Emergency Medicine 2014-2015 Residency Cycle

[DocEspana]

I'm trying to get out of the midwest and closer to the mountains -- if I end up in NYC something will have gone terribly wrong haha.

Thanks for all of the advice though guys. I know it might be a little early to worry about this stuff, but I don't like being in the dark about this stuff.

Well non-major city east coast is super friendly to just about everyone. They want people that actually want them. None of them really want the residents who think of it as "2 hours from Boston" or "90 minutes from Philly". They want "right in the Adirondacks" mindsets. And they'd love people who want that, even if those people have never seen an Adirondack mountain before.

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[MSmentor018]

As an MD student at a US Med school, is a 250 step 1 score good enough for any program in the country?

it's just a number......

 

[Hair Police]

Yea. That's generally the case with west coast places, so the word on the street goes. But for the east coast it's not really that way. You want to be on the east coast, just be someone good enough to be wanted...

Eh. We want to see some reason for coming to our program. Some geographical linkage. We've interviewed so many from the West coast, only to see them go somewhere else. We'd rather spend our limited interview spots with people who want to be here. YMMV

 

[DocEspana]

Eh. We want to see some reason for coming to our program. Some geographical linkage. We've interviewed so any from the West coast, only to see them go somewhere else. We'd rather spend our limited interview spots with people who want to be here. YMMV

She trumps me

 

[Modafinil]

Eh. We want to see some reason for coming to our program. Some geographical linkage. We've interviewed so many from the West coast, only to see them go somewhere else. We'd rather spend our limited interview spots with people who want to be here. YMMV

Where as we don't care. I'm at at big east coast program and we have people from Washington to SoCal to South Carolina to Vermont. We don't care where you're from.

 

[Omiganlode]

Hey guys! US IMG here... I don't know if anyone on here has experience with this but I matched into a prelim IM position last year. Didn't have any US LORs so that hurt me. I'm rotating in the ED now and I want to know if the attendings can give me SLORs if I'm rotating as an intern or if they would have to be LORs. Thanks and best of luck to all of you!

 

[MSmentor018]

Hey guys! US IMG here... I don't know if anyone on here has experience with this but I matched into a prelim IM position last year. Didn't have any US LORs so that hurt me. I'm rotating in the ED now and I want to know if the attendings can give me SLORs if I'm rotating as an intern or if they would have to be LORs. Thanks and best of luck to all of you!

I've seen IM applicants with them

 

[res1cue]

Anybody out there want to swap EM personal statements? PM me if interested

 

[normtheniner]

This is gonna sound OCD, but on one of my ERAS LOR forms it cuts off part of the person's title and reads "Department of Emergency Medicin" instead of "Department of Emergency Medicine" ... I guess because the title was too long. I don't think the person writing the letter cares much, I just don't want programs to think I'm a ***** and can't spell medicine... anyone think it matters much?

 

[AvocadoLover]

Hey All,

Quick question, has anyone else noticed that Stanford is "grayed" out on ERAS? Does that mean they are not accepting applications this year? Just wondering as I am supposed to be rotating there soon.

 

[AvocadoLover]

This is gonna sound OCD, but on one of my ERAS LOR forms it cuts off part of the person's title and reads "Department of Emergency Medicin" instead of "Department of Emergency Medicine" ... I guess because the title was too long. I don't think the person writing the letter cares much, I just don't want programs to think I'm a ***** and can't spell medicine... anyone think it matters much?

IDK. I'm OCD like that too. I'm sure it really doesn't matter at all but you could consider changing it to read "Dept. of Emergency Medicine?" if you want.

 

[Journey19]

Hi all, I'm an MS4 applying to EM, hope this is the correct place to post this question. I have always been excited about EM, and now having done 3rd year rotations and first weeks of EM electives, I'm 100% sure it's where I want to match. However, I've had some academic difficulties along the way, and I'm not sure how many programs to apply for or how realistic my chances are.

I struggled in there first two years of med school for the simple reason of not knowing the best way to study (and that I needed glasses, oops), and ended up failing two second year courses by a couple of points. I repeated the year and wound up passing four courses with distinction, in addition to doing really well on shelf exams. I had no problems 3rd year, got great evals and even honored my OBGYN rotation.

