Central Application Service (CAS)

Applicant Instructions
Rhinology Fellowship Match
Overview 2
Applicant categories 2
US-MD 2
US-DO 2
Canadians 2
Internationals 2
Submitting Documents 2
Instructions for US-MD applicants 2
Instructions for US-DO applicants 3
Instructions for Canadian applicants 4
Instructions for International applicants 4
Photos 5
Message Inbox 5
Personal Info 5
Contact 5
Exams/Licenses/Certs 5
Education 5
Employment 5
Publications 5
Honors and Interest 5
Description of documents 6
Curriculum Vitae (C.V.) 6
Personal Statement(s) 6
Letters of Recommendation 7
Program Deadlines 7
Applying to programs 7
Application fees 8
Applying to additional programs 8
Paying for CAS Distribution fees 8
Assigning documents 8
Interview Scheduler 9
What makes your application complete 9
Confirming distribution of your CAS application 9
Contact SF Match 9

1
Overview
The Central Application Service (CAS) is a service provided through the SF Match office that distributes
applications to training programs. The use of CAS is mandatory, and assures that applications are
uniform, complete, and distributed in an orderly fashion.

The CAS does not evaluate applicants’ credentials or eligibility to apply to any of the participating
programs.

SF Match requires applicants to manage their online account information and be responsible for
monitoring the status of all required documents. Track the status of your application and required
documents frequently.

Applicant Categories
The SF Match system groups applicants into 4 different categories. Check your applicant category and
review the instructions for submitting supporting documents to complete your application:

Applicant
Description
Category
US-MD Applicants from U.S. allopathic medical schools
US-DO Applicants from U.S. osteopathic medical schools
CAN Applicants from Canadian medical schools
IMG Applicants from medical schools outside U.S. or Canada

All digital documents must be in unsecured .pdf format

Submitting Documents

Instructions for US-MD applicants

Online instructions: Applicants have the ability to have *all of the documents for their CAS application
submission uploaded electronically. Please refer to the “Document Submission” table below for each
specific upload source.

Mail instructions: If the letter writer prefers not to upload the letter and it is confidential, please collect
the letter of reference from them in their individual sealed and signed envelope. Any documents which
are not uploaded should be mailed together to the SF Match office at one time in a single package.

Please be sure to include your 5-‐digit applicant ID and specialty match name on all correspondences
with SF Match.

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Mail package to:
SF Match – CAS department
655 Beach Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(No weekends/holidays delivery)
Phone: 415-447-0350

Below is a list of documents and upload source for each:

*Document Submission for US-MD applicants

Documents Upload by
Personal Info Applicant (completes online)
Personal Statement Applicant (completes and assigns online)
Curriculum Vitae Applicant (online submission)
Letter writer (online submission) (applicant
3 Letters of recommendation
assigns)

Instructions for US-DO applicants

Online instructions: Applicants have the ability to have *all of the documents for their CAS application
submission uploaded electronically. Please refer to the “Document Submission” table below for each
specific upload source.

Mail instructions: If the letter writer prefers not to upload the letter and it is confidential, please collect
the letter of reference from them in their individual sealed and signed envelope. Any documents which
are not uploaded should be mailed together to the SF Match office at one time in a single package.

Please be sure to include your 5-‐digit applicant ID and specialty match name on all correspondences
with SF Match.

Mail package to:

SF Match – CAS department
655 Beach Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(No weekends/holidays delivery)
Phone: 415-447-0350

Below is a list of documents and upload source for each:

*Document Submission for US-DO applicants

Documents Upload by
Personal Info Applicant (completes online)
Personal Statement Applicant (completes and assigns online)
Curriculum Vitae Applicant (online submission)
Letter writer (online submission) (applicant
3 Letters of recommendation
assigns)

3
Instructions for Canadian applicants
Online instructions: Applicants have the ability to have *all of the documents for their CAS application
submission uploaded electronically. Please refer to the “Document Submission” table below for each
specific upload source.

Mail instructions: If the letter writer prefers not to upload the letter and it is confidential, please collect
the letter of reference from them in their individual sealed and signed envelope. Any documents which
are not uploaded should be mailed together to the SF Match office at one time in a single package.

Please be sure to include your 5-‐digit applicant ID and specialty match name on all correspondences
with SF Match.

