SOAP 2017 Thread

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SOAPyikes said:
Because I received an email from ERAS regarding initiation of contact
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mine said "Attention IMGs participating in NRMP’s SOAP: Initiating contact with programs during SOAP is in violation of SOAP policy! If it’s confirmed that you violated SOAP policy, the NRMP is authorized to levy sanctions. This means that you could be barred from participating in SOAP during next year’s Match! Follow #SOAP2017 on Facebook and Twitter for the latest information from NRMP. " the title said initiating contact ..." i think its there to scare us
 
do most programs have multiple ppl call for soap interview or is it just 1 person usually.. mine was just 1 but he told me i would be high on his list so now im confused
 
SOAPyikes said:
I thought we could email the person that interviewed us?
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You absolutely can (and should). You just can't initiate contact, meaning you cannot contact a program that hasn't contacted you first. Once you got a call or email, you can communicate with that program all you like.
 
radsdreaming said:
do most programs have multiple ppl call for soap interview or is it just 1 person usually.. mine was just 1 but he told me i would be high on his list so now im confused
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It's probably very program specific. I would just take what you were told and hope for something from that place tomorrow.

It is a bit strange though, there aren't "lists" in SOAP the way there are in the main match. Just offers. If you aren't their 1st choice there's a better chance you won't get the offer
 
IM2GI said:
The correct answer to this question is: If you offer me the spot, I promise you I will enthusiastically accept it.

They don't want to get snubbed again.

(but don't lie if thats not true)
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Some programs will lie too. My friend said at the end of an interview the PD said "Look for our offer in the first round" and he ended up getting nothing in the entire 5 rounds. Most should be truthful though. One PD said "I'll be putting you on our very short list! Hope to talk to you tomorrow morning" (had 4-5 unfilled spots), and one PD responded to my email saying "Thanks! We sure will!" when I emailed saying they were my top choice and I hope they'll please consider me. I got both offers from them. None of the other programs said stuff like that
 
Is it a SOAP violation to contact programs that you interviewed with during the MATCH process (and are not participating in SOAP) to try and get some good feedback on what you could improve on and/or constructive criticism?
 
I just followed you guys advice and sent an email to the program I interviewed with, crossing my fingers and hoping for the best
 
Hey 🙂 I matched into an advanced program but not prelim. I am currently soaping for prelim surgery/IM/transitional. Still NO calls. Does anyone know what happens to my advanced position if I don't SOAP in any prelim program?
 
Been waiting all day for an interview, still nothing. Applied 50%/50% FM & IM in the most rural states. I'm willing to accept anything... I'll even be happy if Harvard accepts me as a janitor...But I don't have the scores for that Q_Q
 
Well I have had 0 calls or emails today. I feel pretty screwed. Anybody have good experiences matching after SOAP into a DO preliminary?

I feel broken down and have no idea what the next step could be. Doesn't help my post-graduate department isn't in today either...
 
AQ40 said:
Been waiting all day for an interview, still nothing. Applied 50%/50% FM & IM in the most rural states. I'm willing to accept anything... I'll even be happy if Harvard accepts me as a janitor...But I don't have the scores for that Q_Q
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ditto my friend ditto.. good luck
 
T.Y.A. said:
Hey 🙂 I matched into an advanced program but not prelim. I am currently soaping for prelim surgery/IM/transitional. Still NO calls. Does anyone know what happens to my advanced position if I don't SOAP in any prelim program?
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Usually the program you matched with will try to find an accommodation at their own hospital for you to do your prelim. If their are no positions and your unable to find a prelim year you will have to forfeit the position and re-apply for the match next year again. Hopefully, it wont come down to that. Rest assured, the advanced program you've matched with will try everything they can to set up your training. Otherwise they will end up with an empty spot. You should also try as much as you can to call every single place after the SOAP ends and literally take anything that is available should you go unmatched during these rounds. All the best, but keep that in mind without having an accredited 1 year spot lined up your advanced match will be voided.
 
