Scramble 2011

[turquoiseblue]

Anyone scrambling this year? I am
I thought I'd start this thread as sort of a support group.

I have a few questions on my end:
What is everyone doing? should we fax in just a summary of ourselves or the entire 20 or so page application.

what do you think of emailing a website of your documents? do they really look at those?

can anyone hook me up to a program ;D i need all the help i can get. I'll take any specialty. seriously. you can pm me if you like.

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[ozzidoc]

Thanks for starting this thread.

I'm not really considering faxing programs, just applying through ERAS. I might change my mind a little later today though. If I were to fax, it would be a no more than five pages long.

Good luck!

 

[BlueandOrange]

Thanks for starting this thread. I posted a question in the scramble advice thread but got no answers.

I'm totally unsure of what to do. My school is supremely unhelpful with everything.

So do we apply through ERAS first? And then call the programs? Or the other way around?

Are you guys writing new personal statements?

 

[myPsychAlt]

so what time do WE find out where the spots are open?

 

[peppy]

Definitely apply through ERAS first. Once you've sent your application through ERAS to all the programs you want to try for, then you can start trying to get through on the phone (you should expect that most of the phone lines will be busy though, so you'll have to keep trying). I also tried emailing my application documents as email attachments though I'm not sure if that really helps or not.
Try to have at least two cell phones/phone lines available so that one can be solely dedicated to receiving calls in case someone tries to call you to offer you a spot.
It's ideal if you can get a friend or relative to help you with making calls and then give you the phone if they get through to someone.

If you are planning to try for a different specialty, I would definitely take a few minutes to try to come up with a new personal statement that gives a plausible explanation for why you're trying to get into the specialty. I get the impression that the personal statemnet isn't given much weight in the scramble, but why take the chance of losing out because your PS has nothing to do with the specialty? If you do end up getting offered a spot, the program will want to know why you're interested in the specialty anyway.
Good luck!

 

[El Dooderino]

Anyone scrambling this year? I am
I thought I'd start this thread as sort of a support group.

I have a few questions on my end:
What is everyone doing? should we fax in just a summary of ourselves or the entire 20 or so page application.

what do you think of emailing a website of your documents? do they really look at those?

can anyone hook me up to a program ;D i need all the help i can get. I'll take any specialty. seriously. you can pm me if you like.

haven't you already quit or been fired from about 4 programs. you have to be a trolll at this point, right?

 

[BlueandOrange]

Definitely apply through ERAS first. Once you've sent your application through ERAS to all the programs you want to try for, then you can start trying to get through on the phone (you should expect that most of the phone lines will be busy though, so you'll have to keep trying). I also tried emailing my application documents as email attachments though I'm not sure if that really helps or not.
Try to have at least two cell phones/phone lines available so that one can be solely dedicated to receiving calls in case someone tries to call you to offer you a spot.
It's ideal if you can get a friend or relative to help you with making calls and then give you the phone if they get through to someone.

If you are planning to try for a different specialty, I would definitely take a few minutes to try to come up with a new personal statement that gives a plausible explanation for why you're trying to get into the specialty. I get the impression that the personal statemnet isn't given much weight in the scramble, but why take the chance of losing out because your PS has nothing to do with the specialty? If you do end up getting offered a spot, the program will want to know why you're interested in the specialty anyway.
Good luck!

Thanks! Good advice. I have my mom helping me tomorrow and at least I know where to start.

I'm going to try to bust out some sort of alternative personal statement now.

 

[Eat Oatmeal]

Hey guys, I am so sorry that you guys did not match. I'm helping a friend out with the match and she is really stressing out. Our school helps our students scramble so I will not be there tomorrow. However, we learned that there is good data about OUR scramble that they released on the information sheet about the NEW scramble for next year. It is called SOAP and the sheet has some sort of graph showing how quickly spots fill and numbers of how many applicants and applications were sent (my friend was saying that on average 24 applications are sent per applicant based on the numbers the provided).

Found the document online: http://www.nrmp.org/soap.pdf

Good luck guys.

 

[Gordon Sims]

Good luck with the scramble everyone!