SOAP, explained before you need it

Dear Applicant,

Knowing how SOAP works before you need it is free insurance. It costs three minutes in September. The alternative is learning the vocabulary on the Monday of Match Week, which is the single worst week of the application cycle to learn anything.

The Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program is the NRMP's system for connecting unfilled residency positions with eligible unmatched applicants during Match Week. It is not a separate application season. It is four compressed days with its own rules.

Partially matched and fully unmatched applicants who meet the NRMP's eligibility requirements. If you are not SOAP-eligible, you cannot apply to Match-participating programs during SOAP at all, on any channel.

SOAP runs Monday through Thursday of Match Week. In 2027, Match Week is March 15 to 19. Unfilled programs appear in the NRMP's R3 system under the SOAP tab, and offers go out in a series of offer rounds at the end of the week: in 2027, all four rounds run on Thursday, March 18. The NRMP publishes its official applicant SOAP guide in early 2027.

No contacting programs outside the system. Applicants who are not eligible for SOAP are prohibited from applying to or contacting programs directly or through personal contacts, and every applicant is responsible for applying only to positions they are eligible for, as shown on the R3 unfilled list. Match Week is the wrong week to improvise around a rule.

That is the whole map. One read, once, in the fall. Put three phrases in your notes: SOAP exists, R3 SOAP tab, Monday of Match Week. If you never need it, this page cost you three minutes. If you do need it, the Monday version of you starts with the map while everyone else is starting with the panic.