Mail package to:

SF Match – CAS department
655 Beach Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(No weekends/holidays delivery)
Phone: 415-447-0350

Below is a list of documents and upload source for each:

*Document Submission for Canadian applicants

Documents Upload by
Personal Info Applicant (completes online)
Personal Statement Applicant (completes and assigns online)
Curriculum Vitae Applicant (online submission)
Letter writer (online submission) (applicant
3 Letters of recommendation
assigns)

Instructions for IMGs

Online instructions: Applicants have the ability to have *all of the documents for their CAS application
submission uploaded electronically. Please refer to the “Document Submission” table below for each
specific upload source.

Mail instructions: If the letter writer prefers not to upload the letter and it is confidential, please collect
the letter of reference from them in their individual sealed and signed envelope. Any documents which
are not uploaded should be mailed together to the SF Match office at one time in a single package.

Please be sure to include your 5-‐digit applicant ID and specialty match name on all correspondences
with SF Match.

Mail package to:

SF Match – CAS department
655 Beach Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
(No weekends/holidays delivery)
Phone: 415-447-0350

4
Below is a list of documents and upload source for each:

*Document Submission for IMG applicants

Documents Upload by
Personal Info Applicant (completes online)
Personal Statement Applicant (completes and assigns online)
Curriculum Vitae Applicant (online submission)
Letter writer (online submission) (applicant
3 Letters of recommendation
assigns)

Photos
A photo can be uploaded through your SF Match account. On the Summary tab, click the button next to
“Upload Profile Image” on your task list. Programs you apply to will have access to your photo after you
have been invited to an interview.

Message Inbox
Programs may send a message to you through the SF Match system. This is optional for programs, not
required. If a program sends a message through the SF Match system, you should receive an e-mail (to
your user name account) as well as receive the message in your SF Match account inbox. To view
messages, select the envelope icon located on the top right hand sided of the page next to your user
name.

NOTE: Many e-mail domains have high security settings and may block messages sent from the SF
Match domain. The messages are duplicated in your SF Match account. It is imperative that you
remember to login to your SF Match account frequently to ensure no messages are missed and go
unread.

Personal Info:

• Contact – Enter main address and permanent address (if different from main)
• Exams/Licenses/Certs - Input exam history, licenses and ECFMG certificate (IMGs) info
• Education – Enter all medical school, undergraduate, graduate (non-medical),
internship, residency, and fellowship history.
• Employment - Add employment history.
• Publications – Select publication type and enter required info.
• Honors/Interests – Add Honors, awards, achievements, other research activities,
hobbies and interests.

NOTE: Your Personal Info can be dynamically updated anytime during the match cycle.

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Description of Documents:

Global - Global documents are seen by every program that you apply to. Click the “Upload” button and
choose the appropriate file to upload. The documents should fit within the frame of the preview
screen prior to confirming upload. If it does not fit within the preview frame, please re-scan to a smaller
size. The documents that you have permissions to upload will be presented to programs exactly in the
size as your view displays. Documents uploaded should be 8 ½ x 11 format (not legal sized/oversized
formats). Every document you upload must be scanned into an unsecured pdf file. MS Word
documents will not be accepted and must be converted by you into an unsecured pdf document prior to
upload. The file must not be password protected or exceed 5mb in size.
NOTE: Once your document has been submitted to a program, no substitutions or corrections can be
made. If you discover any mistakes after applying to a program you will need to contact the program(s)
directly.
Helpful tip: Do not use your smart phone to take pictures of your documents and upload
them. Remember, the programs reviewing your application receive the exact version of the digital file
that you upload and often print out these documents. Therefore, it’s in your best interest to present
professional, clean documents.
The following Global documents are required to be received before your application is considered
complete:

Curriculum Vitae (C.V.):

Provide a copy of your updated C.V. in .pdf format only. Do NOT attach photo with C.V.

Personal Statement(s):
The personal statement is an autobiographical sketch or summary of your life, who are and your
aspirations. You can create multiple personal statements (if desired). One personal statement must be
assigned to each program that you apply to. The personal statement should not exceed 1,000 words.

6
NOTE: You can create multiple personal statements. Save each personal statement you create and refer
to the file name when assigning the statement to programs.