As far as Steps go, I got a 227 on Step 1, but just received my Step 2 CK score and I'm pretty bummed it was lower than Step 1, at a 223. I'm a US senior. As far as extracurriculars go, I've published 3 non-academic works, tutored microbiology in 3rd year, currently the VP of our school's EMIG and I volunteer as associate director for a largely attended church service that airs live once weekly. I don't have any research under my belt in med school, but I did do a project in under grad for which I was not published, unfortunately.

I've never rally received a bad eval, most of them are pretty good, and I've often been told I have the proper personality and "fit" for emergency medicine. And I hope this doesn't come off as arrogant, but I feel I am good at interviewing and making good impressions. I thought that my upward trend in academic performance would be a positive thing for application, but with my low CK score, I am worried I may have made things even harder for myself.

Any advice on what I can do from here to give myself the bet chance? To how many programs should I apply? I'm really passionate about this and can't imagine myself in any other specialty. Any tips and/or encouragement would be much appreciated!

 

[BoardingDoc]

Hi all, I'm an MS4 applying to EM, hope this is the correct place to post this question. I have always been excited about EM, and now having done 3rd year rotations and first weeks of EM electives, I'm 100% sure it's where I want to match. However, I've had some academic difficulties along the way, and I'm not sure how many programs to apply for or how realistic my chances are.

I struggled in there first two years of med school for the simple reason of not knowing the best way to study (and that I needed glasses, oops), and ended up failing two second year courses by a couple of points. I repeated the year and wound up passing four courses with distinction, in addition to doing really well on shelf exams. I had no problems 3rd year, got great evals and even honored my OBGYN rotation.

As far as Steps go, I got a 227 on Step 1, but just received my Step 2 CK score and I'm pretty bummed it was lower than Step 1, at a 223. I'm a US senior. As far as extracurriculars go, I've published 3 non-academic works, tutored microbiology in 3rd year, currently the VP of our school's EMIG and I volunteer as associate director for a largely attended church service that airs live once weekly. I don't have any research under my belt in med school, but I did do a project in under grad for which I was not published, unfortunately.

I've never rally received a bad eval, most of them are pretty good, and I've often been told I have the proper personality and "fit" for emergency medicine. And I hope this doesn't come off as arrogant, but I feel I am good at interviewing and making good impressions. I thought that my upward trend in academic performance would be a positive thing for application, but with my low CK score, I am worried I may have made things even harder for myself.

Any advice on what I can do from here to give myself the bet chance? To how many programs should I apply? I'm really passionate about this and can't imagine myself in any other specialty. Any tips and/or encouragement would be much appreciated!

The short answer is that you will need to apply pretty broadly. You have some significant red flags on your application. Failing 2 courses in 2nd year is a huge red flag. The fact that you bounced back is a good thing, but you're still very much in the hole there. As for your step scores, your Step 2 CK is definitely going to be hurting you. The last data I checked was from 2011 (when EM was less competitive) and that year, your step 2 score would put you in the bottom quartile of applicants. That almost certainly remains the case now. Other factors affecting your chances you didn't mention (e.g. EM rotation grades and if you're doing away EM rotations).

Your ability to interview well will certainly be helpful, but it's only useful if you are actually given the chance to interview, which brings me back to my original comment. Apply very broadly. You will likely be screened out by most of the more competitive programs. If I were in your shoes I wouldn't apply to less than 50 programs. Hopefully someone with similar experience will chime in with how many places they applied to.

 

[Alejandro]

Your MS1/MS2 grades don't matter at all unless they're helping you get AOA or you failed something. Doing well in the first 2 years is really only important because it's effectively forcing you to study for (and subsequently do well on) step 1. EMS experience will help somewhat, but you need to remember that former EMS/paramedic/first responder etc etc etc applicants are dime a dozen in EM. You sound like you're already doing very well so you're fine, I just always remind students not to hang their hat on it because it doesn't really make them special.

Most important thing is to do well on your clinical rotations, rock your EM rotations, and go on an away or two at places that you think you might be interested in going. If you do an away somewhere and they love you, they're going to take you over the guy with the 260 and more honors than you simply because you're a known entity.

My question was that if I didn't do so hot on step 1 (low 220s), but redeem myself on step 2, will it keep doors open? I also made the mistake of taking IM as my first clerkship and looks like my grade will be a P instead of HP or H...not sure how much of a detriment that will be for me. Fortunately it's early 3rd year for me, i guess.

