Blog Archives

Your Residency Application: What to Do if You Receive No or Few Interview Invitations?

1. Don’t panic.
2. Try contacting – in a professional manner – all institutions to which you have sent your ERAS. You can send an email and call. When you call, be calm, respectful, and enthusiastic. Do not demand to speak to the program director. Let the person who answers the phone know that you are very interested in the program and would appreciate the opportunity to interview. Offer to be on an interview wait list if necessary.
3. Prepare for the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP). Note that SOAP is not a separate program from the residency Match. So a) your main residency Match user status must be active and b) your credentials must be verified by the Rank Order List Deadline in order to participate in SOAP. Here is more information on SOAP.
4. Make a plan for what you will do if the Match and SOAP don’t work out for you. What will you do next year? How will you improve your written materials, interview skills, and overall candidacy? If heaven forbid, you do not have success in either the Match or SOAP, please consider getting help from me or someone else who is experienced. The sooner the better to improve a candidacy and prepare for a re-application.
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SOAP®

Just a reminder that if you have received few or no residency interviews, it’s time to start getting ready for SOAP.

On March 14 SOAP begins, but you need to understand how it works and be prepared for its brisk schedule prior to that.

Here is an article on the history and basics of SOAP.

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Compared to the Old Scramble, NRMP’s SOAP Cleans Up the Match

For those interested in a comprehensive explanation of the NRMP’s process for unmatched candidates,here is an article I wrote for Student Doctor Network with a step-by-step approach to theresidency applicationSupplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP). Most residency applicants are hopeful about their Match prospects, but if you are not a strong candidate, it’s not a bad idea to understand SOAP early.

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Using “SOAP” to Clean Up the Scramble

Here is my recent contribution to the Student Doctor Network blog…

Using “SOAP” to Clean Up the Scramble

In response to persistent concerns about the “Scramble,” the two-day process when unmatched residency applicants vie for unfilled residency positions, the National Residency Match Program (NRMP) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) have announced significant Match Week changes to start in 2012, thus affecting next year’s residency applicants. The new system, called the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP), is an attempt to improve the Scramble after repeated complaints about disorganization and lack of transparency. SOAP will overhaul the Match Week calendar, so all applicants – both unmatched and, indirectly, matched candidates – will be affected by the reforms.

Read the full story here…

http://www.studentdoctor.net/2010/10/using-soap-to-clean-up-the-scramble/

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About Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more

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Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the White Coat Investor podcast:

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