Smarter Faxing - eFax !

Whats a 'Fax' anyway ? Well, as most of us know - the word is derived from 'facsimile' - which in Latin means 'to make something similar'.

A Fax machine transmits an image of a document to another fax machine, which then prints the same image on fresh paper at another location, making it appear as if the document actually traveled.

Here's the catch - how about pre-storing the images of your documents on your computer and then merely directing them to fax machines anywhere - that's like faxing too right ? Thats how email faxes or e-Faxes work.



Click here for a great writeup to understand how it works. I suggest you have your documents scanned as images and uploaded to your efax accounts and then all you have to do to send faxes to programs is email them as attachments to the program's fax numbers.

It does not take too long to have your e-Fax account set up, a few minutes - but I suggest you have your e-Fax setup BEFORE the match result itself. If you match, you can always close your account and get a refund for the unused period of time.


About Scanning:

- The documents that need to be scanned will be the Letters of Recommendation, Dean's Letter, the USMLE Score Reports and the ECFMG certificate. Your Personal Statement will already be in a word document format, which can be e-faxed in that formal itself.

- Scanning can be done at public / student libraries or commercial places that do it for a fee. For those with a stable hand, an option to scanning is to take digital pictures of your documents using a digital camera with resolutions of 3.2 Megapixels or more in decent light and then using those JPEG files directly for e-faxing (after reducing the files-size and cropping the borders using an image-editor software like Microsoft office picture manager). Those without monetary constraints and a techie aptitude may consider buying a Scanner For Less than 50-60 Bucks ;-)



Any Free Fax Sending sites online ?

There is one good site I know of - called Faxzero.com, but the problem is you can only send upto 3 pages per fax and upto 2 such free faxes a day to any US or Canada number only from anywhere in the world. The site maybe a great tool for sending in fax-letters and resumes to hospitals for requesting observerships / externships / research positions (since sending a fax probably has a better impact factor than an email), but due to the imposed limits, does not work for the scramble. However, you can use their paid option for 1.99$ per fax without any such limits.


The other option to send faxes from home is to buy yourself a Personal Fax-Phone




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Documents To Keep Ready!

Both you and me know very well that any chance of success on the post-match scramble depends heavily on having an edge over the others and advance preparations. Here's a list of the documents you can begin to keep prepared - you will be faxing these documents to programs on that day ! Why ? coz' ERAS is only used for the Match - not for the Post-Match Scramble.

(Technically, ERAS can and may still be used for the match , but given the meagre 24-hours that program directors have to fill empty slots, fax / phones are more promising equipments !)

The Document List:

1. Your Personal Statement - But you already wrote it during ERAS applications , right ? Yeah - BUT that was in a format that works for ERAS. You still need to copy-paste that personal statement to a fresh word documents, do some good formatting with fonts, line spacing, etc. so that it does not spread beyond One and half Word pages. Additionally, insert an header with your name and the specialty your statement is for.

Note: If the personal statement that you rushed in for ERAS applications sucked very bad, then it is a good idea to work on it now and give it some life for the post-match :-) . Follow the list of pointers to self-assess your statement compiled at http://PSprotocol.blogspot.com

2. A Professional Looking Cirriculum Vitae (CV) - again the above logic applies for why you need a separate CV despite having already submitted one through ERAS. Some people even copy-paste their entire CAF from their ERAS accounts and use it as a standard CV

3. Letters of Recommendation: Request another copy set of letters to be sent to you by your letter-writters, if they had mailed the letters to ERAS directly without sending you a copy! Keep in mind that this will take 10-20 days depending on where your recommenders are, so do this NOW and be ready.

4. Dean's Letter or the MPSE Sample Dean's Letter format!

5. Med School Transcript

6. ECFMG Certificate