in mind that though the scramble is a couple of days, most of the real gems that remain get snapped up in the first few hours of the scramble. So it's kind of a free for all (at least until they change the format) during that interval.