SOAP 2019 Thread

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A little bit of an odd situation I found myself in hoping someone could shed some light/opinions on regarding the SOAP rules. Lets say a program contacted you about position openings in the SOAP right now via email after you contacted them about open positions in the AOA match? Would it be appropriate to reach back out to them even though this whole system is on hold or would that be violating the SOAP agreement?

Can't say for sure, but the rules state that if a program reaches out to you, you can contact them. I don't think you'd be penalized for calling them.

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what should we do if we could not even submit 25 today? submit tomorrow morning when it opens up or wait for 2nd and 3rd round? Also, if the programs cannot see the applications yet, doesn't it mean that whatever we submit tomorrow morning will go through after the intial list?
 
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by the way, if you are partially matched, you may call NRMP to find out where you matched
 
by the way, if you are partially matched, you may call NRMP to find out where you matched
They can tell you the city into which you have partially matched if you call them. They do not tell you the program.
 
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Can't say for sure, but the rules state that if a program reaches out to you, you can contact them. I don't think you'd be penalized for calling them.
If a program has contacted an applicant today, they are in violation of Match rules. Programs in the SOAP may not contact candidates prior to the beginning of Round 1.
 
what should we do if we could not even submit 25 today? submit tomorrow morning when it opens up or wait for 2nd and 3rd round? Also, if the programs cannot see the applications yet, doesn't it mean that whatever we submit tomorrow morning will go through after the intial list?
You can submit the rest of them as soon as they open up. My advice is to be prepared to add up to the total (45) as soon as the system is open. The first round is the best chance of a match.
 
If a program has contacted an applicant today, they are in violation of Match rules. Programs in the SOAP may not contact candidates prior to the beginning of Round 1.

Fair enough, didn't realize round 1 hadn't started yet. I'm guessing this is due to the computer SNAFU at ERAS today?
 
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Fair enough, didn't realize round 1 hadn't started yet. I'm guessing this is due to the computer SNAFU at ERAS today?
That is correct. The combined forces of NRMP and ERAS, once again, seem to have under-prepared for the single day when bandwidth is crucial. They even managed to crash AMCAS today!
Edit: I am told that they purposely closed AMCAS to provide more bandwidth to ERAS...
 
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With all the technical difficulties with ERAS I wonder if they’ll be changing the SOAP schedule since we’ve essentially lost one day of possible interviews
 
I guess the start time tomorrow is still unknown according to their last email. I was just gonna ask if anyone thought we would be getting a revised SOAP schedule.
 
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That is correct. The combined forces of NRMP and ERAS, once again, seems to have under-prepared for the single day when bandwidth is crucial. They even managed to crash AMCAS today!

I feel like there have been issues every year since they started but this has to be the worst yet. Wonder what they spend all that sweet applicant cash on. Maybe they throw raging parties with the ABIM and split it 50/50 with the money acquired via our annual nongovernmental tax (ie MOC).
 
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If anyone has any questions about SOAP, especially if you matched an advanced position, but not your prelim please feel free to reach out to me. I matched Rads last year but had to SOAP into my prelim year. Also remember that this is not the end of your career if you didn’t match, there are other options. Good luck in SOAP everyone!
 
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I just want to go ahead and type this for you guys who are feeling bad and just don't know what to do. I was in your same situation last match and I would dare say worse than most of you, the Sunday before we were to find out if we matched or not my fiancee called the wedding off, that following Tuesday my boss (I was working research) informed me funding had dried up and I would be out of the job by April. That afternoon I got home and was informed that we had to move out of the house I was renting. Fortunately enough, or so I thought I got 1 phone call for SOAP, which the program decided I wasn't the best fit (can't blame them in all honesty). Needless to say, my life was a wreck. So I just started applying to research jobs everywhere and I got a job offer and just basically worked and worked and worked. And today I MATCHED, don't know where but I only need this one opportunity to get to where I want to be.
Anyway, not to make this any longer. Go through the motions, get SOAP sorted out. If you don't match, to hell with it. Build up your resume, make contacts and just plain kick everyone that stands in your way.

Big congrats to you!! Thank you for posting on this thread. You have inspired me to post my story as well.
 
I am writing this to let all of you know that I have been in your shoes before. Here is something that I posted on Facebook a few days after this years Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship Match Day. It wasn't written for a physician audience; so some of the explanation may seem a little pedantic.

