Discouraged

[Beeweew]

Hi everyone,

I am a third year medical student going to a school that does not have an EM residency program. I've been applying for away rotations through VSAS and school specific applications. I have been finding out that many of the August and September slots are totally filled up and the only availability is in October or November. I am freaking out because ideally SLOEs should be complete by the time ERAS is open for submission. I really don't know what to do and I'm starting to panic. I'm a student with many honors and a decent step 1 score. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

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[@JackShephard]

Keep applying. You can get 1 letter in October, get other letters before that.

Here's a thought, Thomas Edison tried over 1,000 different ways to invent the light bulb. How many places have you checked? 5? 10? 15? If you really want to find a way, you probably will.

 

[alpinism]

Where are you applying and did you just start applying?

Ideally you should have started applying for August away rotations back in Feb/Mar (6+ months ahead of time).

For some competitive programs its not unheard-of to apply 8 months before the rotation start date.

 

[Beeweew]

Thanks for the response
@JackShephard I applied to 10 programs. I'll go ahead and apply to more.
@alpinism I'm in the mid-Atlantic area and turned in applications in April. Some applications were not released then and I have been signing up for alerts and turning my application in the same day they opened. I am applying for August and September because we finish third year late June.

 

[Mr Cousins]

Not applying for any July aways? Maybe a little late for those now, but maybe somebody dropped one. I did one end of June into July. Worked out great.

 

[Beeweew]

@Mr Cousins Sorry I meant to type we finish third year in late JULY. I wish we finished in June.

 

[fergustsi]

corpus christi, tx has an acgme program. last i checked three plus years ago they accepted third years in their ED. Maybe you can do a june/july rotation? i dunno. theyre probably full but its another option worth investigating.

 

[scummie]

The Corpus Christi program is not on VSAS. You could try applying there to see if you can get an away there. There are other programs that aren't on VSAS that you may also want to try applying to.

I feel your pain though. I had applications in to some programs by March but still haven't heard back from some or didn't hear back until May. Maybe they are using the apps as butt warmers, I have no clue. Hang in there, ten apps is a lot. Hopefully you will be hearing back soon since a lot of sites wait for their own students and then open it up to everyone else. Things will be changing all the time as people drop some sites for others that are more appealing to them. You can still submit your app without having your SLOEs in. I wouldn't wait until they are all in because some programs will invite without a single one. Just my humble opinion.

 

[Day man]

While earlier is better, do not get discouraged and stop (the whole anything worth having isn't just handed out thing). Prospective: I applied to another type of residency (after 3 aways in that), found EM in oct, had a serous life crisis, switched to EM after canceling all other apps, did an away in nov with a sloe by late nov...interviewed in northeast and matched top 3. There's almost always hope.

 

[hoot504]

This thread doesn't make sense to me. OP, do you realize that there are a lot of places that haven't even begun to process their applications yet? One example.. Boston University just started ACCEPTING applications on Friday. There are plenty of openings out there, you just aren't finding them.

 

[EMmotherhen]

Please let the myth that you must have ALL your letters posted in ERAS the day it opens. Yes - have as many as you're able, but you can still have letters trickling in come October and be safe about being invited. We look for at least two but have invited (& matched!) students with one letter in September and others that arrived later. So take October spots. My program accepts away students July - November and we never have a problem about sending in our letters after the ERAS opening date.

 

[gman33]

If you are interested in Philly programs, PM me.
I could probably help you out with getting an away at my program.

 

[discostu42]

PM sent @gman33