SM

Career Planning Advice

Med 4 Calendar and Milestones

July-August

For ERAS Applicants:

  1. Create your as soon as possible, no later than early July.
  2. Familiarize yourself with : look at the
  3. Research programs: this takes time so plan ahead, allocating several hours per week.
    1. Use FRIEDA Online
    2. Doximity
    3. Individual Program Websites
  4. Mark your calendar with all the
  5. Actively pursue Letters of Reference and have your referees upload them to the
  6. Think about your Plan B: what other specialty/program/location could you apply to?
  7. Write USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK, if you haven't already

For CaRMS Applicants:

  1. Begin asking for promises for from current and past rotations. Keep an email trail so you can use it to follow up on these promises later on this Fall.
  2. You can't register with CaRMS until early September, so be patient.
  3. Use CaRMS now to read up and , taking note of program highlights, selection criteria, and curriculum information
September

For ERAS Applicants:

  1. Ensure your ERAS application is complete before September 15th. Budget time for this: several hours per week, an hour or two per day may be needed.
  2. Remember to apply to many programs: the more you apply to, the more likely you are to get interview offers.
  3. Continue to think about your Plan B.

For CaRMS Applicants:

  1. When you receive your initial email from CaRMS, log in and
September- November

For ERAS Applicants:

  1. As early as late September, you may receive interview invitations
    1. Consider a mock interview with the Career Advisor
  2. On 1 October, programs will have access to your MSPE (aka the Dean's Letter), and you may receive more invitations for interviews
  3. Expect to complete most of your interviews before the end of November
  4. Before November 30, register with the

For CaRMS Applicants:

  1. Watch the tutorials
  2. Budget time to complete the CaRMS application
  3. Mark your calendar with the important milestones
  4. Have application complete, programs selected, and all documents assigned to programs by the November deadline
  5. Consider a mock interview with the Career Advisor

December

For CaRMS applicants

  1. consider a mock interview with the Career Advisor
January

For ERAS Applicants

  1. many programs offer applicants the chance to come back for a “second look” visit. Try to attend those where you wish to particularly demonstrate interest.

for CaRMS applicants

  1. CaRMS interview season begins
  2. consider a mock interview with the Career Advisor
February

For ERAS Applicants

  1. verify the and ensure your list is submitted before then, without fail.

For CaRMS applicants

  1. CaRMS interview season ends
  2. verify the CaRMS Rank order list and ensure your list is submitted before then, without fail.
  3. Remember that you may match to any program you rank

March

For ERAS applicants

  1. you will learn your match result in later March. See the Match Week timeline
  2. If you are unmatched, you have the opportunity to participate in (the American "2nd iteration") immediately.
    1. Meet the Career Advisor as soon as possible to make an action plan
    2. The SOAP process is very quick - 3 days at most.
    3. You will learn your match results on the same day as those who were matched, after SOAP concludes.
  3. Note that the CaRMS match comes first: a match in CaRMS withdraws you from a match in the NRMP.

For CaRMS Applicants

  1. you will learn your match result in early March
  2. If you are unmatched, you will have the opportunity to participate in the
    1. Meet the Career Advisor as soon as possible to make an action plan
    2. You may have to re-draft your personal letter, request one or two new LoRs, and attend a few interviews in person or remotely
    3. you must submit your 2nd iteration rank order list by the deadline without fail
April

For CaRMS Applicants

  1. If you participated
  2. in 2nd iteration, you will learn your match result mid-April
May Graduation
June

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