Below is a catalogue of all of the failures/wrong turns/setbacks I have experienced during my journey to become a fully sub-specialty trained physician. I have purposefully left out most of the things that came easily (except for where they provide context to the larger narrative) or for which I was recognized. I am writing this now because as of today, no matter what else happens, I will be a sports medicine doctor. So I guess sharing my disaster history can no longer stifle my aspirations haha.

Of course I hope that if you happen to come across this post, you read it. And if you know someone who seems to always be struggling to achieve what he or she has tried so hard for, that maybe you consider sharing this post with him or her.

Be prepared though…I like parentheses (like a lot). Also, I wrote this in one draft. So excuse the grammar. Enjoy.

Nothing in my journey to become a doctor has gone smoothly.

I was a terrible student until I broke my leg at the very beginning of my last semester of my senior year of college. Because of this I didn’t do very well on my first attempt at taking the MCAT. I did just well enough the second time to be able to get into a graduate level biomedical sciences 1-year certificate program at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine – Georgia Campus. This was a program that as long as you maintained a 3.0 GPA would guarantee you an interview for the Osteopathic Medicine program. Fortunately, I made straight-A’s throughout the entire year and was accepted into the D.O. program for the class of 2014. Prior to learning about my acceptance however, I was rejected by every single other medical school I applied to.

I did very well during my first year of medical school with a GPA of 89%. As a result I was invited to apply to join the Sigma Sigma Phi Osteopathic honor’s society. I was rejected. The next year I applied again and was accepted. Towards the end of my second year of medical school I had developed a deep interest in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) and decided to apply for a position as an undergraduate teaching fellow (this position puts a medical student in the OMM lab assisting the professors in teaching 1st and 2nd year medical students for one half of the 3rd and 4th years of medical school, which results in extending medical school to 5 years, but with the last year being paid for by medical student’s work in the lab). Of the four of us that applied, two were selected. I was not one of the two.

At the beginning of my 4th year of medical school I changed my residency interest from Neuromuscular Medicine (an exclusively Osteopathic specialty focusing on Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, distinct from the Neurology subspecialty of ‘Neuromuscular Medicine’) to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. (PM&R). While I knew that it was a little late to be changing specialties (given that most students use the summer at the beginning of 4th year to write personal statements and set up audition rotations at programs they are interested in applying to), I was confident that with my above average board scores and high grades would get me enough interviews to match. I was wrong. I was offered only one interview outright. I did end up going on 13 interviews by the end of the season, which I secured by repeatedly emailing and calling programs for spots that may have opened up.

I should note here that I decided to apply to ACGME programs instead of AOA programs. ACGME refers to the American College of Graduate Medical Education and is the body that approves and reviews allopathic (“M.D.”) residencies and fellowships. AOA refers to the American Osteopathic Association and is the body that approves and reviews Osteopathic (“D.O.”) residencies and fellowships. You will see why this information is important in a minute.

I found out on March 17th 2014 that I matched to neither internship (the first year of residency after medical school, which for some specialties is done at a separate institution from where a resident will complete his or her specialty training) nor PM&R residency. At this point I entered the scramble (3 days of torture during which unfilled residency programs can pick and choose which unmatched residents they might like to take into their programs). There were no PM&R spots left. From Wednesday to Friday I sat by the phone waiting for a call. I did receive one from a combined Internal Medicine-Psychiatry program somewhere in rural Virginia. I think the program director could probably tell by the tone of my voice and essentially absent selective experience in psychiatry (outside of the mandatory 1-month rotation I did during my 3rd year) that the interest I attempted to show during our conversation was not genuine. I did not receive an offer for a residency position with his program.

When the ACGME scramble ended, I was officially allowed to start looking into Osteopathic programs. There was one program that still had an unfilled PM&R position. I sent an email to the program director, who responded an hour or so later telling me that he was still reviewing applications and that he would get back to me soon. Instead of just waiting while I assumed several other aspiring PM&R physicians were also trying to get into this spot, I decided to fly to the city the program was in (I am purposefully leaving out the specific program information) and meet the program director in person. I left that night, got a hotel near the hospital, and went in my interview attire to his office first thing the next morning. When I got there his secretary informed me that he did not see patients at that location on the day of the week I arrived. She called his cell to tell him that I was there. He told her that he might be able to meet me after his morning clinic, which was about 30 minutes north of where I was. She passed my cell phone number on to him and told me that he would give me a call when he finished clinic. I waited about halfway between the clinic I visited and the area where his other clinic was from about 10am until 4pm, at which time I had to go back to the airport to catch my flight home. He never called or emailed me again.