The other thought I had was the dime a dozen EMS experience-I'm guessing being an ER tech (what you mentioned was all prehospital care) is probably no different and gets lumped into that group, right? Is it then worth mentioning on the PS?

 

[MSmentor018]

My question was that if I didn't do so hot on step 1 (low 220s), but redeem myself on step 2, will it keep doors open? I also made the mistake of taking IM as my first clerkship and looks like my grade will be a P instead of HP or H...not sure how much of a detriment that will be for me. Fortunately it's early 3rd year for me, i guess.

The other thought I had was the dime a dozen EMS experience-I'm guessing being an ER tech (what you mentioned was all prehospital care) is probably no different and gets lumped into that group, right? Is it then worth mentioning on the PS?

your scores are fine, just keep it up. step 2 should be higher than step 1
don't sweat the IM grade, most importantly is doing well on EM rotation
put things in your PS we won't know about you from reading your eras. check on my previous posts, I know I've written a ton of stuff about the ps a couple of years ago

 

[jam3rz]

I am finishing my first EM rotation of the year at my home institution tomorrow. My first away rotation in EM ends on 10/5. I'm worried that it will be too late to obtain a SLOE from this institution. Does anyone have any advice?

 

[normtheniner]

I am finishing my first EM rotation of the year at my home institution tomorrow. My first away rotation in EM ends on 10/5. I'm worried that it will be too late to obtain a SLOE from this institution. Does anyone have any advice?

Will you have only one SLOE in at this point?

 

[jam3rz]

Will you have only one SLOE in at this point?

I will have two SLOEs, both from my home institution. I will also have a letter from my internal medicine rotation.

 

[EM2015]

New EM Residency Program:University of Tennessee at Murfreesboro recruiting for its July 2015 inaugural class (8 spots) this October. Website: www.emnashville.uthsc.edu

 

[WalkingCorpse]

I am finishing my first EM rotation of the year at my home institution tomorrow. My first away rotation in EM ends on 10/5. I'm worried that it will be too late to obtain a SLOE from this institution. Does anyone have any advice?

I got my second SLOE around the end of October last year and it all ended up ok. Will you have a first SLOE from your home rotation? If so, I think you will be in good shape, just tell the program in October up front that you really want a SLOE and try to meet with the PD or whoever writes the SLOEs early in your rotation.

 

[jam3rz]

I got my second SLOE around the end of October last year and it all ended up ok. Will you have a first SLOE from your home rotation? If so, I think you will be in good shape, just tell the program in October up front that you really want a SLOE and try to meet with the PD or whoever writes the SLOEs early in your rotation.

Yes, I'll have two SLOEs from my home institution, and one internal medicine letter. That sounds like a good idea, thanks for the advice!

 

[Modafinil]

Yes, I'll have two SLOEs from my home institution, and one internal medicine letter. That sounds like a good idea, thanks for the advice!

How are you getting two from one institution? That doesn't make sense...

 

[jam3rz]

How are you getting two from one institution? That doesn't make sense...

One will be a composite SLOE written by the clerkship director and program director, and the other is a SLOE from an individual attending who I worked with several times.

 

[MRSAful Fate]

One will be a composite SLOE written by the clerkship director and program director, and the other is a SLOE from an individual attending who I worked with several times.

It might be better to get a regular letter instead of a SLOE from the individual attending. Multiple SLOE's from one institution is kind of redundant and seems to be looked down upon by PD's (or at least looked at as essentially just one SLOE). Someone please correct me if I am wrong but that's how I understand it.


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[BoardingDoc]

It might be better to get a regular letter instead of a SLOE from the individual attending. Multiple SLOE's from one institution is kind of redundant and seems to be looked down upon by PD's (or at least looked at as essentially just one SLOE). Someone please correct me if I am wrong but that's how I understand it.


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That's correct. Getting 2 SLOEs from one place doesn't make sense. Much of the SLOE is related to how you did in the department compared to other students and how that program intends to rank you. Because these sections should be identical between the two letters, it doesn't make sense to get 2 SLOEs from the same hospital. Just get one SLOE and one regular evaluation.

You can see the template for yourself here: http://www.cordem.org/files/DOCUMENTLIBRARY/SLOR/SLOE Standard Letter of Evaluation 2014.pdf

 

[Modafinil]

One will be a composite SLOE written by the clerkship director and program director, and the other is a SLOE from an individual attending who I worked with several times.

