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SOAP 2014 Thread
Started by asqwer
USA, MD, great scores, research, the works. Went over my head for specialty choice, obviously. Audition rotations didn't help me, probably worked against me. Now my career and personal life are completely ****ed. Yes, calling me discouraged would be an understatement.
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D.O. applying for peds. I might have been over my head initially applying. I definitely feel very discouraged but have received a few calls. It is hard to feel hopeful since I had received so many thank you notes and not one of them wanted me. These program directors love to play the game.
how late do we think programs will call till? 10pm eastern time?
Feel ya @Untraditional, from the states, MD, top 20-25 school, great research, avg scores = couple emails, 0 calls for anes/prelim sx
"Why do you think you didn't match?"
"Well, I feel I am a strong candidate, but if I could interview over again, I would be sure to advocate for myself more. I feel that may have been a major reason why I did not match. I'm a humble person, so self-promotion wasn't always the first thing on my mind, but now I realize how I could have promoted myself to programs better by letting them know how I could thrive at their program. I would be more proactive in soliciting faculty whom I have worked with to advocate for me as well."
Protip: Be prepared to follow up as to why you would thrive at the program that is calling you.
"Well, I feel I am a strong candidate, but if I could interview over again, I would be sure to advocate for myself more. I feel that may have been a major reason why I did not match. I'm a humble person, so self-promotion wasn't always the first thing on my mind, but now I realize how I could have promoted myself to programs better by letting them know how I could thrive at their program. I would be more proactive in soliciting faculty whom I have worked with to advocate for me as well."
Protip: Be prepared to follow up as to why you would thrive at the program that is calling you.
I will take a phone call in middle of the night at this point.
US senior, 24x, Apply for prelim and anes, one phone call for Anes.
The four English words I hate most right now: "Keep your chin up."
It's not your neck supporting it, buddy.
It's not your neck supporting it, buddy.
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That's pretty Awesome Youngjeezy! I still haven't gotten ANY calls today. You must be doing something right! What field are you applying for?
Its pretty bad when we're thinking about calculating the magic number for SOAP interviews. Best of the Rest. 🤣
US grad. --> Top five for FM, USMLE scores mediocre.
Anyone heard from the derm programs?
US IMG, 2 calls and one interview.
As in via Skype?
In person.
What field are you applying for?
USAMG s1 23x s2 23x Matched Advanced Anesthesia no prelim. Got 2 calls from the same program (not sure if it means something) and 1 call from another program. Sx prelim both. Hope to get an offer tomorrow :/
Thanks. Fam med. I initially applied broadly to pediatrics thinking I was more than a strong enough applicant, but something obviously went wrong. I guess I can tailor my practice towards more peds? Idk. It's so awkward trying to convince these people that you're okay with switching specialties and moving somewhere that was never on your radar
US grad soap for rads
Received email saying unable to contact me prior to first round but I am on rank list. What does this mean?
A PD told me a program can only submit one offer per open spot. (This program has 2 spots.)
I could be at the bottom of this rank list, possibly pass up other offers during first round, and never receive an offer from this program.
Is this just a way to keep me from accepting other offers, so that they have a backup pool, in case they don't fill during first round?
Does this make sense? I'm so frazzled...
Did anyone else get an email like this?
Received email saying unable to contact me prior to first round but I am on rank list. What does this mean?
A PD told me a program can only submit one offer per open spot. (This program has 2 spots.)
I could be at the bottom of this rank list, possibly pass up other offers during first round, and never receive an offer from this program.
Is this just a way to keep me from accepting other offers, so that they have a backup pool, in case they don't fill during first round?
Does this make sense? I'm so frazzled...
Did anyone else get an email like this?
anes, surg prelim/im prelim and TY.
No email like that but they are describing the SOAP mechanism.
Program puts together a rank list. A B C D.
A gets the offer, if he declines or goes someplace else its offered to B and so on down the line.
What you see on your NRMP page is the current offers for you as person "A". As the rounds go through new offers pop up. At least that's how I understand it.
If the program has multiple spots open they can send offers 1, 2, 3, 4 to A, B, C, D. Say they miss on D. In round 2, offer 4 appears for candidate E.
SOMEONE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG I HAVE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE (and never want to do it again)
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But say, if I'm B and A declines, will I receive the offer in the 2nd round or during first round?