The following week I received an email from the NBOME (National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners) that I had failed the Physical Examination (PE) portion of the Level-2 of the Osteopathic Medical Licensing EXAM (COMLEX). This meant that unless I could retake and pass this exam prior to graduation at the end of May that I would technically not be able to graduate (although the director of clinical education assured me that I would be able to walk for graduation, given my otherwise excellent academic performance). The problem with the timeframe was that the PE is a series of standardized patient (an actor who plays the role of a patient) encounters, each of which must be reviewed by a physician. This process could take up to 8 weeks given that at the time I took this exam every single Osteopathic medical student had to take this test at a single testing location outside of Philadelphia. An additional problem with the PE failure hanging over my head was that it was a HUGE red flag to any internship/residency program director.

About another week later I started calling every Osteopathic internship in the country that hadn’t filled. My goal at this point was to just get into an internship and try for PM&R again the next year. Out of the 10 or programs I called, I received one callback from a small community hospital-based program located in Riverhead New York called Peconic Bay Medical Center. While the program director was hesitant to offer me the position given my recent PE failure, she said that she would speak with the Director of Medical Education (DME) for the hospital to see if he would be willing to take a chance on me. Thankfully he was. I was informed however, that should I fail the PE again, I would immediately lose my internship position because it would be impossible for me to take it a 3rd time and receive a passing score prior to the start of the internship on July 1st. I found out that I passed the PE on my second try about 2 weeks before my internship started.
I was able to match into PM&R at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital for the class of 2019. During my residency I realized that I wanted to pursue subspecialty training in sports medicine. I thought that my background as a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete in addition to my setting up medical coverage for an internationally known CrossFit competition and independently initiating a BJJ injury epidemiology study would make me a unique and competitive applicant for a fellowship position. Unfortunately, by the end of interview season I had only been invited to 5 interviews. Still though, all of the interviews seem to have gone well and I was told by multiple faculty members that I was “an excellent candidate”. At 12 PM on January 2nd I received the now familiar National Resident Match Program (NRMP) email with the title “DO NOT REPLY” (instead of “CONGRATULATIONS”) with the first line of the email reading “You have not matched to any position.”

A few minutes later the NRMP website posted a list of 10 sports medicine programs that went unfilled. Each program had one spot to fill. I went through the list and eliminated 6 that did not accept PM&R applicants and sent emails to the other 4 programs. I received an email back from a program in Dayton Ohio affiliated with Kettering Health. The program director wrote that he was impressed by my CV and told me to give him a call. We spoke briefly and he told me that he would like me to come up for an interview in person. He strongly recommended coming as soon as possible because he was still considering a few other candidates. I told him that I could be there by Friday. As soon as I got off the phone I booked my ticket to Dayton leaving the next night. The first leg of my trip to Dayton, flying into Charlotte, was delayed 40 minutes. By the time we landed in Charlotte at around 10:20 PM my connecting flight to Dayton had already left. There were no later flights; so I was rebooked for the next morning at 8:10 AM. I sent the program director a carefully worded apology email stating that I wouldn’t be able to get to the interview until around 10:30 AM. I met with the two current sports medicine fellows in the morning and then met with the program director and my potential co-fellow next year in the afternoon. When the interview concluded, the program director told me that he would speak with the current fellows and get back to me by that afternoon or the next day. They had to decide between me and another applicant that they had interviewed the day before. About 5 minutes after I got in my car I received a call from the program director offering me the sports medicine fellowship spot.

Never give up.


195
 
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I am writing this to let all of you know that I have been in your shoes before. Here is something that I posted on Facebook a few days after this years Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship Match Day. It wasn't written for a physician audience; so some of the explanation may seem a little pedantic.

Below is a catalogue of all of the failures/wrong turns/setbacks I have experienced during my journey to become a fully sub-specialty trained physician. I have purposefully left out most of the things that came easily (except for where they provide context to the larger narrative) or for which I was recognized. I am writing this now because as of today, no matter what else happens, I will be a sports medicine doctor. So I guess sharing my disaster history can no longer stifle my aspirations haha.