Yeah don't do that.

 

[red10]

One will be a composite SLOE written by the clerkship director and program director, and the other is a SLOE from an individual attending who I worked with several times.

I think you mean the second one is a regular LOR. Individual doing a SLOE doesn't make sense and is redundant. That person's comments should be in the SLOE to begin with so I'd opt for another from outside your home department. Surely there's someone else that likes you

 

[MSmentor018]

That's correct. Getting 2 SLOEs from one place doesn't make sense. Much of the SLOE is related to how you did in the department compared to other students and how that program intends to rank you. Because these sections should be identical between the two letters, it doesn't make sense to get 2 SLOEs from the same hospital. Just get one SLOE and one regular evaluation.

You can see the template for yourself here: http://www.cordem.org/files/DOCUMENTLIBRARY/SLOR/SLOE Standard Letter of Evaluation 2014.pdf

not exactly.....it helps filter out the students for the rank list but the bottom hand written part of the slor is the clincher. you can have all the boxes checked upper 1/3 but reading between the lines in this last category really puts in detail how the candidate performed (and your bias). I did a study and presented on this topic a few years back. it's in SAEM, annuals of EM and journal of EM, under abstracts
it's always better to have letters from different places, it helps eliminate bias and gathers a larger opinion about the student but if their are just ok letters then it doesn't mean much. if you can get 2 solid exceptional letters, esp from the place you want to get into, that's worth it's weight in gold

 

[islandAddy1881]

Anyone out there an IMG like me going against the odds and trying to match EM in 2015? Or anyone want to give advice/opinions?

Brief stats: U.S. citizen, Step 1-237, still waiting on Step 2 results, A's in most clerkships including EM, 1-EM SLOR and 1-EM LOR (both outstanding), currently working on an EM department research project, and have an away rotation at LSU next month. I'm applying to 150 EM programs (and will genuinely rejoice if I get 4 interviews)

My current dilemma is what my back up specialty should be: Surgery prelim or transitional year? I HATED internal medicine with a passion, and would like to avoid an IM-prelim at all costs (but will do it if that is the best way to get to EM). I have never loved anything the way I love EM, and am willing to take whatever route will best get me there. I'm just curious if anyone has an opinion about which back up specialty would best transition me into EM if I have to reapply in 2016?

 

[BoardingDoc]

not exactly.....it helps filter out the students for the rank list but the bottom hand written part of the slor is the clincher. you can have all the boxes checked upper 1/3 but reading between the lines in this last category really puts in detail how the candidate performed (and your bias). I did a study and presented on this topic a few years back. it's in SAEM, annuals of EM and journal of EM, under abstracts
it's always better to have letters from different places, it helps eliminate bias and gathers a larger opinion about the student but if their are just ok letters then it doesn't mean much. if you can get 2 solid exceptional letters, esp from the place you want to get into, that's worth it's weight in gold

Unless I'm totally missing something, I feel like you just reiterated my point. I'm definitely in favor of this person getting 2 letters from their institution, I just said that having both of them as an SLOE didn't make a lot of sense for precisely the reasons you elaborated. Repeating the generic top half doesn't help anyone, so just get one SLOE and have the other eval be a standard LOR.

 

[jam3rz]

Unless I'm totally missing something, I feel like you just reiterated my point. I'm definitely in favor of this person getting 2 letters from their institution, I just said that having both of them as an SLOE didn't make a lot of sense for precisely the reasons you elaborated. Repeating the generic top half doesn't help anyone, so just get one SLOE and have the other eval be a standard LOR.

Thanks for your advice. I was actually advised by my home institution PD that if we asked for a LOR from an individual faculty member (which they highly recommended doing), that it would be a SLOE as well. I'll see if I can verify this with them at some point.

 

[MSmentor018]

Unless I'm totally missing something, I feel like you just reiterated my point. I'm definitely in favor of this person getting 2 letters from their institution, I just said that having both of them as an SLOE didn't make a lot of sense for precisely the reasons you elaborated. Repeating the generic top half doesn't help anyone, so just get one SLOE and have the other eval be a standard LOR.

my point is to get the 2-4 slor, even if it's from the same place. it's good to have more, than not enough. and even better if you know they're going to make you shine. if this student knows the private attending will hook'em up. why not? many places won't even read a long ass LOR anymore. they look for straight for the slor. I remember at CORD conference some PD's were very blunt...no 4 slor, no interview. "anyone can write a brilliant novel but how did you really do?" was their validation for that.