After SOAP, if there are still spots unfilled... can we then call them / initiate contact to the programs that SOAP already?
 
does anything think SOAP stands for **** OUTTA ANY POSSIBILTIES (luck), cuz I'm starting to think so
 
Does anyone know how many spots are usually left after the SOAP? Like are we looking at hundreds of spots still available for the desperate or are the chances pretty unlikely then too? Those of us who haven't received any phone calls don't seem like we're very picky at this point where we went up...
 
starwarsfan123 said:
Usually the program you matched with will try to find an accommodation at their own hospital for you to do your prelim. If their are no positions and your unable to find a prelim year you will have to forfeit the position and re-apply for the match next year again. Hopefully, it wont come down to that. Rest assured, the advanced program you've matched with will try everything they can to set up your training. Otherwise they will end up with an empty spot. You should also try as much as you can to call every single place after the SOAP ends and literally take anything that is available should you go unmatched during these rounds. All the best, but keep that in mind without having an accredited 1 year spot lined up your advanced match will be voided.
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Thank you!! 🙂 I hope i won't need to forfeit my position. This is so stressful.
 
DrGabyZ said:
Yes I guess you're right, but for me today has been hell, SO still waiting for at least one call
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oh i know I'm right there with you, I'm losing it, i think some gym therapy might be helpful right now
 
cheer up guys! we got this *fingers crossed*
 

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Joining the thread, SOAP applied 44 prelim surgery programs, no contact - (US MD applied EM) - looks like I'm going to be residency-less at the end of this week. Nobody at my school anticipated this
 
EastCoastEMApplicant17 said:
Joining the thread, SOAP applied 44 prelim surgery programs, no contact - (US MD applied EM) - looks like I'm going to be residency-less at the end of this week. Nobody at my school anticipated this
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sorry to hear dude, hopefully you get something . I see that EM this year was lethal
 
ieatallthefood said:
Does anyone know how many spots are usually left after the SOAP? Like are we looking at hundreds of spots still available for the desperate or are the chances pretty unlikely then too? Those of us who haven't received any phone calls don't seem like we're very picky at this point where we went up...
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Post-SOAP spots have dwindled with every match since SOAP was instituted. Last year like 80-90% of spots were gone in the first round - you can go back to the previous thread to verify. Only a handful of spots were left for scramble, and most were dummy spots. The contact phones went to full voicemail inboxes and half of the programs were on auto-reply (or a steady stream of delayed replies for weeks after) all saying that the positions had been internally filled or more commonly that they decided not to fill the program at all. The attending that helped me make calls said it was one of the most painful experiences of their life. It's 4 hours of being on hold with multiple phones and being politely declined or redirected through peripheral contacts that never follow up.

This sounds pretty harsh, but it was harsh, and it was worse on me and everyone who supported me than SOAP. Hope is good, but there's a lot of false hope that floats around at this time, and it makes you crash harder and recover later than you otherwise would have. Know when you've dug deep enough and start finding other ways out of the hole, especially if this is your second SOAP.
 
EastCoastEMApplicant17 said:
Joining the thread, SOAP applied 44 prelim surgery programs, no contact - (US MD applied EM) - looks like I'm going to be residency-less at the end of this week. Nobody at my school anticipated this
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I saw lots of surg prelim unfilled. Assuming that you applied to EM, Im sure you have decent stats to begin with. How come they don't give you a call, and what kind of candidates are they gonna fill up their spots with? soap is so stressful
 
EastCoastEMApplicant17 said:
Joining the thread, SOAP applied 44 prelim surgery programs, no contact - (US MD applied EM) - looks like I'm going to be residency-less at the end of this week. Nobody at my school anticipated this
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Im starting to realize how useless and powerless schools are with the SOAP. Mine claimed I would get several interviews by last night. In reality its so unpredictable. I got zero too
 
randomcollusion said:
Post-SOAP spots have dwindled with every match since SOAP was instituted. Last year like 80-90% of spots were gone in the first round - you can go back to the previous thread to verify. Only a handful of spots were left for scramble, and most were dummy spots. The contact phones went to full voicemail inboxes and half of the programs were on auto-reply (or a steady stream of delayed replies for weeks after) all saying that the positions had been internally filled or more commonly that they decided not to fill the program at all. The attending that helped me make calls said it was one of the most painful experiences of their life. It's 4 hours of being on hold with multiple phones and being politely declined or redirected through peripheral contacts that never follow up.