Of course I hope that if you happen to come across this post, you read it. And if you know someone who seems to always be struggling to achieve what he or she has tried so hard for, that maybe you consider sharing this post with him or her.

Be prepared though…I like parentheses (like a lot). Also, I wrote this in one draft. So excuse the grammar. Enjoy.

Nothing in my journey to become a doctor has gone smoothly.

I was a terrible student until I broke my leg at the very beginning of my last semester of my senior year of college. Because of this I didn’t do very well on my first attempt at taking the MCAT. I did just well enough the second time to be able to get into a graduate level biomedical sciences 1-year certificate program at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine – Georgia Campus. This was a program that as long as you maintained a 3.0 GPA would guarantee you an interview for the Osteopathic Medicine program. Fortunately, I made straight-A’s throughout the entire year and was accepted into the D.O. program for the class of 2014. Prior to learning about my acceptance however, I was rejected by every single other medical school I applied to.

I did very well during my first year of medical school with a GPA of 89%. As a result I was invited to apply to join the Sigma Sigma Phi Osteopathic honor’s society. I was rejected. The next year I applied again and was accepted. Towards the end of my second year of medical school I had developed a deep interest in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) and decided to apply for a position as an undergraduate teaching fellow (this position puts a medical student in the OMM lab assisting the professors in teaching 1st and 2nd year medical students for one half of the 3rd and 4th years of medical school, which results in extending medical school to 5 years, but with the last year being paid for by medical student’s work in the lab). Of the four of us that applied, two were selected. I was not one of the two.

At the beginning of my 4th year of medical school I changed my residency interest from Neuromuscular Medicine (an exclusively Osteopathic specialty focusing on Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, distinct from the Neurology subspecialty of ‘Neuromuscular Medicine’) to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. (PM&R). While I knew that it was a little late to be changing specialties (given that most students use the summer at the beginning of 4th year to write personal statements and set up audition rotations at programs they are interested in applying to), I was confident that with my above average board scores and high grades would get me enough interviews to match. I was wrong. I was offered only one interview outright. I did end up going on 13 interviews by the end of the season, which I secured by repeatedly emailing and calling programs for spots that may have opened up.

I should note here that I decided to apply to ACGME programs instead of AOA programs. ACGME refers to the American College of Graduate Medical Education and is the body that approves and reviews allopathic (“M.D.”) residencies and fellowships. AOA refers to the American Osteopathic Association and is the body that approves and reviews Osteopathic (“D.O.”) residencies and fellowships. You will see why this information is important in a minute.

I found out on March 17th 2014 that I matched to neither internship (the first year of residency after medical school, which for some specialties is done at a separate institution from where a resident will complete his or her specialty training) nor PM&R residency. At this point I entered the scramble (3 days of torture during which unfilled residency programs can pick and choose which unmatched residents they might like to take into their programs). There were no PM&R spots left. From Wednesday to Friday I sat by the phone waiting for a call. I did receive one from a combined Internal Medicine-Psychiatry program somewhere in rural Virginia. I think the program director could probably tell by the tone of my voice and essentially absent selective experience in psychiatry (outside of the mandatory 1-month rotation I did during my 3rd year) that the interest I attempted to show during our conversation was not genuine. I did not receive an offer for a residency position with his program.

When the ACGME scramble ended, I was officially allowed to start looking into Osteopathic programs. There was one program that still had an unfilled PM&R position. I sent an email to the program director, who responded an hour or so later telling me that he was still reviewing applications and that he would get back to me soon. Instead of just waiting while I assumed several other aspiring PM&R physicians were also trying to get into this spot, I decided to fly to the city the program was in (I am purposefully leaving out the specific program information) and meet the program director in person. I left that night, got a hotel near the hospital, and went in my interview attire to his office first thing the next morning. When I got there his secretary informed me that he did not see patients at that location on the day of the week I arrived. She called his cell to tell him that I was there. He told her that he might be able to meet me after his morning clinic, which was about 30 minutes north of where I was. She passed my cell phone number on to him and told me that he would give me a call when he finished clinic. I waited about halfway between the clinic I visited and the area where his other clinic was from about 10am until 4pm, at which time I had to go back to the airport to catch my flight home. He never called or emailed me again.