 

[kmb1908]

my point is to get the 2-4 slor, even if it's from the same place. it's good to have more, than not enough. and even better if you know they're going to make you shine. if this student knows the private attending will hook'em up. why not? many places won't even read a long ass LOR anymore. they look for straight for the slor. I remember at CORD conference some PD's were very blunt...no 4 slor, no interview. "anyone can write a brilliant novel but how did you really do?" was their validation for that.

4 SLOEs? Really?? All of the programs I've seen want 3 letters with at least 2 of them being SLOEs. I think 4 is overkill...but then again I'm applying just like you....

 

[Modafinil]

my point is to get the 2-4 slor, even if it's from the same place. it's good to have more, than not enough. and even better if you know they're going to make you shine. if this student knows the private attending will hook'em up. why not? many places won't even read a long ass LOR anymore. they look for straight for the slor. I remember at CORD conference some PD's were very blunt...no 4 slor, no interview. "anyone can write a brilliant novel but how did you really do?" was their validation for that.

I'd be interested in hearing which places require 4 SLOE's... That's absurd.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

I'd be interested in hearing which places require 4 SLOE's... That's absurd.

Unless things have really changed in the past year, 4 SLOEs is beyond absurd. They want two. The third SLOE is optional. The fourth indicates you blew all of your elective time in the ED rather than outside of it learning something else.

 

[BoardingDoc]

4 SLOEs? Really?? All of the programs I've seen want 3 letters with at least 2 of them being SLOEs. I think 4 is overkill...but then again I'm applying just like you....

This is what I saw during interview season as well. This whole "4 SLORs or no interview" thing sounds insane to me and it doesn't even make sense. Unless you get the 4 SLORs all from different institutions MSmentor018's argument of "anyone can write a brilliant novel but how did you really do?" doesn't make sense. One SLOR answers that question completely for each rotation. I have no idea why a program director would want 3 people from the same hospital repeating where that person is going to fall on their rank list. Do they think the first person is lying on the SLOR?

 

[MRSAful Fate]

Unless things have really changed in the past year, 4 SLOEs is beyond absurd. They want two. The third SLOE is optional. The fourth indicates you blew all of your elective time in the ED rather than outside of it learning something else.

I don't really understand the hate on doing more than three months of EM. My 4th year is basically all electives, why not spend a bunch of that time in the ED? I like being in the ED, there's so much to learn and I'm getting to see the differences in training styles at a bunch of places. Not really seeing the downside. I've also got an ICU month and anesthesia with open space to fill in my schedule.



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[Modafinil]

Do what you want. I felt that there were things I wanted to enjoy rather than do 30 EM rotations. That is what residency and the rest of my life is for. I don't regret it for a second.

 

[kkinase]

Does anyone know what programs still offer the PGY2-4 EM track? I tried searching on SDN and SAEM but most either went to the 1-4/1-3 or they are an AOA EM residency. Am in a prelim medicine year now and strongly considering switching to EM from another specialty.

 

[normtheniner]

I will have 2 SLOE's and an additional LOR from a non-ED doctor from third year. I don't think that would really put me at a disadvantage. My advisor here told me not to do a ton of EM rotations and a home rotation and one away rotation was good enough.

 

[MSmentor018]

This is what I saw during interview season as well. This whole "4 SLORs or no interview" thing sounds insane to me and it doesn't even make sense. Unless you get the 4 SLORs all from different institutions MSmentor018's argument of "anyone can write a brilliant novel but how did you really do?" doesn't make sense. One SLOR answers that question completely for each rotation. I have no idea why a program director would want 3 people from the same hospital repeating where that person is going to fall on their rank list. Do they think the first person is lying on the SLOR?

sorry I think we're getting our posts mixed up. the PD's wanted 4 different ones and perferredably from the same region you're applying to. they all attend the same conferences and such. knowing the letter writer personally gives it more weight. I agree, obviously getting 4 from the same place brings to the table a skewed perception but if your a student and that's all you got...

 

[MSmentor018]

Do what you want. I felt that there were things I wanted to enjoy rather than do 30 EM rotations. That is what residency and the rest of my life is for. I don't regret it for a second.

