[2018-2019] Emergency Medicine Application Thread

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2019 emergency medicine application thread
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I promise all of you, if you go back last year at this same time, you would see all the same anxious posts about "should I be worried". Don't worry yet. Worry come the first week of November if you aren't at sitting on at least 6 or more interviews at that point. Do not worry now.
 
gamerEMdoc said:
I promise all of you, if you go back last year at this same time, you would see all the same anxious posts about "should I be worried". Don't worry yet. Worry come the first week of November if you aren't at sitting on at least 6 or more interviews at that point. Do not worry now.
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Thoughts on reaching out to a program (that I really like on paper) in a region I already have clustered interviews where I’ll be for 2 weeks? At least on the spreadsheet that program has sent out at least first maybe second round of interviews. Thanks so much!


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borderlineinCle said:
Thoughts on reaching out to a program (that I really like on paper) in a region I already have clustered interviews where I’ll be for 2 weeks? At least on the spreadsheet that program has sent out at least first maybe second round of interviews. Thanks so much!


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If you do reach out to them, don't mention the other regional interviews. I know "in the area" emails were a thing for some reason in med school admissions, but not really for residency interviews. If they give you an interview invite for a date that falls outside of your other clustered dates, would you still go?
 
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surely said:
If you do reach out to them, don't mention the other regional interviews. I know "in the area" emails were a thing for some reason in med school admissions, but not really for residency interviews. If they give you an interview invite for a date that falls outside of your other clustered dates, would you still go?
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For that school, yes absolutely. Good call, I won’t do that. Thanks, surely!


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Garferies said:
It's not more so about the application status, but the fact that I am doing an elective nearby two programs I was interested in. If they could let me shadow, I could maybe decide later in the future whether I would accept their interview invitation based on what I have seen for 1-2 days if I had too many to sift through. But wondering if asking them to shadow is seen as too "bothersome" for them, especially since I do not know if they will give me an interview.
Click to expand...

Yeah I honestly think it would be bothersome at this point. Every place is jammed packed with students on rotation. Having a student who decided to rotate elsewhere asking to come shadow for a shift while they are rotating elsewhere would probably be perceived negatively, at least at some places.
 
gamerEMdoc said:
I promise all of you, if you go back last year at this same time, you would see all the same anxious posts about "should I be worried". Don't worry yet. Worry come the first week of November if you aren't at sitting on at least 6 or more interviews at that point. Do not worry now.
Click to expand...

I really truly appreciate you chiming in with this.
 
Garferies said:
Would it be better if if you were doing an elective at that institution then? I drop by their ED sometimes due to this MICU rotation and have interacted with some of their staff, but I do not bring up shadowing based on your points above.
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Sure, if you were already at the hospital doing a rotation in something else, I totally think its reasonable to work an ED shift or two.
 
borderlineinCle said:
Is there a reason someone made the spreadsheet private?


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Click to expand...

It was me! I had to do some cleanup, and having everyone logged in at the same time risked something getting mangled, so I took it down for ~20 minutes. Should be back up now, but I'm continuing to work on it and do some little fixes.
 
May have been answered before, but does it make any difference on interviewing in November vs December for a program?
 
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I just had a SLOE ulpoaded, and just assigned it to all of my programs. Do I need to email them all, or do they receive a notification that I had a new SLOE, or is it early enough that it doesnt matter?
 
KVBane said:
I just had a SLOE ulpoaded, and just assigned it to all of my programs. Do I need to email them all, or do they receive a notification that I had a new SLOE, or is it early enough that it doesnt matter?
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I honestly don't know the answer to this question. I don't think programs are notified, but on the other hand, some have eluded on here that they are somehow. Maybe there is a notification setting on the programs end in ERAS. I can check with my coordinator to be sure tomorrow if I remember, because this question keeps popping up. It probably doesn't matter a ton at this point, its still pretty early.
 
