Did they really give a list of things they were looking for? If so, I think that is the best rejection I have heard of yet.... There are one or two that I really expected to get an invite from and would love to legitimately know what kind of applicant they are looking for, if for nothing else just out of curiousity.
Dear Applicant:
Thank you sincerely for your interest in our program. We annually receive over
1000 applications for our ten EM-1 slots, and can only interview a limited
number of candidates. Obviously, there are many of you that are very well
qualified and deserving of a residency slot in our program, and I apologize
that we cannot offer you an interview at this time.
When looking at an application, we consider all aspects of the candidate's
record. If a candidate has deficiencies in one or more areas, then we look to
other areas to see if they have done something extraordinary to balance out
the deficiency. The items that we consider important are as follows:
Medical school attended
Medical school grades
Exposure and experience in Emergency Medicine
Past medical and other experiences
Maturity
Leadership qualities
Involvement in Emergency Medicine organizations
Commitment to the specialty
Standard Letters of Reference (SLORs) from Emergency Medicine programs
Other letters of reference
Board scores
Publications, presentations
Personality
Being well-rounded
Work ethic and dedication to self-improvement
The final decision to interview rests purely on the opinion of the interview
committee members regarding these criteria and a comparison with the other
applicants, and does by necessity remain somewhat subjective. I cannot provide
more specific feedback as to why a candidate was not accepted for an
interview, because doing so may compromise the confidentiality of letters of
reference or create other issues. The vast majority of candidates are
well-qualified, but are not invited only because of the numbers which we face.
Best wishes on a successful emergency medicine career.
Sincerely,
Kelly P. O'Keefe, M.D., FACEP
Program Director