Order of ERAS download

[Socrates25]

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OK, so ERAS opens up for my fellowhship on Nov 15th. Lets assume that 500 people submit their applications at midnight and then another 100 people submit on November 20th

The NRMP website says that programs cant download applications until Dec 1st.

On Dec 1st when programs start downloading applications, I'm assuming that the people who submitted first will get downloaded first, right? One of the program secretaries for our residency stated that she thought they were downloaded in alphabetical order, so that even if you submit on day 1, if somebody named Abby Alphareus will get downloaded to the program first, even if he/she submitted 2 weeks later than me, as long as its before the "go live" date of Dec 1st.

How long does it take to download one application? I've heard people say it takes forever which means to download 500 apps could take several days just to download the info.

Any insiders have an answer to this question?

 

[mcl]

OK, so ERAS opens up for my fellowhship on Nov 15th. Lets assume that 500 people submit their applications at midnight and then another 100 people submit on November 20th

The NRMP website says that programs cant download applications until Dec 1st.

On Dec 1st when programs start downloading applications, I'm assuming that the people who submitted first will get downloaded first, right? One of the program secretaries for our residency stated that she thought they were downloaded in alphabetical order, so that even if you submit on day 1, if somebody named Abby Alphareus will get downloaded to the program first, even if he/she submitted 2 weeks later than me, as long as its before the "go live" date of Dec 1st.

How long does it take to download one application? I've heard people say it takes forever which means to download 500 apps could take several days just to download the info.

Any insiders have an answer to this question?

Your coordinator is correct. ERAs will present the applications downloaded from the Post Office on Dec 1st in alphabetical order. It won't matter if you submitted your application on November 15th or November 30th. I honestly don't think that should be a primary concern--I'm sure programs will give the same level of consideration to Abigail Adams as to Zain Zafra assuming the application is complete and that both are competitive for the program.

The speed of the download depends on the computer system the program uses. It's certainly much faster now than it was when it first started when it literally took all day to download Dean's letters. These days we're talking more in the realm of minutes rather than hours, though.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

The speed of the download depends on the computer system the program uses. It's certainly much faster now than it was when it first started when it literally took all day to download Dean's letters. These days we're talking more in the realm of minutes rather than hours, though.

Totally agree. Downloading is pretty fast, as most programs have a high speed intranet/internet connection. The first day is always the slowest -- simply because there are the most applications to download, and everyone is trying to do so at the same time.

Dean's letters used to be a pain -- they would all need to be downloaded after Nov 1, everyone wanted them at the same time, and there were lots of them, and they are big. Now, MSPE's are downloaded along with the rest of the application when available. They're encrypted, and only become unlocked on Nov 1. So, the only thing we need to download on Nov 1 is the unlock key. Much faster and better.

As mentioned above, you're seriously overthinking this if you think that being earlier in the alphabet / downloaded first matters. It doesn't.