EMhopeful2 said:
I read somewhere that if you apply to a lot of places (100+) but only get 20 interviews total and go on all of them, even though you ranked 20 your chances of matching are not high because you applied to so many programs and in reality weren't that great an applicant because you only received 20 IVs (compared to if you applied to only 50 places and got 20 interviews). I hope there's no truth to that?
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Where did you hear that? If 20 programs brought you into interview that means they’re interested. My guess is that the best way to not match is to mess up all the interviews pretty badly.... idk maybe I’m wrong


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EMhopeful2 said:
I read somewhere that if you apply to a lot of places (100+) but only get 20 interviews total and go on all of them, even though you ranked 20 your chances of matching are not high because you applied to so many programs and in reality weren't that great an applicant because you only received 20 IVs (compared to if you applied to only 50 places and got 20 interviews). I hope there's no truth to that?
Click to expand...
Zero truth to that.

Go on a max of 12 interviews.

Of 997 applicants who went on 12 or more interviews last year, *only 9 people didn't match.*
Screenshot_20181010-175300.jpeg
 
borderlineinCle said:
Serious question: how do we decide which programs to cancel if we like a lot of them on paper?


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Click to expand...
No good answer to this question.

I would personally start with geography.

That said, I am an advocate of (slightly) "over-interviewing". I'm not saying you need to go on 30 interviews when the data say there's marginal utility >12 (or whatever #). But I only interviewed at my eventual #1 (and match) because it was geographically convenient for me to do so while I was visiting my family for the holidays. 2 of the 3 programs that I thought would be in my Top 3 (prior to interviews) didn't wind up in my Top 10 once my ROL went in.
 
EMhopeful2 said:
I read somewhere that if you apply to a lot of places (100+) but only get 20 interviews total and go on all of them, even though you ranked 20 your chances of matching are not high because you applied to so many programs and in reality weren't that great an applicant because you only received 20 IVs (compared to if you applied to only 50 places and got 20 interviews). I hope there's no truth to that?
Click to expand...

Yeah, people greatly overthink these numbers. If you get 20 interviews, you are going to be just fine.
 
gutonc said:
No good answer to this question.

I would personally start with geography.

That said, I am an advocate of (slightly) "over-interviewing". I'm not saying you need to go on 30 interviews when the data say there's marginal utility >12 (or whatever #). But I only interviewed at my eventual #1 (and match) because it was geographically convenient for me to do so while I was visiting my family for the holidays. 2 of the 3 programs that I thought would be in my Top 3 (prior to interviews) didn't wind up in my Top 10 once my ROL went in.
Click to expand...

I agree, I think most narrow it down by geography. Which is why programs filter based on geography.
 
So I just realized I uploaded all my SLOEs as "Department Chair" letters. Is this something I should e-mail ERAS and get changed? Or am I just being neurotic thinking that could be a contributor to my poor number of IIs?
 
TSwizzy said:
So I just realized I uploaded all my SLOEs as "Department Chair" letters. Is this something I should e-mail ERAS and get changed? Or am I just being neurotic thinking that could be a contributor to my poor number of IIs?
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One of my letter writers said it didn't really matter if this box was checked or not and it was more of a thing before everyone wrote departmental SLOEs.

Anyone getting a good number of interviews with only 2 letters total in application? Everyone says you can get interviews with only 1-2 SLOEs but I'm wondering if these people have other letters to make their application "complete" in the meantime.
 
whatisthisstuff said:
One of my letter writers said it didn't really matter if this box was checked or not and it was more of a thing before everyone wrote departmental SLOEs.

Anyone getting a good number of interviews with only 2 letters total in application? Everyone says you can get interviews with only 1-2 SLOEs but I'm wondering if these people have other letters to make their application "complete" in the meantime.
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I didn't really get any interviews with only 1 SLOE and 1 non-EM letter. I started getting them once my second SLOE came in and I had then 3 total.
 
Question: am I screwed? No interview invites yet and i submitted most apps on first day. Applied to over 60 programs... two IM invites but that's backup. What should I do at this point? I'mfreaking out.

