Dual Applying Gen Surg and EM

[dundermifflinthisispam]

I'm a fourth year applying this cycle and I'd be grateful for any feedback you all may have regarding my application plan... Long story short, I went through the first two years of med school thinking I'd pursue EM due to pre-med school experiences in the field and ended up loving surgery too. A few months ago, I came to the conclusion that I'd be kicking myself come March if I didn't at least try to match GS and decided to dual apply with EM as my back up. (As a non-trad, I would rather match and start EM residency than SOAP into a prelim GS spot or reapply). I scrambled and got 3 GS auditions that follow my EM rotations in August and September. My questions are...

- Is it a generally a bad look to apply to both programs at the same institution? DO EM and GS PD's talk?
- Will not having a 4th year GS LOR until November (best case scenario) be a major handicap?
- How many programs of each specialty should I apply to?

I don't have any red flags. I'm top 5% of my class, just lacking in EC's, GS-specific letters, and research.

Step 1: PASS
Level 1: PASS
Step 2: 255-258
Level 2: pending
LORs: 2 surgical subspecialty letters, 1 GS letter (from my first rotation, assuming this one is positive but impersonal and meh at best unfortunately), will have 2 eSLOEs by september
Pubs: 1 paper (2nd author), 1 case report

Thanks for reading!

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[DOVinciRobot]

Apply to as many surgery programs as you can afford, Including the DO ones that like good scores even though you won’t rotate. Do well on your auditions.

Use only the GS and surgery subspecialty letters for the GS apps, and then update with whatever LOR you get in November. Some places might not care.

If you dual apply try and avoid double dipping at the same institutions, but no the PDs don’t typically talk.

Personally, I think you have ok chances for surgery. Your scores and rank will help you quite a bit, even without research. Where are your auditions at? You can PM me if you don’t want to post it publicly.

 

[dundermifflinthisispam]

Apply to as many surgery programs as you can afford, Including the DO ones that like good scores even though you won’t rotate. Do well on your auditions.

Use only the GS and surgery subspecialty letters for the GS apps, and then update with whatever LOR you get in November. Some places might not care.

If you dual apply try and avoid double dipping at the same institutions, but no the PDs don’t typically talk.

Personally, I think you have ok chances for surgery. Your scores and rank will help you quite a bit, even without research. Where are your auditions at? You can PM me if you don’t want to post it publicly.

Thank you!! It's a relief to know I have a shot at least. I'll PM you my audition sites.