SFmatch CAS Application Help

[razkui]

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Should clinical honors be listed until honors/awards? An upperclassmen told me to list them, but I thought that seems redundant since the transcript and dean's letter will have them too.

Did anyone weigh in on this? Does listing honors in Ophtho count as fluff cause this honors/awards thing really seems like its for honors/awards that were given to you - not for rotations?

 

[eyesteve]

Should clinical honors be listed until honors/awards? An upperclassmen told me to list them, but I thought that seems redundant since the transcript and dean's letter will have them too. Did anyone weigh in on this? Does listing honors in Ophtho count as fluff cause this honors/awards thing really seems like its for honors/awards that were given to you - not for rotations?

This is a good question, and, like most things, there is no right or wrong answer. It seems to me that more often than not, applicants choose to list the honors received from clinical clerkships. As for potential redundancy, I do not feel that listing honors in the "Honors, Awards, and Achievements" section is redundant at all. Yes, the previous comment you replied to made a good point that the transcript and Dean's letter will mention your grades. However, my general feeling from interviews is that very very few interviewers (maybe <10%?) had even read through the Dean's Letter (others that have matched, do you agree?) much less my actual transcript. I don't see any problem with listing your honors grades in that section as it may be a strength to your application that you want to highlight.

The decision of whether or not to list honors grades in this section also comes down to whether or not you want to draw attention to the many clerkships you honored (way to go!) or, as the case may be, didn't honor. I have been reading applications this week for MS4 friends applying currently, and I love to see when they have a list of 5-6 clerkships that they honored during third year. It is an accomplishment I personally was never able to achieve. In my case, I felt that I had other awards and honors that I preferred to highlight in that section (instead of the honors), so I chose to include these awards instead. If the interviewer wants to find out which clerkships you honored, he/she will dig through your transcript to find that info. Again, it just comes down to the strengths you wish to highlight.

 

[Pharmacol90]

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[razkui]

How will we know when our app is ready for upload?

Mine says "Received on XYZ date" for my mailed documents and "Date uploaded" for my CAS application.

Does anything else update/change as our documents become processed?

 

[Melenema]

On the "Education" page of CAS where it asks about AOA, if your school hasn't elected senior members yet what did you put?

There are two questions:
1) Does your school have AOA (yes/no)?
2) If yes, please check all that apply below (I was elected as a junior/senior, I was not selected)

Did you guys just put "yes" for (1) and leave (2) blank? Or did you leave both blank?

 

[coffeemunster]

How will we know when our app is ready for upload?

Mine says "Received on XYZ date" for my mailed documents and "Date uploaded" for my CAS application.

Does anything else update/change as our documents become processed?

Wondering the same thing too! When is our application considered complete?

 

[kwel]

On the "Education" page of CAS where it asks about AOA, if your school hasn't elected senior members yet what did you put?

There are two questions:
1) Does your school have AOA (yes/no)?
2) If yes, please check all that apply below (I was elected as a junior/senior, I was not selected)

Did you guys just put "yes" for (1) and leave (2) blank? Or did you leave both blank?

yeah I have the same question

 

[shemarty]

How will we know when our app is ready for upload? Mine says "Received on XYZ date" for my mailed documents and "Date uploaded" for my CAS application. Does anything else update/change as our documents become processed?

Wondering the same thing too! When is our application considered complete?

Same question. Mine also says "received XYZ data" and I was wondering if it was time to check a bunch of programs and pay the application fee now, or if I should be waiting for "received XYZ date" status to change to something else.

What exactly does the FAQ mean by "processing time can take up to 3 weeks"? I couldn't figure out what step in processing they were referring to.

 

[MPMD]

Just talked with someone at SF Match today. If all of your "required documents" on the homepage have either been "received" or "uploaded," then your app is complete and will be added to batches to be sent off to programs.

I assume you will also get an email saying your materials have been distributed when it actually becomes available to them.

 

[peter2013]

FYI, I had my packet sent in overnight on the 6th, submitted my CAS that night and paid that night. It showed "uploaded" for the CAS on the 6th, "received" for everything in my packet on the 9th, "uploaded" for everything in my packet on the 19th, and a confirmatory e-mail that everything is ready for programs to see on the 20th.

