Submit ERAS on September 1st?

I would say submit your application on September first whenever you wake up in the morning. DO NOT set an alarm to submit it at 12:01. No one will even download your application for several days after Sept 1st and some will even wait >1 month before they download it. That being said I would still submit on Sept 1st just in case someone does try to download it on the 2nd. This was my experience with eastern programs (I applied to nothing out west).

Most programs don't look at your app until your dean's letter comes out anyway. I submitted late sept and got interviews at almost everywhere I applied including all top 10 programs. If youre a marginal applicant, I guess, in theory you could try to get it in Sept 1 just so you make sure you do everything by the book but from my experience, and that of my buddies who applied, it doesn't matter if you submit the first day or the first month. I wouldn't submit until everything you want on your eras is ready, especiallypubs pending submission/publication.

With all due respect to Bonediddly it appears from participating in this website for the past several years that more and more programs do in fact offer interviews before the Dean's Letter comes out. Therefore, I counsel all of our students to get their application downloaded on ERAS as soon as possible (i.e. don't worry that all your letters of recommendation aren't complete, etc..).
Bottom line is that since it cannot hurt you to get it on early and there's at least a potential for an advantage for those programs that are looking early you might as well download it early.

Good luck everyone - here we go again...

wnl

Hey Dr. Levine. Would you say that waiting until you hear word on a possible paper publication is worth submitting later? I mean, the programs would see that I've submitted the paper if I submit on Sept. 1st, but I have no idea when I will get a final word on publication. I am not sure if the trade off is worth it.

Dr. Levine - along the same lines as the previous post do you think there is any indication to hold off on submitting for a short period of time so that my Step 2 score is taken into account? I realize that on the application it will say "Will take, 9/2010" but my Step 1 score isn't very impressive and I am fairly confident I can improve on it. Unfortunately since I'm taking CK in mid-September the score won't come back until October 6th. I would hate to submit right away on Sept 1 and get early rejections because of this.

Waiting for a publication is not a good reason to wait since you have no idea whatsoever when or if that will happen. On the other hand, if you have taken step 2 and want to try and wait it's a calculated risk. When you say your step 1 score is not "very impressive" that can mean many different things to different people. If it's 230 or higher then I wouldn't wait. If it's 220-230 it's a bit of a gray zone and controversial. If it's <220 then you may be better off waiting for the step 2 score (hoping that it will be higher than the step 1 score).

There's no right or wrong with these decisions you just have to weigh the risks and benefits and decide what seems to be the best course of action based on the available information that you have.

wnl

I second WNL on this one. Many programs offer interviews before the november 1st deadline. And even ones that don't, sometimes who gets the interview (given two equal applicants..which is common) the one who submitted it earlier gets the interview, or is offered it first because that's all they have to go on. Having done this twice, and of course this is my biased opinion, I noticed that the applicants who had the most interviews sent out their application earlier.

Waiting for a publication to come out only makes sense if it is 1 or two days away from hearing (which sometimes, you do know this..) but ONLY in the case that you have ZERO publications. Once you have one publication, it means little to have two or three. It is sort of 'to check the box' that you have tried research and have actually completed it. It only becomes impressive when you have a bunch of publications (~10 or more), in which case, you shouldn't worry about 1 or 2 publications that you're awaiting a reviewer response on.

Also, consider the following: There are several programs that have interviews in early november. That means that the applicant pool needs to be reviewed 1-2 weeks before that. It takes the residency coordinators a few days to coordinate the applications, so now you're looking at ~3 weeks. Usually, the notifications go out 2 or so weeks before the interview date. So now, you're looking at 5+ weeks! That brings us into mid september. How many applications do you think they will sort through for the first batch... 60? 100? So, within the first few weeks of september, do you think the program that sends out early interviews to those who were the first to submit, or later to submit??

It is your perogative to send out your app as soon as possible. I was talking to a residency coordinator who told me that on sep 1st, they got 250 applications.

December and January are TIGHT months for interviews, and it is in your best interest to schedule as many early interviews as possible. This means getting to programs that give out interviews early, which means having your application in as soon as possible.

That's my two cents, comprised of two years of experience
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Hey guys thanks for the advice. I submitted my app this morning pretty soon after it opened. And just 4 hours after it opened the following programs have downloaded by eras app:


yale @ 12:31pm
uconn @ 10:08 am
george washington @ 10:48 a.m.
UF- Jacksonville @ 10:32 a.m.
Orlando @ 4:28 pm
atlanta medical center @ 9:18 am
University of Chicago @ 3:52 pm
Harvard @ 12:14 pm
Tufts @ 2:04 pm
Henry Ford @ 3:06pm
Kalamazoo @ 10:11 am
Monmouth @ 1:15 pm
NYU-HJD @ 1:14pm
Albany Medical Center @ 1:48pm
NYMC @ westchester @ 11:57 am
Columbia University @ 10:12 am
Wake Forest @ 11:03 am
UNC @ 9:15 am
Thomas Jefferson @ 11:49 am
Univ. Pitt @ 10:24 a.m.
Penn State @ 2 p.m.
Geisinger @ 1:57 pm
Hamot @ 10:56 am
Brown University @ 10:38 am
Greenville Hospital @ 09:09 am
UTMB @ 9:23 am
University of Vermont @ 2:24 pm
VCU @ 3:06 pm
UVA @ 11:33 am

So it definitely looks like a nice amount of programs download their apps early.