Emergency Medicine Residencies

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drmoon

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How competitive are ER residencies for DO's?? Do they match as often as MD's??

Thanks

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The short answer:

Not terribly competitive in the osteopathic match as long as you don't care which program you end up at or if you're not concerned with the quality of patient diversity, volume, and/or acuity.

To match into an MD program, a DO needs to be well above average overall. Good board scores (USMLE helps a lot) and outstanding LOR from familiar MD programs may be the most important thing.

If I had to rank match difficulty from 0 to 10, with 0 being totally noncompetitive and 10 being the ultimate in competitiveness, then I'd put a DO matching to a DO program at a 4-5 and a DO matching to an MD program to about a 7-8.

Any other current residents care to agree or disagree?
 
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Before anyone else replies to the OP please be aware that his message was posted in 2002.
 
since both question and response were 2002 and 2006 respectively, does anyone have any 2008 common knowledge?
 
since both question and response were 2002 and 2006 respectively, does anyone have any 2008 common knowledge?

I'm confused. The original post was made in 2002. Somebody "bumped" the thread today - meaning they too were interested in some input. My response was written today as well. What's this 2006 stuff about??

zenlike: PM me if you have more questions. I'm a DO in an MD EM residency.
 
The short answer:

Not terribly competitive in the osteopathic match as long as you don't care which program you end up at or if you're not concerned with the quality of patient diversity, volume, and/or acuity.

To match into an MD program, a DO needs to be well above average overall. Good board scores (USMLE helps a lot) and outstanding LOR from familiar MD programs may be the most important thing.

If I had to rank match difficulty from 0 to 10, with 0 being totally noncompetitive and 10 being the ultimate in competitiveness, then I'd put a DO matching to a DO program at a 4-5 and a DO matching to an MD program to about a 7-8.

Any other current residents care to agree or disagree?

Good info! Along these lines how important do you think it is to have research/publications on your app. when applying to Allo EM residencies?
 
Good info! Along these lines how important do you think it is to have research/publications on your app. when applying to Allo EM residencies?

A publication is a feather in anyone's cap regardless of what field they desire to enter. However, it's less important in EM compared to certain other fields such as Derm, NS, urology...

Typically, EM programs are attracted to candidates who did well on core rotations, especially well on EM rotations, and those who are well rounded (i.e. maintain their hobbies, have lives outside of medicine). Many many successful EM matchers do so without publishing - including me!
 
Just out of curiosity... How many MD programs did you apply to, how many did you get accepted to,

what would you consider "above average" board scores,

would you consider some states more difficult/easier to get accepted to an MD EM residency as a DO?

Thanks!
 
Just out of curiosity... How many MD programs did you apply to, how many did you get accepted to,

what would you consider "above average" board scores,

would you consider some states more difficult/easier to get accepted to an MD EM residency as a DO?

Thanks!

I applied to an unusually low number of programs for various reasons. Got my first choice. An applicant only matches (or doesn't match) to one program. There are no "acceptances."

It's difficult to say exactly what an above average board score is because averages change, the competitiveness of any given specialty changes a bit from year to year.

Some MD EM programs are more difficult to match into. What state the program(s) is in has nothing to do with it.
 
Apologies for my residency ineptitude... Thanks for the expedient reply!
 
Thanks for the info Valsalva! I'll probably be in the same boat in a few years. Currently looking at EM and will probably be looking at a few MD programs around here.

Did you strictly do the allo match? What made you go this route instead an DO-EM program?
 
Thanks for the info Valsalva! I'll probably be in the same boat in a few years. Currently looking at EM and will probably be looking at a few MD programs around here.

Did you strictly do the allo match? What made you go this route instead an DO-EM program?

I did strictly the allo match for two primary reasons.

1. geography
2. more uniform quality from program to program

good luck!
 
I did strictly the allo match for two primary reasons.

1. geography
2. more uniform quality from program to program

good luck!


Valsava, for an MD EM program, how important are core science grades (first two years)...I have a friend now at a DO school and he is averaging an 85% but that is not even half the class. Is that a bad thing? Would a good board score still keep you competitiive. It is so competitive, and I am not sure how important class rank is, escpecially since it was very important in undergrad.
 
There are now 41 DO EM programs, several of them are dually accredited by the ACGME as well. The field of emergency medicine as a whole is becoming more and more competitive regardless of which match you are applying to. The AOA match took place on the 11th and there were only 12 or 13 spots for EM that did not fill from the match and to my knowledge most of them have already been scrambled for. The 2008 ACGME match has not yet occured, but in 2007 there were only 6 spots that did not initially fill. I think this speaks to how competitive the field is becoming. No, most EM programs are not terribly worried about research and publications as a requirement, but again it will obviously help your app. Alot of the people I know who match have prior EMS background, again that is not a requirement, but does help. As stated before alot of EM people have avid hobbies that they pursue outside of medicine and you discussing your passion for skydiving, scuba, deep sea fishing, etc... will probably rile up some conversation with atleast one of the faculty interviewing you. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the DO programs.

Matt
National Secretary, ACOEP-Student Chapter
 
Graduated Western, now at U Buffalo EM residency. PM or post questions.

There was a survey of EM PD several years ago and the things they considered important were:

LOR (SLOR - CORD EM)
EM rotation grades
scores
other clinical grades
preclinical grades
research

These were more or less in order of importance.

I rotated at USC, got a good LOR from that rotation. I also did an EM ultrasound rotation at UCI because that was my area of interest. It was brought up many times. My board scores COMLEX and USMLE, step I/II were the national average. But I had a lot of previous EMS experience prior to med school, so I also had that to put on paper.

Don't discount a lot of the DO EM programs. There are some quality programs. One that I interviewed at was Lehigh Valley. Great program, technology-forward, good didactics. Skipped the DO match due to qeography, otherwise Lehigh would have been my #1.

Other links:

http://www.saem.org/inform/medstudent/osteo.html

http://www.aaemrsa.org/resources/osteopaths/index.php?topic=opinions
 
Valsava, for an MD EM program, how important are core science grades (first two years)...I have a friend now at a DO school and he is averaging an 85% but that is not even half the class. Is that a bad thing? Would a good board score still keep you competitiive. It is so competitive, and I am not sure how important class rank is, escpecially since it was very important in undergrad.

Pre-clinical grades? Not very important. See above link by tkim.

Whatever you do, don't fail any rotations during your 3rd or 4th year. When our program got together to rank this years candidates, we had a couple applicants that were vetoed right away b/c they had failed a rotation.

Rock your EM rotations and acquire letters from people who seemed to be impressed by your work - preferably chairs, directors, asst. directors...
 
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