Do any EM programs require a SLOR as opposed to an LOR?

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Saladin MD

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I'm an IMG....I just recently heard about this SLOR business. Do any programs require SLORs as opposed to LORs?

Thanks for the answer.

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I'm an IMG....I just recently heard about this SLOR business. Do any programs require SLORs as opposed to LORs?

Thanks for the answer.

Pretty much all of them require SLORs from your Emergency Medicine rotations.

SLORs can (should?) only be done by attendings at a place that has a residency.

Non-emergency medicine LORs are just regular LORs. Don't use SLORs for them.
 
Pretty much all of them require SLORs from your Emergency Medicine rotations.

SLORs can (should?) only be done by attendings at a place that has a residency.

Non-emergency medicine LORs are just regular LORs. Don't use SLORs for them.

yep, what he said.
I'm pretty sure all of the programs I'm applying to require SLORs.

Good luck!
 
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This is disastrous news, lol. The SLOR is way too detailed. I'm just in the middle of the class, so this is not good at all...although in my defense it is an uber-competitive school.

Also, my EM rotation was only one month long, so that's bad too.

SLORs can (should?) only be done by attendings at a place that has a residency.
I'm an IMG. I won't have any letters from any programs in the US. Do they still require a SLOR from the EM doctor I did it from in the country of my medical school? The guy is however a US trained doctor.

I guess I'm just screwed altogether since I have not done an EM rotation in America, huh?

And how come EM requires SLORs? I talked to an AMG applying for surgery and he didn't even know what a SLOR is. All my classmates are applying to IM and none of them have any idea what a SLOR is, although granted they are all IMGs. Is only EM very particular about this?
 
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This is disastrous news, lol. The SLOR is way too detailed. I'm just in the middle of the class, so this is not good at all...although in my defense it is an uber-competitive school.

Also, my EM rotation was only one month long, so that's bad too.

I'm an IMG. I won't have any letters from any programs in the US. Do they still require a SLOR from the EM doctor I did it from in the country of my medical school? The guy is however a US trained doctor.

I guess I'm just screwed altogether since I have not done an EM rotation in America, huh?

And how come EM requires SLORs? I talked to an AMG applying for surgery and he didn't even know what a SLOR is. All my classmates are applying to IM and none of them have any idea what a SLOR is, although granted they are all IMGs. Is only EM very particular about this?

1. The SLOR is not really to judge where you are in your class - other data tells a PD that information. Instead, a SLOR is designed to compare you to other EM applicants and relates to your predicted success as a resident in EM.

2. most EM rotations are one month so that's not really any different. If the doc you worked with regularly works with other EM residents/students, then he should be qualified to write a SLOR no matter what country he is from - nonetheless, it will, indeed be disadvantageous not to rotate in the U.S. as you lose the networking effect of the letter and the ability of the writer to compare you to a standard applicant.

3. yes, it's EM particular
 
In a word...yes.

Thanks for the honesty. And thank you Zinja for your informative post.

I am hoping for a miraculous step 2 score, lol. Maybe a crazy high score would give me at least a fighting chance, although I understand how scores are not enough. I'll do a post-doc if I don't match...I finally did my EM rotation and it's the first rotation I *actually* enjoyed a LOT.
 
Thanks for the honesty. And thank you Zinja for your informative post.

I am hoping for a miraculous step 2 score, lol. Maybe a crazy high score would give me at least a fighting chance, although I understand how scores are not enough. I'll do a post-doc if I don't match...I finally did my EM rotation and it's the first rotation I *actually* enjoyed a LOT.

it would probably be a good idea for you to rotate through an EM department in the States, if that is where you want to end up-just to see if it is really different from where you previously rotated, and to see if that is still somewhere you think you will be happy. I have found out on my externships that it is incredibly different even from program to program so am glad that I didn't just stay at my home program and use that as my litmus test.
 
I am applying this year and I have some questions that I know I should know the answer to but still don't. :oops:

How exactly does this LOR thing work for EM? Most residency programs require three LORs but will accept a maximum of four, right? So is an SLOR instead of the regular LOR, or in addition to it? I don't understand how to make the right mix of letters, and I can't seem to get a good answer from anyone at my school. My situation is that I have five people willing to write me good letters. One is from critical care, one is from EM (not at a well known program but it's the PD), one is another EM attending who I did a subspecialty rotation with, one is a research letter (obviously not an SLOR), and one is from an EM away rotation. So do I get SLORs but not regular LORs from two of the EM attendings, and if so, which ones? I assume the PD is one I definitely want to get an SLOR from. And if I can only have four letters max, which one should I not use out of the five I listed? If anyone can help me figure out what to do, I will be really, really grateful.
 
A SLOR is a LOR, have all the EM docs write u a SLOR (3 i think?) and for your 4th LOR just get a regular LOR.
 
A SLOR is a LOR, have all the EM docs write u a SLOR (3 i think?) and for your 4th LOR just get a regular LOR.
Ok, I think you are saying I should just chuck the research letter, right? So I'd have three EM SLORs and one critical care LOR.

