What is it?
SOAP stands for Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program. It is a second chance opportunity for students who are initially unmatched to find a residency spot.
- On Monday of Match Week, students will receive an email that says they are either fully matched, partially matched, or fully unmatched
- Partially matched applicants have either secured a one-year preliminary position or an advanced position, but no PGY-1 spot
- Partially matched or fully unmatched applicants can participate in the SOAP as long as they are deemed eligible by the NRMP
How Does It Work
The SOAP takes place over four days, beginning one hour after match notifications are sent to students
- At the beginning of the week, SOAP-eligible students will gain access to MyERAS to begin preparing their application
- Students CAN update/change/re-upload
- Personal information
- Personal statements
- Letters of recommendation
- Students CANNOT change
- MyERAS information (activities, publications, etc)
- Each participating student will be able to select and apply to 45 programs
- Personal statements should be updated to reflect the specialty being applied to
- Not every specialty will be represented in SOAP
- Programs contact students for interviews. Students or mentors may not reach out to programs until the program has contacted the student.
- Students should be prepared to interview virtually, by phone, or by email
- There are four rounds of offers on Thursday
- Students do not make ranks lists for SOAP
- Students will receive offers at the beginning of every offer round and have two hours to accept or reject any offers they receive
- Students can only accept one offer during SOAP and are encouraged to accept an offer if it is received
- Most students will not receive more than one offer in a round, but occasionally students will have multiple to choose from
- Additional offers in later rounds are not guaranteed
Preparing Ahead of Time
If you are concerned that you did not receive enough interviews or that you may not match for any other reason, contact your Lead Advisor. They will walk you through the process of preparing for the SOAP before match week to help lessen the stress should you find out that you have not matched.
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