Time Required for Residency Applications

[PeakedTWave]

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Besides preparing a personal statement and gathering LORs, how long did it take for you to apply for residency? Do programs have supplemental materials that are required in ERAS (like when applying to medical school)? I feel like those essays really piled up across schools. I feel like this could become a huge time sink if applying to 60-100 schools if this is still the case in residency applications.

 

[LyMed]

It took me about a day or two. Supplemental information depends on the program and can be found on their residency website.

 

[MSTP18]

It took me about a day or two. Supplemental information depends on the program and can be found on their residency website.

Wait, what? Supplemental info? What specialty?

 

[LyMed]

Ortho. Some require special statements or essays.

 

[MSTP18]

Ortho. Some require special statements or essays.

Thanks. Wasn’t aware ortho did that. I’m guessing the number of specialties without any supplemental info vastly outnumbers the ones who ask for it though or am I wrong? Guess I never asked that many people about it but I certainly didn’t do **** outside of ERAS.

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

Ent has required essay for every program
Many derm programs require supplemental
Most research track spots will require supplemental regardless of specialty

 

[MSTP18]

Ent has required essay for every program
Many derm programs require supplemental
Most research track spots will require supplemental regardless of specialty

Interesting. I don’t really count research track in this discussion because you’re applying for fellowship/post doc on top of residency.

 

[NickNaylor]

I forget the specific details, but it was much less time intensive compared to the medical school application process. I didn't have to complete any supplemental application materials, so the only real "time sink" was the personal statement. Everything else was pretty straightforward.

 

[differentiating]

Besides preparing a personal statement and gathering LORs, how long did it take for you to apply for residency? Do programs have supplemental materials that are required in ERAS (like when applying to medical school)? I feel like those essays really piled up across schools. I feel like this could become a huge time sink if applying to 60-100 schools if this is still the case in residency applications.

I agree that it was probably a few days - reorganizing my CV to fit what ERAS wanted and then triple-checking everything to ensure it was complete and error-free. The personal statement is really what takes up time. But it will depend on your specialty. Most people won’t be applying to 60-100 programs anyway.

 

[IMreshopeful]

Wtf. These specialties sound terrible to apply to

I just filled out an ERAS app and called it a day. There were a couple of programs which required four vs three letters and I made sure to look them up but that was it. None of this supplemental crap

 

[themoonman2]

Ent has required essay for every program

I was under the impression that they got rid of that this year, hence the large increase in ENT applicants.

 

[Oh_Gee]

I agree that it was probably a few days - reorganizing my CV to fit what ERAS wanted and then triple-checking everything to ensure it was complete and error-free. The personal statement is really what takes up time. But it will depend on your specialty. Most people won’t be applying to 60-100 programs anyway.

we have to upload a CV even though we're going to fill in all that stuff anyway on ERAS? reminds of when i was applying for minimum wage jobs

 

[PeakedTWave]

I agree that it was probably a few days - reorganizing my CV to fit what ERAS wanted and then triple-checking everything to ensure it was complete and error-free. The personal statement is really what takes up time. But it will depend on your specialty. Most people won’t be applying to 60-100 programs anyway.

This would be for an ortho application, where these types of numbers are common. I'm just concerned I will get to the week or whatever amount of time we have for filling out ERAS and realize that all of 75 programs require some unique essay.

 

[MSTP18]

This would be for an ortho application, where these types of numbers are common. I'm just concerned I will get to the week or whatever amount of time we have for filling out ERAS and realize that all of 75 programs require some unique essay.

I might be misremembering but I'm fairly certain ERAS opens up months before the date programs can start downloading apps. I was definitely filling stuff out on ERAS before 9/8/18. I think you are thinking of the fact that you can only actually officially submit ERAS up to 1 week prior to that date.

 

[mrbreakfast]

As everyone else said, for most specialties ERAS takes a few hours. You should spend a little more time on your program list.

The two time sinks are a) personal statement (probably a few hours for a few days) and b) if you have a lot of research, looking it all up and entering it can take another day+ by itself.

 

[differentiating]

we have to upload a CV even though we're going to fill in all that stuff anyway on ERAS? reminds of when i was applying for minimum wage jobs

No. You copy your CV information into ERAS.

This would be for an ortho application, where these types of numbers are common. I'm just concerned I will get to the week or whatever amount of time we have for filling out ERAS and realize that all of 75 programs require some unique essay.

Ah, didn’t realize you had a particular specialty in mind based on the OP. No idea how ortho works, since I never had any interest in it.

The above poster is right, though; you get access to ERAS well in advance of the application deadline. I registered for ERAS in July, and I think I’d put it off for a month beforehand as well.

 

[ortnakas]

I applied to almost 50 IM programs in the previous cycle and had zero unique essays.

 

[FutureEyeGuy]

I applied for ophthalmology this past cycle, it took a little longer than most other specialties because you have to submit both an SF Match application (for ophthalmology) and an ERAS application (for intern year). Once you have your letters and personal statement, I'd say it's probably about 10 hours worth of work to fill in the rest of your application + proofreading/edits.

 

[LookForZebras]

This is very person-dependent. Perfectionists with borderline stats who are really making an effort to "sell" themselves will probably take a longer time per application than an imperfectionist whose test scores and grades are remarkable. I'd say assume that it will be a time sink, and then be pleasantly surprised if it's not.