Does anyone think having a research letter would be important or even helpful? I did a lot of research in med school and my PI will write a good letter, so I would like to use it if possible. If I used that letter, I would only have two EM letters (the PD letter and the away rotation letter) plus the critical care letter. Should I do that or only use the clinical letters? It is not EM research, if that matters.
 
Ok, I think you are saying I should just chuck the research letter, right? So I'd have three EM SLORs and one critical care LOR.

Does anyone think having a research letter would be important or even helpful? I did a lot of research in med school and my PI will write a good letter, so I would like to use it if possible. If I used that letter, I would only have two EM letters (the PD letter and the away rotation letter) plus the critical care letter. Should I do that or only use the clinical letters? It is not EM research, if that matters.

The idea of the LOR is for the writer to impart to the reader how you act in a clinical setting.

So having a letter from a research doc isn't as helpful. They can talk about how nice a person you are, how dependable you are in the lab/research location, etc, etc...

But they can't talk about how you interact with patients, how well you present a case, how good of a differential you put together, etc. And that's the information that a residency program wants to see.
 
The idea of the LOR is for the writer to impart to the reader how you act in a clinical setting.

So having a letter from a research doc isn't as helpful. They can talk about how nice a person you are, how dependable you are in the lab/research location, etc, etc...

But they can't talk about how you interact with patients, how well you present a case, how good of a differential you put together, etc. And that's the information that a residency program wants to see.
That makes total sense. It's just that I want to apply for academic programs and work in an academic center. Do you still think I should only use the clinical letters even in that case? I guess I'm just worried that people will wonder why my PI didn't write me a letter since I spent a year doing research.
 
Bringing the thread back after a long time but I am confused.
I am an IMG who want to get into a EM program. I have a 2 month EM elective at my own hospital and planning to do 1 or 2 away EM electives in US. So my questions is whom do I get the SLOR or the SLORs? I guess the more I get is better,right? Can you get a SLOR from an away elective or it has to be from your own instution?
Please help me out on this:confused:
 
Bringing the thread back after a long time but I am confused.
I am an IMG who want to get into a EM program. I have a 2 month EM elective at my own hospital and planning to do 1 or 2 away EM electives in US. So my questions is whom do I get the SLOR or the SLORs? I guess the more I get is better,right? Can you get a SLOR from an away elective or it has to be from your own instution?
Please help me out on this:confused:

Yes, more is better. You can get a SLOR from any place you rotate, provided they're academic (like, have a residency there). There might be some more technical data about that (as I'm not up on the whole thing), but, if you are rotating where there are EM residents, then you can definitely get a SLOR.
 
As an IMG, I have been working in ED in Central America for 2.5 years, and recently got 97/99/CS passed, but didn't have a rotation in US, hence no SLOR, only LOR from my chief. Would I still be able to have a shot at EM program in US? Or would I have better chance into IM/FAM/PED?
 
As an IMG, I have been working in ED in Central America for 2.5 years, and recently got 97/99/CS passed, but didn't have a rotation in US, hence no SLOR, only LOR from my chief. Would I still be able to have a shot at EM program in US? Or would I have better chance into IM/FAM/PED?

Your numbers are solid, so that's not a problem. However, what PDs need is "apples to apples". It depends on what you did - if you were in Guatemala City or San Salvador or San Jose' or Balmopan or another big city with sick people and good volume, then the letter would mean something. If your 2 1/2 years has been doing rural medicine and mostly public health stuff, not so much. Are you native, or an American that went south?

If there was a way for you to do a month or two as an extern, that could really help. You could then get a US recommendation letter. If you don't just "look good on paper", but are also a star in person, then that could really, really be on your side. People have matched with worse numbers and qualifications.

With clinical experience and the good numbers, you would totally have a shot with IM/FM/peds, although I thought I liked IM until I did it, then I realized and asked myself, "What am I? Nuts?". Peds was actually OK, though.
 
Yes, more is better. You can get a SLOR from any place you rotate, provided they're academic (like, have a residency there). There might be some more technical data about that (as I'm not up on the whole thing), but, if you are rotating where there are EM residents, then you can definitely get a SLOR.


Thanks for the info Apollyon. Now I just need to get an elective. Actually two:)
 
Another question regarding LOR vs. SLOR. I am most likely going to be applying to osteopathic EM programs. I have heard that most of them like LORs and not SLORs. Can anyone comment on this ?
 
In a word...yes.

I've looked around a little, and it doesn't say anywhere that a SLOR must be filled out by a Faculty Member of a U.S. based EM Residency Program.

"[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ONLY Emergency Medicine Faculty are to complete the SLOR" that's exactly how it is worded at the CORD website (Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors).

There are quite a few countries around the world, with excellent EM residency programs (e.g. Australia), and the faculty members at those institutions are very familiar with selecting residents for training in this particular discipline.

I don't think it would even make any sense to say that SLOR = USCE in EM, because some programs that require SLORs do also indicate that no prior USCE is required.

I might be wrong though... Apology if that's the case...
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