ERAS is your electronic application for residency programs, which eventually you send to every program you applied to.

ERAS documents are a significant source of stress during match season because the processing time depends not only on you but also on your medical school, ECFMG processing time procedures, and their specific requirements.

Broadly, there are three categories of documents in my ERAS application:

1) Personal statement:

  • This is one of the easiest ones, as you can directly write it within Eras itself.

  • You don’t need any type of verification or anything; you just create multiple personal statements if you are applying to multiple specialties.

  • You can assign different personal statements to different programs.

  • Even after sending all your documents to the program and applying, you can update your existing PS, and it will automatically be updated in the program’s portal.

  • You can save different PS with your referred name, but the program can’t see the name you saved your PS in my ERAS. The program director can see it as a "Personal statement" in their portal, regardless of the title you used to save it in ERAS.

  • Requirements: 28000 characters

  • It shouldn’t be more than a page when you view/download your PS as PDF.

  • How to copy and paste your PS if you created it outside of my eras?

    Use Notepad (for Windows users) or SimpleText (for Mac users); sometimes it causes a problem in formatting if you create it in MS Word. So always view/print your PS before assigning it to a program to make sure that everything looks good in PDF format.

  • Do not forget to assign your PS to the program you are planning to apply to.

  • Can we update PS after assigning it to the program?

    Yes, you can update your existing PS or create a new one and assign it throughout the season. It will get automatically transmitted to the program if you update the existing one. However, I don’t think that the program will go back to your profile if you updated it after they downloaded it.

    I just applied for the Match season 2026, so I do not think I can guide you on how to write a personal statement. I will definitely get back to this page and update it if I match! 🥹🙏

2) Additional documents:

  • USMLE Transcript

    • Authorize the use of USMLE transcripts for the current season.

    • Once you authorize, assign the transcript to all programs before you start applying to them.

    • When you apply for the first time for any program, ERAS will add a one-time $70 processing fee for the USMLE transcript. You will not be asked for money when you are assigning it to the program.

    • Now let’s say you passed your Step 3 exam after September 24, 2025. The USMLE transcript does not get automatically sent to the program when a new score is available in your profile. You must resend your score via my ERAS account again.

    • Just kindly request that you apply to at least one program before 4–8 hours of September 24 at 9:00 AM. Sometimes, it takes hours to process the USMLE transcript, so it may not be ready by 9 a.m. sharp for the program's review if you apply at the last moment.

      Again, the program will not download applications at sharp 9.00 AM, so do not worry if your USMLE exam transcript shows a processing request.

      If it takes more than 24 hours, it's better to call NBME or ERAS to let them know about the delay. They might be able to help you.

  • MSPE and Medical School Transcript

    • This is a kind of time-taking process. If your medical school is participating in EMSWP, then these two documents can only be uploaded by them. You cannot upload the documents with no exception.

    • This year, due to the Intealth transition, many people were allowed to send their documents to the email ID of ECFMG, and those documents were processed. However, you must also request that your medical school send your documents using the school's email address.

    • If your med school is not participating in EMSWP —> you can upload these documents from your Intealth account under the ERAS support service tab.

      These are the requirements for uploading the documents.

      • The mThe maximum file size accepted is 1,200 KB.

      • The dimensions of each page cannot exceed 8.5 by 14 inches (Set page size as US Letter Portrait or A4 size in Adobe Acrobat Scanner).

    • How to make PDFs of these documents?

      In India, most medical schools provide a physical copy, and then you have to scan it to make a PDF. As here, the size limit is less than 1200 KB; it is difficult to compress a PDF if you scan the pages with a mobile camera. Because any phone captures high-quality images, it will easily create a 6-7 MB file if you have a 10-12 page long MSPE or transcript.

      And when you compress it using a third-party app, it will decrease the quality very low, which can be rejected by ECFMG if it’s too blurry. (My MSPE was rejected by ECFMG due to the same reason; they asked my med school to upload it again).

    • The best idea is to go to a local Xerox shop in India, ask them to scan the documents with a scanner machine, and make them a pdf. My MSPE had 13 pages; I did the same thing, and I was able to get a high-quality PDF within 1 MB in size by using this method. (Thanks to my friend for suggesting this idea).

    • It usually takes 24-48 hrs to show an uploaded in ERAS once your med school uploads these documents, if everything looks good in the uploaded documents.

    • The most effective way to initiate all of these processes promptly is to purchase ERAS tokens as soon as possible.