Action required by Feb. 26: Match/SOAP Planning Survey
All graduating 2023 students (including the early matches) must fill out the Match/SOAP planning survey before 10:45 p.m. AK, 11:45 p.m. PT and 12:45 a.m. MT on Sunday, February 26. This survey includes an RSVP to the school-hosted Match ceremonies and some required SOAP-related questions.
- Because of the nature of this event, we must have an RSVP from everyone so we can accurately account for all yeses and all nos
- The SOAP-related information will only be used in the event you end up needing it, and is for you, your career advisor, and Student Affairs’ reference only
- The Match information will be used by Student Affairs to send Match results packaging and information to sites for their event planning
Reminders will be sent to all students who have not completed the survey.
Recording available for SOAP prep session
If you were not able to attend last Friday’s SOAP Prep Session and are interested, the recording is now available. The slide deck is here. This session was hosted by the Specialty Career Advisors in General Surgery, Internal Medicine and Family Medicine w/ Student Affairs and Career Advising. If you want to talk further about SOAP prep, please schedule an appointment with Career Advising.
During the Q&A there was rich discussion, which was not captured on the recording. To summarize, here are your advisor’s suggestions on
Common mistakes students make related to SOAP:
- Not listening to this video and thus not being prepared ahead of time
- Ghosting your advisors or disappearing: if plans change on March 13 or during SOAP week (i.e. you decide to no longer participate in SOAP), keep advisors updated. This will save advisors from trying to track you down
- Don’t make decisions without first talking to advisors (i.e. not participating in SOAP or expanding your medical education)
- Being too busy during SOAP week (i.e. not clearing your personal life calendar or making mental/emotional space to process during the week)
- Not identifying a personal support plan: who in your life can be there to support you, make sure you eat/stay hydrated/exercise, as well as attend to tasks such as emails/picking up phone calls on your behalf if you need a break
- Not having interview clothes ready to go and with you
- Not identifying a quiet space to conduct virtual interviews with reliable internet and phone service
If you and your Specialty or Career Advisor decide it’s to your benefit to update your transcript as part of preparing for a SOAP application, please order your updated transcript and submit it to Sarah Wood, sewood@uw.edu, by end of day on March 6. This will ensure she can upload into ERAS before March 13.
More information about SOAP can be found on the Career Advising SOAP webpage.
Please take the GQ Survey
This is a message from Sara Kim, Ph.D., associate dean for Educational Quality Improvement: I am reaching out to you regarding the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) Graduation Questionnaire (GQ). You might have read the email from the office of Dr. Tim Dellit, Interim CEO of UW Medicine and Interim Dean of UWSOM, regarding this survey.
GQ is an important quality measure of how the school is serving you well, compared to other medical schools around the country. In this regard, your responses guide us to identify bright spots and to problem solve challenges.
I would like to thank 28 of you who already took the time to complete the survey! I can’t recall this many students completing the survey so quickly in my recent memory. So thank you!
As AAMC publishes the response rates, I will be providing regular updates to you. In the meantime, we are happy to offer the following incentives for those who complete the survey (please save the receipt from AAMC):
- 1 Amazon Kindle ($100 worth)
- 2 Amazon Fire Tablets ($60)
- 3 Portable Chargers ($50)
- 2 Wireless Earbuds ($50)
- 1 Portable Bluetooth Speaker ($20)
- 1 USB Charging Station ($20)
We will do one mid-point drawing for one of the tablets and the rest will be drawn at the conclusion of the survey early June.
Thank you again for your time and candid input!
ICYMI: More Match Week information
Potential Action Required: Update USMLE Step 2 Scores (If Needed)
If only your Step 1 information was available when you submitted your ERAS application and you need to update your application so that residency programs are aware of your Step 2 scores, you can update your Step 2 information in ERAS by following these steps:
- Log into MyERAS
- Under the “Documents” tab, click on “Additional Documents”
- Under the actions section of the USMLE transcript, click on “retransmit scores”
Your scores will then be sent to the residency programs you applied to. You will not need to pay an additional fee.
NRMP Rank List Deadline Reminder
The rank list deadline closes at 5 p.m. AK, 6 p.m. PT and 7 p.m. MT on March 1. You must certify and submit your rank list for it to be considered complete. Do not wait until the last minute on March 1 to certify and submit your lists – the system has been known to slow down as more people access it, and the deadline is FIRM. Be sure to submit early!
Excusals from Clerkships During SOAP/Match Week
- Monday, March 13: All 4th-year students who are participating in the Match will be excused from clerkships on Monday, March 13, until 8 a.m. AK, 9 a.m. PT and 10 a.m. MT so that they may check their Match status. Unmatched students are excused from their rotations for the week to participate in SOAP. Matched students are expected to return to clerkships at 8 a.m. AK, 9 a.m. PT and 10 a.m. MT. The Student Affairs office will communicate with the clerkship directors and administrators directly to let them know who is excused from clerkships and who is expected to return to clerkships.
- Friday, March 17: All 4th-year students participating in the Match are excused from clerkships on Friday, March 17, in order to celebrate Match Day with their friends and families.
Match Day
Match Day is on Friday, March 17. As we said above, students are excused from clerkships for the day to celebrate with friends and family. Results are released by the NRMP at 8 a.m. AK, 9 a.m. PT and 10 a.m. MT at in-person school ceremonies and via email and online in the R3 system.
There are five in-person events planned across WWAMI in Anchorage, Boise, Bozeman, Seattle, and Spokane. The timing and structure of each site’s event will vary.* After you RSVP via the Match/SOAP planning survey, you will be sent more information about your specific site’s event.
*Some in-person events may begin after results are released online. Exact times are to be confirmed by the event planners. Currently, the following start times are confirmed. Anchorage is TBA:
- Boise: 9:30 a.m. MT, results released at 10 a.m.
- Bozeman: 9:30am MT; results released at 10 a.m.
- Seattle: 8:45 a.m. PT; results released at 9 a.m.
- Spokane: 11am PT; results released at 9 a.m.
In case you missed it, here is the previous newsletter for MS4s.