The following week I received an email from the NBOME (National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners) that I had failed the Physical Examination (PE) portion of the Level-2 of the Osteopathic Medical Licensing EXAM (COMLEX). This meant that unless I could retake and pass this exam prior to graduation at the end of May that I would technically not be able to graduate (although the director of clinical education assured me that I would be able to walk for graduation, given my otherwise excellent academic performance). The problem with the timeframe was that the PE is a series of standardized patient (an actor who plays the role of a patient) encounters, each of which must be reviewed by a physician. This process could take up to 8 weeks given that at the time I took this exam every single Osteopathic medical student had to take this test at a single testing location outside of Philadelphia. An additional problem with the PE failure hanging over my head was that it was a HUGE red flag to any internship/residency program director.

About another week later I started calling every Osteopathic internship in the country that hadn’t filled. My goal at this point was to just get into an internship and try for PM&R again the next year. Out of the 10 or programs I called, I received one callback from a small community hospital-based program located in Riverhead New York called Peconic Bay Medical Center. While the program director was hesitant to offer me the position given my recent PE failure, she said that she would speak with the Director of Medical Education (DME) for the hospital to see if he would be willing to take a chance on me. Thankfully he was. I was informed however, that should I fail the PE again, I would immediately lose my internship position because it would be impossible for me to take it a 3rd time and receive a passing score prior to the start of the internship on July 1st. I found out that I passed the PE on my second try about 2 weeks before my internship started.
I was able to match into PM&R at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital for the class of 2019. During my residency I realized that I wanted to pursue subspecialty training in sports medicine. I thought that my background as a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu athlete in addition to my setting up medical coverage for an internationally known CrossFit competition and independently initiating a BJJ injury epidemiology study would make me a unique and competitive applicant for a fellowship position. Unfortunately, by the end of interview season I had only been invited to 5 interviews. Still though, all of the interviews seem to have gone well and I was told by multiple faculty members that I was “an excellent candidate”. At 12 PM on January 2nd I received the now familiar National Resident Match Program (NRMP) email with the title “DO NOT REPLY” (instead of “CONGRATULATIONS”) with the first line of the email reading “You have not matched to any position.”

A few minutes later the NRMP website posted a list of 10 sports medicine programs that went unfilled. Each program had one spot to fill. I went through the list and eliminated 6 that did not accept PM&R applicants and sent emails to the other 4 programs. I received an email back from a program in Dayton Ohio affiliated with Kettering Health. The program director wrote that he was impressed by my CV and told me to give him a call. We spoke briefly and he told me that he would like me to come up for an interview in person. He strongly recommended coming as soon as possible because he was still considering a few other candidates. I told him that I could be there by Friday. As soon as I got off the phone I booked my ticket to Dayton leaving the next night. The first leg of my trip to Dayton, flying into Charlotte, was delayed 40 minutes. By the time we landed in Charlotte at around 10:20 PM my connecting flight to Dayton had already left. There were no later flights; so I was rebooked for the next morning at 8:10 AM. I sent the program director a carefully worded apology email stating that I wouldn’t be able to get to the interview until around 10:30 AM. I met with the two current sports medicine fellows in the morning and then met with the program director and my potential co-fellow next year in the afternoon. When the interview concluded, the program director told me that he would speak with the current fellows and get back to me by that afternoon or the next day. They had to decide between me and another applicant that they had interviewed the day before. About 5 minutes after I got in my car I received a call from the program director offering me the sports medicine fellowship spot.

Never give up.


195

Such a beautiful story! Thank you so much
 
Trying to get this horrible day to end but it just won’t...
 
Your school should absolutely excuse you from this event. If they don't that's messed up.

But don't worry about Skyping in OMM garb, just explain why to the interviewer and they'll understand. They know this is an inconvenience and stressful thing for everyone.

^^^ According to your signature, at the very least I have 2% of what it takes to be successful. :)
 
According to @ERASinfo Twitter feed as of 1 am Tuesday there is no solution yet and no time announced for the SOAP process to resume tomorrow. SOAPers are to assume no program has seen their applications yet as they work on fixing things to be fair to all. The originally planned deadlines will be extended. Check Twitter and your emails, do not contact programs.
 