I don't really understand the hate on doing more than three months of EM. My 4th year is basically all electives, why not spend a bunch of that time in the ED? I like being in the ED, there's so much to learn and I'm getting to see the differences in training styles at a bunch of places. Not really seeing the downside. I've also got an ICU month and anesthesia with open space to fill in my schedule.

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I agree with both of you. the purpose of cranking out a bunch of EM rotations is not to learn residency per se (you'll learn something everyday just for showing up), its' for the face time, meeting the program/people, getting the interview locked in; ie playing the game. make the most of your time esp if you're trying to get in somewhere specific or if you're not a great candidate on paper.
modafinil is right, you'll have plenty of time to learn EM and I actually valued my off service months b/c you're out of the dept. which mixed it up a little. as a MS4 I focused everything on EM from july-jan, rotations, interviews, shadowing, showing up at conferences, emailing residents, making phone calls...etc. then feb-jun did all the other rotations I wanted including prepping for residency like anesthesia, diff airway course, ICU, trauma service, ultrasound....etc

 

[sylvanthus]

sorry I think we're getting our posts mixed up. the PD's wanted 4 different ones and perferredably from the same region you're applying to. they all attend the same conferences and such. knowing the letter writer personally gives it more weight. I agree, obviously getting 4 from the same place brings to the table a skewed perception but if your a student and that's all you got...

4 different SLORs is a tad ridiculous IMO. Few students even have time to be able to do that many rotations specific to EM. Also, it totally hoses those students coming from schools without a home EM residency. Those students may end up doing FIVE EM rotations to get these letters. Yes, I know you can toss in EM ultrasound or tox or whatever to get another letter, but I still think it is exceedingly excessive.

 

[normtheniner]

Anybody have a good idea of what the "reach" programs are in the southeast? Ultimately I hope to end up where I'm most happy at.... but most EM residency websites don't really give me an idea of how competitive they are... I'd like my list of programs that I plan to apply to to be a good mix of all types of programs...

 

[OCDEMS]

Reading this thread makes me anxious. How many elective EM rotations does the "average" applicant do? How many interviews is it common to attend and is the general expectation during 4th year that you miss days on your ongoing rotations to make these interviews?

 

[medicsb]

Does anyone know what programs still offer the PGY2-4 EM track? I tried searching on SDN and SAEM but most either went to the 1-4/1-3 or they are an AOA EM residency. Am in a prelim medicine year now and strongly considering switching to EM from another specialty.

The few that were left all converted to PGY 1-4 a few years ago.

 

[deleted547339]

Anybody have a good idea of what the "reach" programs are in the southeast? Ultimately I hope to end up where I'm most happy at.... but most EM residency websites don't really give me an idea of how competitive they are... I'd like my list of programs that I plan to apply to to be a good mix of all types of programs...

Impossible to get a straight answer as places don't publish their data.

 

[BoardingDoc]

Reading this thread makes me anxious. How many elective EM rotations does the "average" applicant do? How many interviews is it common to attend and is the general expectation during 4th year that you miss days on your ongoing rotations to make these interviews?

My anecdotal evidence? Average number of em rotations is 2, maybe 3. Home, plus 1-2 aways. Interviews to attend depends on your stats, comfort level and obviously how many interview offers you get but as an AMG MD student, you need to go on approximately 10-12 interviews to have a 97+% chance of matching. Google charting the match for the exact numbers. I did 2.5 rotations (one was a 2 week rotation) and attended 10 interviews. Yes, you will miss days on your ongoing rotations to attend interviews, but it's expected that you take most of Nov/Dec off to mitigate this fact.

 

[OCDEMS]

My anecdotal evidence? Average number of em rotations is 2, maybe 3. Home, plus 1-2 aways. Interviews to attend depends on your stats, comfort level and obviously how many interview offers you get but as an AMG MD student, you need to go on approximately 10-12 interviews to have a 97+% chance of matching. Google charting the match for the exact numbers. I did 2.5 rotations (one was a 2 week rotation) and attended 10 interviews. Yes, you will miss days on your ongoing rotations to attend interviews, but it's expected that you take most of Nov/Dec off to mitigate this fact.

Most of November and December off? Do most schools give 4th year students that much time off?

 

[deleted547339]

My school gave 2 months off. You could use any amount of that for step 2 or interviews. Most people did 2 wk step 2 and 6 wk interviews. People who wanted to really bump their step 2 score did 1/1.