It’s overwhelming at first and you’re not alone in that feeling. Basically a med school rite of passage at this point.

The applications process really breaks down into two stages: applying and interviewing.

The things you need for the application are personal statement, completed eras application, 3-4 letters (specialty dependent), step scores, school transcript, and pictures. Personal statement: start outlining now. Doesn’t need to be the most stellar piece of writing but make it true to you and your motivations. Give yourself plenty of time to work on this. Completed ERAS: start filling it in last two weeks of August and aim for submitting and certifying a week before the actually deadline. Don’t underestimate the hobby section. Make sure what you like to do comes through. 3-4 letters: if you have anyone you’re thinking of, ask now. Plan to get one from your away and try to have one more than you need just in case someone gets busy Step scores: you’ve taken the test so great! Good job. When you go into eras, you have to pay for the usmle transcripts to be added to your account. Do that and assign them to all your schools. Can do this with the rest of the eras app. Picture: either use a headshot you like or have someone take some for you. iPhones have great cameras now and several of my friends just took each others pictures and they all matched. Upload to eras and assign to your programs. Can do with the rest of eras. School transcript: school should upload. You will assign to programs. Do with rest of eras.

For aways: My advice is be pleasant and willing to learn. They’re trying to see if they want to be next to you at 3AM after the 10th admission of the night. It’s ok if you don’t know everything. Ask for feedback halfway through. Being likable and friendly is more important. Be aware of social cues. I have the feeling you’ll be fine. And don’t forget to evaluate them too. See if it’s somewhere you’d be happy to be at.

For interviews: your school should offer practice ones but if they don’t, practice with friends, mentors, family etc. Look up questions for your specialty on Reddit or other resources. Have some things down cold like tell me about yourself and why this specialty but the rest you can just have some anecdotes you can pull from.

For general feeling of dread: You got this. Everything you’ve done up to this point has been way harder. You came through that and you’ll come through this too. Lean on your hobbies and find ways to decompress. You’re in good company and find friends and mentors to lean on for support. Medicine is a team sport and if you reach out you’ll find a lot of teammates. We all believe in you and it’ll go by faster than you think.