Regarding the ERAS application...

Dr. Levine,

My ERAS application is complete except I have 3 out of 4 LOR's uploaded. The 4th letter should be excellent and is from a well-known and well-respected surgeon.

Should I submit my application now or wait until all 4 LOR's are available for programs to download? If submitted now, will programs readily download the 4th letter when it is available? Thank you.

To clarify how the system works:

When I go into the ERAS site I (or our administrative coordinator) click on the "mail" icon and it automatically downloads all of the documents that are waiting in the queue (I have no way of knowing what will be in the documents which sometimes can be as many as 100-200 at a time). So, your letter will be automatically downloaded by each program.

Bottom line - submit your application! As we've indicated in other posts there are programs that will make interview decisions long before the Dean's Letter arrives so you should definitely not wait for the 4th letter--

good luck

wnl

Dear Dr. Levine,

A few weeks ago, I uploaded my personal statement with my common application. What I did not realize that some programs actually received a previous draft of my statement with some errors on it. I uploaded my final draft a week or so later when I realized that I had accidentally sent the wrong personal statement. According to ERAS, the new PS replaces the old one at least online. Does your program make an immediate hard copy of each application as the individual personal statement or LORs come in? Or do you wait until the application is complete to print it out in its entirety? In any case, what would be the right course of action?

Thanks,
Banks2008

We do not print the applications until the Dean's letter is downloaded to ERAS (1st week of November) - up until that point there are often updated documents that are downloaded to the applicant's file and the earlier versions are not used at all.

wnl