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I'm hoping someone can clarify this for me, as I received little direction from my school and hope I didn't make a fatal mistake with this process. Before the website crashed yesterday I submitted all 45 of my applications. I was under the impression that even if you submit all of them now, you will still be considered during rounds 2 and 3 of the SOAP. Is this not the case? If I receive no acceptances during round 1, am I finished? Or is there possibility of further interviews and acceptances for rounds 2/3? I had not heard of "saving" applications for later rounds as mentioned above and don't really know how this works.

Thanks all.
 
I'm hoping someone can clarify this for me, as I received little direction from my school and hope I didn't make a fatal mistake with this process. Before the website crashed yesterday I submitted all 45 of my applications. I was under the impression that even if you submit all of them now, you will still be considered during rounds 2 and 3 of the SOAP. Is this not the case? If I receive no acceptances during round 1, am I finished? Or is there possibility of further interviews and acceptances for rounds 2/3? I had not heard of "saving" applications for later rounds as mentioned above and don't really know how this works.

Thanks all.

I did the same.

I cant imagine there would be a strategy for that that would work. You would have to be a day trader on Wall Street to be good at that.

Maybe the application stays and depending on how the program ranks you will lead to an offer in 2nd/3rd round.
 
I think if you save for later rounds there is a chance that the programs will see your application a little more seriously versus when they have a bunch of 'qualified' people(1000->200->100, etc), versus if you submit right now there is the chance that the programs will hold onto the initial batch od applications that they got simply because there is no time to read additional applications or to do additional interviews.
 
I'm hoping someone can clarify this for me, as I received little direction from my school and hope I didn't make a fatal mistake with this process. Before the website crashed yesterday I submitted all 45 of my applications. I was under the impression that even if you submit all of them now, you will still be considered during rounds 2 and 3 of the SOAP. Is this not the case? If I receive no acceptances during round 1, am I finished? Or is there possibility of further interviews and acceptances for rounds 2/3? I had not heard of "saving" applications for later rounds as mentioned above and don't really know how this works.

Thanks all.
Because of the way the ERAS system froze up yesterday and was then put on hold, there has not really been a "round one" yet. I guess what ERAS is saying is, no matter what you submitted or thought you submitted yesterday, log back in and make sure it went through. I hope this doesn't cause the system to crash again today!

The latest tweet from ERAS says the system will open up to applicants at 9am ET and to program directors at noon ET.
 
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Wouldn't the ERAS funds for just one or two applicants in a year pay for a good enough server?

Have to check my apps now. Make sure you guys have all your documents sent too.
 
I'm hoping someone can clarify this for me, as I received little direction from my school and hope I didn't make a fatal mistake with this process. Before the website crashed yesterday I submitted all 45 of my applications. I was under the impression that even if you submit all of them now, you will still be considered during rounds 2 and 3 of the SOAP. Is this not the case? If I receive no acceptances during round 1, am I finished? Or is there possibility of further interviews and acceptances for rounds 2/3? I had not heard of "saving" applications for later rounds as mentioned above and don't really know how this works.

Thanks all.
You did fine. Some people argue for "saving a few" apps for later rounds, others argue for spending them all immediately. Personally what you did makes the most sense to me, but at a very minimum you made as rational a decision as possible.
 
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You did fine. Some people argue for "saving a few" apps for later rounds, others argue for spending them all immediately. Personally what you did makes the most sense to me, but at a very minimum you made as rational a decision as possible.
I guess my remaining question is, if I only get a couple of offers in round 1 is there still a chance of offers in the subsequent rounds? Or did I "spend" all my apps on round 1 and it's that or the scramble? I just don't know if I should pounce on the first thing that pops up in round 1.
 
so if you apply round 1 and are seen as a weak candidate and are rejected by a program, you are no longer under consideration for rounds 2 and 3?

whereas if you took a chance and applied in a later round, where there are surely fewer apps, you could have been ranked by that same program if they felt more desperate at that time? is that correct? had i known that i would have done this differently :/
 
so if you apply round 1 and are seen as a weak candidate and are rejected by a program, you are no longer under consideration for rounds 2 and 3?

whereas if you took a chance and applied in a later round, where there are surely fewer apps, you could have been ranked by that same program if they felt more desperate at that time? is that correct? had i known that i would have done this differently :/

this is a very stressful process and it is easy to question yourself but my 2 cents - you made the right decision. i don't think programs are ever desperate because there's a lot more applicants than spots. throwing your hat in the ring early gave you the best chance for exposure. you did your due diligence, keep that phone ready, and in the meanwhile try to do something that gives your mind some much deserved rest.
 
