Residents applying to Anesthesiology, Neurological Surgery, and Plastic Surgery-Integrated will be required to provide responses to specialty-specific questions before sending applications to programs in these specialties.
If you are applying to any of these specialties, click the "Answer Questions" button for the relevant specialty. A pop-up window will display the specific questions you need to answer.
The questions for each specialty are as follows:
Anesthesiology
- Describe a time when you faced adversity, how you overcame it, and any lessons learned from it.
- Describe a situation in which you would have made a different decision that might have led to a better outcome.
- Describe your ideal career as an attending.
Neurological Surgery
- Describe a time when you had to make a quick decision. What did you consider when making the decision? Who did you consult or not and why?
- Describe a specific situation where you received negative feedback about your performance. How did you adjust your behavior? What did you learn from this situation?
- Describe a specific situation when your workload was overwhelming. What specific actions did you take to manage your workload? What was the outcome?
Plastic Surgery – Integrated
- Describe a specific situation when a team you were on had to collaborate to achieve an outcome and there was a disagreement. How did you specifically contribute to the solution?
- Describe a specific situation where you experienced a setback. How did you overcome this challenge?
- Describe a time when you had to make an important decision quickly. What did you consider when making the decision?
Save, Edit, and Delete Your Specialty Responses
- After responding to all questions for a specialty, click "Save" to record your answers. Please note that applicants must answer all questions before they can click "Save." We recommend drafting your responses in a plain text application and then copying and pasting them into the MyERAS application.
- To edit your responses, click “Edit.” Once you have made your updates, click "Save" again.
- To delete your responses, click "Delete." A pop-up window will then appear, informing you that your responses for the selected specialty will be deleted, and you will have to start over. After confirming, click "Delete.".
- Please note that applicants WILL NOT be able to edit or delete their responses after certifying and submitting their application. They will still be able to add responses if they decide they want to apply to a specialty that requires them.
Completing Specialty Questions After Certify and Submit
If applicants certify and submit their MyERAS application without answering the specialty questions, they will still have the opportunity to answer the remaining questions later. For example, if an applicant submits their responses for Anesthesiology, after certifying and submitting their application they can answer the remaining questions for Neurological Surgery and Plastic Surgery-Integrated.
- To answer the remaining specialty questions, click the "Answer Questions" button. A pop-up window will appear with the specific questions you need to respond to.
- After you have answered all the specialty questions, click "Save" to record your responses. If you wish to update your answers, click "Edit." To remove your response and start over, click "Delete.”
- When you're ready to submit your responses, click "Submit Specialty Questions." A pop-up window will prompt you to confirm that you are ready to submit. Once submitted, you cannot make any changes. To confirm your submission, enter your password, and click "Submit."
- Once a response has been submitted, the specialty will be removed from the list of available options in the Specialty Questions section. Responses to these questions can be viewed in the application PDF. If all specialties have been submitted, the Specialty Questions section will no longer be accessible. Applicants will only be able to view the Personal Information section of their MyERAS application.