Stats:
Step 1 238
Step 2 250
Comlex 1 704
Comlex 2 658
Failed comlex PE 🙁
Svi of 14 🙁
2 out of 3 SLOEs currently submitted, afraid to submit third cuz i think itmay be very generic, but other 2 should be decently reviewed
Good extracurriculars, 2 service related scholarships
Top quartile of class
Former ER scribe for 2.5 years

I'm really freaked out I have no interviews yet... how worried should I be and what should i do?
 
Mr. MCAT said:
Question: am I screwed? No interview invites yet and i submitted most apps on first day. Applied to over 60 programs... two IM invites but that's backup. What should I do at this point? I'mfreaking out.

Stats:
Step 1 238
Step 2 250
Comlex 1 704
Comlex 2 658
Failed comlex PE 🙁
Svi of 14 🙁
2 out of 3 SLOEs currently submitted, afraid to submit third cuz i think itmay be very generic, but other 2 should be decently reviewed
Good extracurriculars, 2 service related scholarships
Top quartile of class
Former ER scribe for 2.5 years

I'm really freaked out I have no interviews yet... how worried should I be and what should i do?
Click to expand...

A lot of programs require 3 letters for completion, it would probably be to your benefit to submit your 3rd SLOE, unless you know it’s going to be a very negative SLOE (generic does not equal negative). Seems like you have solid scores with only on red flag. From what I’ve been reading, it’s still early in the season, so I wouldn’t stress too much.
 
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Mr. MCAT said:
Question: am I screwed? No interview invites yet and i submitted most apps on first day. Applied to over 60 programs... two IM invites but that's backup. What should I do at this point? I'mfreaking out.

Stats:
Step 1 238
Step 2 250
Comlex 1 704
Comlex 2 658
Failed comlex PE 🙁
Svi of 14 🙁
2 out of 3 SLOEs currently submitted, afraid to submit third cuz i think itmay be very generic, but other 2 should be decently reviewed
Good extracurriculars, 2 service related scholarships
Top quartile of class
Former ER scribe for 2.5 years

I'm really freaked out I have no interviews yet... how worried should I be and what should i do?
Click to expand...

My stats are very similar (no PE failure but also a not great SVI) and I only have two non-audition interviews, both of which came before October 1st. It has been a long ten days without any more invites.
 
:)) said:
Anyone else unable to edit the spreadsheet? Maybe too many people viewing at the same time? Surely @surely will save us 🙂
Click to expand...

It's happened to me a few times, seems like if there's >100 people viewing it locks out new people from editing. Just exit out and open it up again in few minutes and the numbers have usually gone down enough to edit.
 
Mr. MCAT said:
Question: am I screwed? No interview invites yet and i submitted most apps on first day. Applied to over 60 programs... two IM invites but that's backup. What should I do at this point? I'mfreaking out.

Stats:
Step 1 238
Step 2 250
Comlex 1 704
Comlex 2 658
Failed comlex PE 🙁
Svi of 14 🙁
2 out of 3 SLOEs currently submitted, afraid to submit third cuz i think itmay be very generic, but other 2 should be decently reviewed
Good extracurriculars, 2 service related scholarships
Top quartile of class
Former ER scribe for 2.5 years

I'm really freaked out I have no interviews yet... how worried should I be and what should i do?
Click to expand...


I have similar stats, no red flag, and no non-ai interviews. I'm hoping its just still early.
 
Random Question- currently on an away that would be my third SLOE. I had one of my fave attending's write me a personal letter of rec which i submitted with my first 2 SLOES so I would have three letters total on 9/15. This rotation has been sort of meh but its going fine. My current plan is to have them write me a SLOE and then assign it to programs but not send any emails to programs letting them know its there. That way, I have it if they go looking for it and but I won't be drawing attention to something that likely is not as strong as my other SLOES. From what I understand, you really shouldn't forgo a SLOE from an audition but I don't necessarily want to draw attention to this letter. Thoughts on this situation, what would you do?
 
When you get waitlisted, do you typically email them to let them know you want to stay on their waitlist? Or do you wait until you get off it?

Also, does anyone have any example letters of interest for programs? I have no idea how short/long they're supposed to be.
 