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I guess my remaining question is, if I only get a couple of offers in round 1 is there still a chance of offers in the subsequent rounds? Or did I "spend" all my apps on round 1 and it's that or the scramble? I just don't know if I should pounce on the first thing that pops up in round 1.
You should definitely pounce on the first thing that pops up in round 1. You could get more offers in rounds 2 or 3, but there are no guarantees and the chance of matching goes down the further into the process you go. Once you're in the SOAP you should either be happy with any spot at all, or actively decide that you're going to take a year to re-apply to a new specialty.
so if you apply round 1 and are seen as a weak candidate and are rejected by a program, you are no longer under consideration for rounds 2 and 3?

whereas if you took a chance and applied in a later round, where there are surely fewer apps, you could have been ranked by that same program if they felt more desperate at that time? is that correct? had i known that i would have done this differently :/
Programs do not "reject" applicants in the SOAP, they simply decide who they want to spend time interviewing, and later who to extend offers to. If a program fails to get their first choices in round 1, they will presumably look further down their list in determining who to consider to "interview" in round 2, and again in round 3, etc.
 
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You should definitely pounce on the first thing that pops up in round 1. You could get more offers in rounds 2 or 3, but there are no guarantees and the chance of matching goes down the further into the process you go. Once you're in the SOAP you should either be happy with any spot at all, or actively decide that you're going to take a year to re-apply to a new specialty.
The problem here is I applied 50/50 for neurology and FM in the SOAP. Truth be told I'd much much rather do neuro, and I know that I'm more likely to get FM offers earlier on in SOAP but I'd almost rather wait 3 rounds for neuro and if nothing comes then take any FM I get in round 3 or try for a TY or FM in the scramble. That's my thinking, at least. Maybe it's erroneous. I'm fortunate enough to have a neuro LOR so I hope that helps, but I'm also a DO with no USMLE and low COMLEX scores.


@Ibn Alnafis MD do you have any words of wisdom for me here?
 
I guess my remaining question is, if I only get a couple of offers in round 1 is there still a chance of offers in the subsequent rounds? Or did I "spend" all my apps on round 1 and it's that or the scramble? I just don't know if I should pounce on the first thing that pops up in round 1.

Definitely take the first offer (or something from the first round anyway). That’s the best program you’ll get, and it may be the only one you get.

To decline to accept an offer in SOAP in the hopes something better would come along would be a horrendous mistake.
 
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The problem here is I applied 50/50 for neurology and FM in the SOAP. Truth be told I'd much much rather do neuro, and I know that I'm more likely to get FM offers earlier on in SOAP but I'd almost rather wait 3 rounds for neuro and if nothing comes then take any FM I get in round 3 or try for a TY or FM in the scramble. That's my thinking, at least. Maybe it's erroneous. I'm fortunate enough to have a neuro LOR so I hope that helps, but I'm also a DO with no USMLE and low COMLEX scores.


@Ibn Alnafis MD do you have any words of wisdom for me here?
Yeah I don't know what to tell you. You are correct that you are more likely to get FM offers in round 1, and while you may want neuro there are certainly worse outcomes than practicing a different specialty than you'd hoped for. Having not gone through the process myself, my understanding is that after a round or two, most non-prelim spots have pretty much dried up, so there may not BE any neuro spots available in round 2 or 3.

If you can be happy doing FM for the rest of your life, then take the first offer you get. If you can't and you truly would rather reapply to neuro next year (AND you have a reason to think you can improve your app appreciably between now and then), then withdraw any FM apps you sent, hope for the best on neuro in the SOAP but be prepared to reapply.

Personally I don't see how you turn down an offer through the SOAP at this point. But it's your call.
 
Definitely take the first offer (or something from the first round anyway). That’s the best program you’ll get, and it may be the only one you get.

To decline to accept an offer in SOAP in the hopes something better would come along would be a horrendous mistake.
Much appreciated. I'm really torn man, this is never a spot I thought I would find myself in. I just don't know how happy I'd be in FM. My hopes are that I like neuro as much as I remember but I don't know that either.
 