This I don't know. Its confusing on the FAQ.
I would assume the second round, because doesn't A have 2 hours to accept or decline?
Is it plausible that you could gamble into round two and then take an offer someone has passed on?
Yes, but then again what if A has two offers and takes the offer not pertaining to B (assuming this could take 2 min/15min) or maybe he declines right away. Will I still receive the offer in the second round? Or do I have to be logging in every 10 min to see if I have an offer.
Scrambling / SOAP is tough. Unfortunately, it is extremely tough for FMGs/IMGs and those who did not interview at the programs that they are trying to scramble into. From what I have experienced in the past (I am veteran scrambler), programs start calling (prefer) applicants who they have already interviewd during the regular interview season but did not match anywhere.
The "advantage" in Scarmbling / SOAPing is unfortunately not on the side of the scrambler.
Good Luck to all.
The "advantage" in Scarmbling / SOAPing is unfortunately not on the side of the scrambler.
Good Luck to all.
it's getting late... do you think interviews are over for today?? 
No guarantee, how do u know ur next anyways, plus, programs get to jiggle their rank list again before each round.
My advice, finish this up as soon as u can. Ur chances reduce dramatically after each round
I wonder if personal statements are a major factor in part of the application for the SOAP? I am applying to advanced positions, and had to write 2 to 3 new personal statements in a mad rush. Do you think this would affect my application? Everything else is pretty good on paper.
As far as I understand from the material on NRMP you get a fixed set of offers each round. You will not have a dynamic list.
no calls yet 🙁 i'm feeling pretty hopeless. 23x usmle 1 and 2, 57x comlex 1, 64x comlex 2. I turned my applications late last night because i forgot to click a couple things and now it is biting me in the a$$.
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Yeah i did the same thing. didn't turn my stuff in until like 6 to 7 pm eastern time. There are still couples school that haven't download or retrieved my application.
This is EXACTLY the way SOAP works.
If a program has two open spots, and submits a "SOAP list" of A, B, C, D, and E (5 people), only A and B will get an offer in Round 1. Even if A rejects the offer in 5 minutes, C will not get an offer until round 2. C might have an offer in round 1 from another program, but has no way of knowing whether not taking it for an offer from this program in Round 2.
However, if I have two spots in SOAP and person A rejects my offer in Round 1 after 10 minute, I can call person C and tell them that they will get an offer in Round 2. Then, they have to decide whether they trust me or not, and they have to have not taken a round 1 spot.
If this seems messy, it's why we have a match in the first place -- to avoid situations like this.
So, to review:
A. When Round 1 happens tomorrow, each program will extend offers for all of their spots.
B. Some applicants will get more than one offer. They then need to pick one of them (two if SOAPing into Advanced and Prelim). All of the others get rejected, and go into round 2.
C. Although you could reject all offers in Round 1 to try to get something better in Round 2, doing so is very dangerous as you could easily get nothing. That said, "nothing" might be better than something you'll be very unhappy with.
D. The "ideal" candidate strategy is:
1. If you get an offer from a program you are very happy with, take it ASAP
2. If you get offer(s) from program(s)/field(s) you're unhappy with, you should reject all of the offers except for the one you might take. Then, you wait until near the end of the round to see if you get calls from other programs with offers rejected who tell you "you will be getting a 2nd round offer". Then, you could consider rejecting your last 1st round offer to take the (presumed) 2nd round offer.
3. If you get no offers, then you hope for offers in future rounds. In the past, the vast majority of spots were taken by end of round 3.
2. If you get offer(s) from program(s)/field(s) you're unhappy with, you should reject all of the offers except for the one you might take. Then, you wait until near the end of the round to see if you get calls from other programs with offers rejected who tell you "you will be getting a 2nd round offer". Then, you could consider rejecting your last 1st round offer to take the (presumed) 2nd round offer.
3. If you get no offers, then you hope for offers in future rounds. In the past, the vast majority of spots were taken by end of round 3.
us senior md - this is a throw away account, obviously
5 categorical IM calls
2 radiology calls
1 prelim surgery
I applied to rads, IM, anesthesia, and categorical gen surg mostly
The questions I've been asked are mainly just about who I am. Haven't been asked why I didn't match once. I applied originally to a competitive surgical subspecialty. Be prepared to give a brief life history and how you got to where you are now.
*edited to change # of IM programs
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