This sounds pretty harsh, but it was harsh, and it was worse on me and everyone who supported me than SOAP. Hope is good, but there's a lot of false hope that floats around at this time, and it makes you crash harder and recover later than you otherwise would have. Know when you've dug deep enough and start finding other ways out of the hole, especially if this is your second SOAP.
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Well Missouri is nice this time of year. =P

Seriously though, why do residencies put people with decent stats through this? I feel like this is morally wrong on so many levels.
 
For a US-MD (let alone anyone really) to go unmatched is pretty frightening. What appears to be the big reason for this? Are people applying to enough programs? Are others over-reaching with specialties holding suboptimal scores? Not ranking all programs they interviewed at?
 
Must be nice for these DO's to have another option. This is it for us MDs
 
jkdoctor said:
As the match gets tighter and tighter every year I predict more and more pressure to go this route:

On Saturday, the AOA House of Delegates passed a resolution calling for the profession to advocate for federal legislation to allow U.S. medical school graduates to lay first claims on U.S. residency positions.

Members of the New York State Osteopathic Medical Society (NYSOMS), which submitted the resolution, believe that the nation’s residency positions should first be offered to graduates of U.S. medical schools before international medical graduates (IMGs) can secure them.

“There’s a collision between the numbers of graduates of U.S. medical schools and the limited number of residency positions currently in the U.S.,” says Robert B. Goldberg, DO, the dean of the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York. “Soon, those positions will be saturated before we count one internationally trained physician vying for one of the slots.”

Steven I. Sherman, DO, the president of NYSOMS, says he wrote the resolution because the numbers of medical students are increasing while U.S. residency positions have remained relatively stagnant.
http://thedo.osteopathic.org/2014/0...ng-residency-slots-us-med-school-grads-first/
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Then they should probably not open the 6 privately funded osteopathic schools who don't have access to adequate rotations in the next 2 years. Poor training, waters the degree down, and creates more of a bottleneck effect.
 
Haha. That's the second time today I've seen the cartoon burning house joke, I think first time was in 2016 soap thread?

I haven't cried yet but was certainly 'down' this morning. I guess I'm positive for a few reasons:

1) It's not over yet. Look at last years thread and you will see all the offers and interviews that occur b/t rounds 2&3 (tomorr nite). And that's just people who post it.

2) It is my first ERAS and I really enjoyed my 4 IVs. Especially because the faculty and residents made me even more interested in becoming a pathologist. I just didn't realize the depth of the field, and now I am even more excited to pursue it. Most importantly, I feel I get along with everyone and have confirmed it's a good fit for me.

3) Because of some time off I had to reorient to ERAS and thus could improve some areas of my application to hopefully get 8+ IVs next year.

4) Next year will cost less cause I will know to avoid almost every university program (I am just not strong enough)

5) Reapplying to the exact same programs 2 years in a row shows "perceived dedication to specialty" which is high up on programs willing to rank and IV. Well it will be my 3rd time since I applied to them now in soap 2nd time.

Ok, that last one was a stretch.....lol


I am hoping for program directors to make a couple strategy errors in our favor since this year is different. For one I need several superstars in the path soap. Not excellent candidates, superstars. An ortho or optho or something who last minute soaps path. Or candidates with rocket high board scores who were going for derm etc, as well as people who got like 10+ IVs and did not match especially if they ranked all 10+. Ideally, superstars getting 40 calls a day all from apath. This will result in half a dozen people ending up with a dozen offers each at noon.

This would result in more available soap rd 2 positions and the strongest several 6 or so ranks gone which is better for the remaining soapers as the soapers to positions ratio will be more favorable for remaining applicants.

In that scenario, every program will have wasted a round except for 6. Then in a panic, since there is only an hour or so between rd 1 & 2, they could misuse a second round. There are 5 bagels in path and if they are still bagels tomorrow night that is likely a problem. I mean a program that takes 4 a year and is currently soaping for 4 i.e. they are 0/4 filled. I am scared of stronger candidates and excellent canidates but a superstar will help me unless programs are careful not to waste rounds. You need to be certain of a high percentage of an offer being accepted in order to not waste rounds.

At this point though, it's just wishful thinking and over-strategizing. And most importantly out of my control.

BUT, if you look at last years soap thread you will see that miracles do happen even in round 3 so let's stay positive.
Hansman said:
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