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The problem here is I applied 50/50 for neurology and FM in the SOAP. Truth be told I'd much much rather do neuro, and I know that I'm more likely to get FM offers earlier on in SOAP but I'd almost rather wait 3 rounds for neuro and if nothing comes then take any FM I get in round 3 or try for a TY or FM in the scramble. That's my thinking, at least. Maybe it's erroneous. I'm fortunate enough to have a neuro LOR so I hope that helps, but I'm also a DO with no USMLE and low COMLEX scores.


@Ibn Alnafis MD do you have any words of wisdom for me here?
Hey man, sorry for what you’re going through.

I wish that, with a good conscience, tell you what you want to hear. However, the competition on the post-match neuro spots is high. I know this because last year, a classmate with 250s on both steps failed to match his top choice specialty and tried to soap into one of the post-match neuro spots. He wasn’t successful and had to wait a whole year to reapply. If you get an FM offer you should definitely go for it. A bird in hand, man. Later you could try to switch. Neuro PGY2 spots become randomly available all the time. This year, Cedar Sinai had one, so there’s always the opportunity to switch if you keep on the lookout.

Best wishes
 
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Hey man, sorry for what you’re going through.

I wish that, with a good conscience, tell you what you want to hear. However, the competition on the post-match neuro spots is high. I know this because last year, a classmate with 250s on both steps failed to match his top choice specialty and tried to soap into one of the post-match neuro spots. He wasn’t successful and had to wait a whole year to reapply. If you get an FM offer you should definitely go for it. A bird in hand, man. Later you could try to switch. Neuro PGY2 spots become randomly available all the time. This year, Cedar Sinai had one, so there’s always the opportunity to switch if you keep on the lookout.

Best wishes
Fair enough. I greatly appreciate the advice.
 
Good luck everyone this afternoon! I'm wondering when we are gonna hear about any updated times or if everything will stay the same from this point on.
 
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Much appreciated. I'm really torn man, this is never a spot I thought I would find myself in. I just don't know how happy I'd be in FM. My hopes are that I like neuro as much as I remember but I don't know that either.

You’re from Utah, right?

If so, after SOAP, come hang out with me and I’ll show you how awesome Family Med really is. That is, assuming you get a family Med spot.

But trust me, as someone who’s been through this, and who’s been watching the SOAP process unfold during the past 3 years you don’t want to leave round one with nothing. So if you get an offer, take it. Hopefully you’ll have more than one, and you can choose the best one. But don’t leave anything on the table, ever.

I understand that some people have a love for Neuro and other specialties, but knowing what I know now, I don’t see how I could ever be happy with a scope of practice that narrow.
 
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According to NRMP programs will start accessing the applications by 11:30 am today.
 
Yesterday I was able to at least log into Eras. Today, I am not able to do so at all! I don't even remember which programs I applied to. I was so nervous about getting them all in yesterday due to the crash, that I didn't have time to note them all down. I guess it's not the worst thing since I submitted all 45 yesterday... but still.

Does anyone have any advice on how to do well on these phone-call interviews? I am so hoping I'll get at least a few interviews!

I am terrified and did not expect this at all. I had a program call me while the rank list was open, saying they thought I was a highly valued candidate and they look forward to working with me... however it turns out I didn't match with them at all and they had 6 unfilled slots. I was devastated that they chose not to even rank me after falsely giving me the impression that they wanted me. I honestly didn't rank them high, but I was hoping they would be my fallback.

I am applying to FM and am a DO with average-to-low COMLEX scores. I don't know how I will fare among other applicants, especially since they hardly have time to review everyone's applications now! I'm at such a loss.
 
I guess my remaining question is, if I only get a couple of offers in round 1 is there still a chance of offers in the subsequent rounds? Or did I "spend" all my apps on round 1 and it's that or the scramble? I just don't know if I should pounce on the first thing that pops up in round 1.
If a program you applied to doesn't offer you anything in the first round and still has positions available in the 2nd round it can offer you those positions. If they fill though and you don't have any apps left thats it you can't apply to any others until after soap.
 
This might be a neurotic question, but did anyone request a new copy of there transcript? The one we used initially should be fine right?
 
This might be a neurotic question, but did anyone request a new copy of there transcript? The one we used initially should be fine right?

Yes, I believe so.

And I think we are allowed to be a little neurotic during this time.

Good luck!!!
 
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There's an updated SOAP schedule on the aamc website - looks like round 1 is tomorrow from 12-2, round 2: 3-5 and round 3: on Thurs. from 9-11am.
 
eras is closed until further notice to all programs.
 
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