HELPFUL TIP: If you intend to copy and paste your Personal Statement or other information
created from a word processing application, use plain text ONLY. The online application form will
NOT recognize nor convert special formatting features (e.g. bold, italics, different font size, etc.)
that are created in MS Word (or other similar applications), and then copied and pasted onto the
Application Form. Instead, after your copied data has been pasted in plain text, these text formatting
special features such as bold, italics and underline can be used within the online form.

Letters of recommendation (LOR):

Three (3) letters of recommendation are required for review by the programs. No more, no less.

You may request your letter writers to upload the letters of recommendation directly into the SF Match
system. Go to the “Documents” tab in your SF Match account and select “LOR”. Enter the letter writer’s
contact information to submit the request. An e-mail will be sent from SF Match to the author including
a hyperlink that allows them to upload the letter of reference in .pdf format into the SF Match system.
After you have submitted the request to the authors, make sure you remember to follow-up with them
directly to ensure they have received the e-mail from SF Match and are able to upload the letter.

NOTE: There is no limit to how many letters of recommendation you can request, however you can only
assign three letters to each program you apply to.

Program Deadlines
Most training program deadlines are listed in the program directory, however, please be aware that CAS
does NOT set program application deadlines or requirements. In addition, CAS is not always notified of
program changes, therefore we always recommend that you contact the program directly to confirm
this information. For best results, submit the complete CAS application one (1) week prior to the earliest
deadline you would like to meet.

NOTE: CAS does not stop processing applications because a program’s deadline has passed. A complete
CAS application will be distributed to all programs you request no matter how late it arrives (prior to
rank list deadline). Please be aware that applications which arrive to the programs after their deadline
may not receive the same priority from the programs’ review committees as applications received on
time.

Applying to Programs
The program directory contains a list of participating programs in the match. While viewing the program
directory, select the “Save” button for each program that is of interest. After choosing the program, the
program will be added to “Saved” tab. When you have chosen the programs to apply with, select the
“Apply to Selected” button to continue with confirmation and payment. We strongly encourage
applicants to contact each program prior to applying in order to be certain that the program eligibility
requirements can be met.

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 Application Fees
Initial CAS distribution fees

After submitting your completed application materials, you must submit your online distribution list and
pay the appropriate fees.

Distribution fees increase progressively as follows:

Number of Distributions Fees:

Number of Distribution Cost

1-10 $60 (flat fee)
11-20 $10 per program
21-30 $15 per program
31-40 $20 per program
41+ $35 per program

Applying to additional programs

You may apply to additional programs after your initial CAS distribution list has been submitted. The
supplemental distribution fee is $35 per program; therefore, it is to your advantage to submit your
entire list once rather than adding programs later.

Paying for CAS distribution fees

Distribution fees may be paid only by a Visa or a MasterCard.

Assigning Documents
Assign three letters of recommendation and one personal statement to each program you apply to.

Instructions for Assigning Personal Statements and Letters of Reference

By individual program:
• Click on the Assign Documents to Program button for the individual program then click on Assign
Documents after making your selection(s).

In Bulk:

• Select the programs you wish to assign the same personal statement and/or same letter of reference(s)
by checking the boxes next to each program ID and Name.
• Click on Assign to Selected, then click on Assign Documents after selections are made.

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Interview Scheduler
When you are notified of an interview invitation, go to the Interview Scheduler page. You will see the
calendar dates available to accept a date to interview at a program. You can accept or decline an
interview invitation.

WHAT MAKES YOUR APPLICATION COMPLETE?

Complete Your Personal Information

Try to complete your Personal Information sections before applying to programs. Your personal
information is displayed to the program after you apply.
Upload All Required Documents
Upload all of your required documents. Please note that some documents may need to be uploaded by
your Medical School. Please refer to your Global Documents page.
Assign Personal Statements and LORs
You may assign different personal statements and LOR's to each program. You must assign the required
amount to each program for your application to be complete for that program.

Confirming distribution of your CAS application

A confirmation E-mail is sent to you when your CAS application has been distributed to the programs on
your distribution list. You can also look at the programs listed under the Completed section on your
Programs page, Applied tab.

Contact SF Match

SF Match
655 Beach Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: 415-447-0350
Fax: 415-561-8535
Email: help@sfmatch.org
https://www.sfmatch.org

Monday – Fridays 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM (Pacific Time)