 

[nemostar19]

I sent my stuff in on the 12th. Said recieved on the 14th. Uploaded on 20th with an email saying that it was distributed to programs. I have the same issue with AOA. I checked "yes" for i fyou school had it and left hte next question blank. I was told by my home program director to send in you AOA letter as soon as you get it but most programs can tell if you are going to get it or not.

 

[Aintjustadoogie]

Has anyone (other than me) had the supplementals "received" and CAS "uploaded" around the same time as the people who posted above and not yet had their app sent to programs? Or do you think there's a problem specifically with my app?

 

[Corn Dog]

Aintjustadoogie:

I'm in the same boat as you. My stuff hasn't been uploaded yet. CAS submitted and supplementals "received" on 8/6. The status hasn't changed yet.

 

[Aintjustadoogie]

Thanks, haha good to know I'm not alone, prob doesnt matter much then if only a few went through and a lot are still waiting, I doubt programs will start looking at apps til at least next week

 

[Lazyeye9]

Submitted today, hopefully it is not too late and it gets uploaded in a week.

 

[FuschiaGazelle]

On the SFMatch website it says all of my documents have been received except my CAS Application...but I mailed them all in the same packet. Is this something I should be concerned about, or is it simply a processing thing on their end?

 

[Ophtho2014]

On the SFMatch website it says all of my documents have been received except my CAS Application...but I mailed them all in the same packet. Is this something I should be concerned about, or is it simply a processing thing on their end?

You need to submit your CAS application electronically. The option to do so is at the end of the application in the "Research Activities" tab. Your homepage will be updated to "CAS uploaded" after that.

 

[Aintjustadoogie]

Probably a silly question, but does anyone have an idea about whether SF match sends batches of apps to programs on a particular day of the week during each week of application season (like how this week they seemed to do the final "upload" on a group of applications on monday and submit them to programs on tuesday), or if it's completely random and could happen on any day of the week
- Thanks 🙂

 

[VooDooo327]

Excuse my ignorance but I searched and searched and couldn't find this information anywhere. What address are you all sending in your transcripts, USMLE scores, and LOR to? I tried to navigate the SFmatch website and, as you all probably already know , nothing works.

 

[Aintjustadoogie]

It's 655 beach street, San Fran CA 94109- https://www.sfmatch.org/ContactUs.aspx
That worked for me 🙂

 

[shemarty]

My packet was received on Aug 16th, and today Aug 23rd I got that email saying it was uploaded and available to programs.

 

[Lazyeye9]

So just to be 110% sure. What is shown in the PDF version of our SF application is what the programs see, no more no less?

 

[Melenema]

..

 

[Aintjustadoogie]

what email should be used for correspondence? I've been using my gmail (instead of school mail) since I can organize it better and it seems to push to my phone a lot faster/more reliably than my school address, which we all know is important in terms of responding to invites. Is gmail considered "unprofessional" though? it's what i used when applying to med school so I figured it would be OK here

I'm using Gmail also, I think it's pretty common. I wouldn't worry, I doubt program coordinators are judging us for that (and pretty sure none of the PDs are spending much time looking at the email list). Plus, our school emails arent gonna work in less than a year, so may as will give them an email address that they will be able to use next year if we match at their program.

 

[Ignatius M.D.]

I know this is an old thread, but oh well. I am about to submit the electronic CAS and had a quick question about class rank. My school tells us our quartile, and roughly where we are numerically without telling us how many people we have overall. Should we put quartile or the number? Also, if you put quartile it cuts it off a letter short.

 

[iapplicant]

For research, should I include presentations at conferences even if I wasn't the first author on the abstract (Didn't go to actually present the work)

 

[DrZeke]

For research, should I include presentations at conferences even if I wasn't the first author on the abstract (Didn't go to actually present the work)

Yes. Unless the section is so full that it's just taking up room and a more important publication or abstract could take its place.

 

[docjlud]

"For research, should I include presentations at conferences even if I wasn't the first author on the abstract (Didn't go to actually present the work)"

I would not list a presentation if you did not physically go and present the work----if you went and presented along with the other authors then i would list it (this is what i did for a poster i co-presented with the first author)

 

[napo1eon]

I included one of these non-presentations, and I know many others who have as well. Unless, as DrZeke noted, you have something better to fill that space, I would add it.