FutureDOJosh said:
My stats are very similar (no PE failure but also a not great SVI) and I only have two non-audition interviews, both of which came before October 1st. It has been a long ten days without any more invites.
Click to expand...

Where did you two apply? Did you apply too top heavy? How many legacy AOA spots did you apply? Similar stats with three SLOEs and got an invite at nearly every DO place I applied. Similar story for two friends with much weaker stats than both of you. One had a PE failure as well. It hugely matters where you apply.
 
Rekt said:
Where did you two apply? Did you apply too top heavy? How many legacy AOA spots did you apply? Similar stats with three SLOEs and got an invite at nearly every DO place I applied. Similar story for two friends with much weaker stats than both of you. One had a PE failure as well. It hugely matters where you apply.
Click to expand...

I applied to a wide variety, most of the midwest programs, PA, Florida, and Texas (family). I only applied to one 4-year program because it is my home program. I think legacy AOA programs make up about around 10 of my 50 apps.
 
Rekt said:
Where did you two apply? Did you apply too top heavy? How many legacy AOA spots did you apply? Similar stats with three SLOEs and got an invite at nearly every DO place I applied. Similar story for two friends with much weaker stats than both of you. One had a PE failure as well. It hugely matters where you apply.
Click to expand...

Same boat. However I only have a total of 2 letters uploaded, both SLOEs. Not sure if not having 3 letters total is affecting my app. Last away is taking quite a while to get my 3rd sloe in
 
John Red said:
.

Sadly the latter ☹️. Hoping its due to not having the 3rd letter, otherwise I severely overestimated my competitiveness. And I put myself as smack average as far as that goes
Click to expand...

I’m sitting at 1 (non-home program) interview. I didn’t think that, as a re-applicant, that NO ONE even want to interview me.

Note to those that may have red flags, have a backup because EM is NOT kind to those who don’t match the first time around!


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narcan't said:
Million dollar question right there...
PDs on the ALIEM podcast said they get an email notification when there's new material but an EM PD told my friend yesterday that they do not get notifications. So who the hell knows. Transparency in this process would make too much sense...
Click to expand...

Yes and no. There's no separate e-mail notification (at least not by default) but you can see it on the ERAS dashboard. That said, there's so many applicants (we usually surpass the 1,000 applicant mark each season) that you probably aren't going to see it because there's so much info on that dashboard. When we open the file we can see that the LOR is timestamped for newer than our last time we looked at it though. I usually advise the subinterns that rotate with me to e-mail the coordinator letting them know there's a new SLOE up once it's late October-ish or later.
 
Rekt said:
Where did you two apply? Did you apply too top heavy? How many legacy AOA spots did you apply? Similar stats with three SLOEs and got an invite at nearly every DO place I applied. Similar story for two friends with much weaker stats than both of you. One had a PE failure as well. It hugely matters where you apply.
Click to expand...

I probably applied a bit too top heavy, but thought it was achievable. Now I'm wondering if I should just go add programs now.
 
Has anyone not uploaded a #4 SLOE (I feel really shaky on this last rotation), and I have 3 SLOE's uploaded already.

If it's not on my transcript it is not like programs would know I did a fourth subI and didn't ask for a letter there, right? Unless I outright told them or it was on my medical school transcript.
 
kenjixshadow said:
Can someone explains what is going on? I only know 2 out of 10 ppl with more than 5 interviews at this point while it seems like many programs have already started sending out interviews. Is it because there are even more applicants this year?
Click to expand...

I have several friends with 10 + interviews . Md/DOs but all 240+ I’m sitting on 5 currently 228 :/


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Dr.Jekyll75 said:
I have several friends with 10 + interviews . Md/DOs but all 240+ I’m sitting on 5 currently 228 :/


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Click to expand...
I honestly think board scores have less to do with this than SLOEs to be honest. I have < 220 and sitting on quite a few at the moment, but I think a lot of it has to do with SLOEs / extracurriculars to be honest. it seems that EM really is taking a holistic approach to applicants, or at least they did for my application. keep the faith!
 
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