[2019-2020] Emergency Medicine Application Thread

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At what point can we start dropping interviews?
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STEMI_voy said:
At what point can we start dropping interviews?
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You need 10-12. Hit that number then start replacing your low tier.

FYI asking about dropping interviews this early when some people are still really light on them could be considered poor form.
 
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I personally don't mind. Drop them so i can have them!
mancub said:
You need 10-12. Hit that number then start replacing your low tier.

FYI asking about dropping interviews this early when some people are still really light on them could be considered poor form.
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Sent from my VS996 using SDN mobile
 
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medhopeful82 said:
When you "dig up" invites this way... do you actually have a good chance of being ranked highly on the program's list? Or does it just make us neurotic students feel better to say we completed the magic number of interviews?
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Sure. You either will meet their criteria to interview or not, and if you do, once you have your foot in the door, you'll be ranked just like anyone else. If 1000 people apply for 100 interviews, lets say 400 of those meet the programs interview criteria. That means 300 people get excluded for interviews when they otherwise on paper would meet criteria to interview. They just get screened out for other reasons (ie geography).
 
PEAK WEEK bros and bro-ettes, may the interviews be with you....

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Is anyone taking half of tomorrow off so they can book offers if they get it? Is this a good strategy or nah?
 
SketchySattar said:
Is anyone taking half of tomorrow off so they can book offers if they get it? Is this a good strategy or nah?
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The unified release programs send the invites tomorrow, but you can’t sign up until Wednesday the 16th, so no I wouldn’t take half of tomorrow off!
 
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Is it too late to apply to more programs?? Extremely low yield right now, with otherwise very competitive stats.. worried about malignant SLOEs at this point.
 
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TTPpentad said:
The unified release programs send the invites tomorrow, but you can’t sign up until Wednesday the 16th, so no I wouldn’t take half of tomorrow off!
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Not to add to people's paranoia, but last year Stanford sent out an actual invite signup link on Unified Release day and I didn't realize until I re-read the email over an hour later because I assumed they were participating in Unified Release and the invite would be coming the day after. The other programs I heard from that day (which were all on the "official" unified release program list) all followed the "notification today, sign up tomorrow" rule. So just make sure to read your emails carefully!
 
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125MGCoffeePRN said:
Is it too late to apply to more programs?? Extremely low yield right now, with otherwise very competitive stats.. worried about malignant SLOEs at this point.
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Switch it out for another letter and shotgun

What do you have to lose?

Money? Just a drop in the bucket at this point
 
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eatkalteenbars said:
Not to add to people's paranoia, but last year Stanford sent out an actual invite signup link on Unified Release day and I didn't realize until I re-read the email over an hour later because I assumed they were participating in Unified Release and the invite would be coming the day after. The other programs I heard from that day (which were all on the "official" unified release program list) all followed the "notification today, sign up tomorrow" rule. So just make sure to read your emails carefully!
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How quickly did spots fill on the sign up day? I'm nervous we'll only have time to get our top 2 or 3 before its full
 
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Are there enough interview spots for everyone who gets an invitation? Because if not, I'm considering taking a half day off tomorrow to sit beside my laptop.
 
Doctor W said:
Are there enough interview spots for everyone who gets an invitation? Because if not, I'm considering taking a half day off tomorrow to sit beside my laptop.
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4/5 of my invites there were enough spots available, although I did respond fairly quickly (at least within 30 minutes). Univ of Mississippi I responded within 15 min and the spots were gone so I am on waitlist for multiple dates. The APD says she is "confident" I will get off the waitlist. I do not understand why a program would invite more people than you actual have spots open....if an applicant is pretty good but maybe not first wave competitive, just waitlist them right off the bat....maybe some lurking APDs/PDs can provide an explanation.
 
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These programs are just playing with us lol
 
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I was able to schedule today, so just a heads up not all programs are waiting until tomorrow to schedule.
 
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Ut San Antonio just sent out invites. They used interview broker and had to schedule immediately. All spots gone in 25 min. If anyone else scheduled for dec 10th ill see u there :]
 
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Also had 2/3 offers today allow me to schedule right away instead of waiting for tomorrow.
 
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Just got one, so some still firing away
 
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The trend that I am noticing that most of us currently sitting on 0-3 interviews got a "Pass" (or at least got a good idea) for first rotation. I do realize maybe not everyone updates the spreadsheet that often, but seems more than coincidence.

SLOE Lower Third Ranking: Is it the Kiss of Death? - ppt download This info seems to suggest it isn't the kiss of death, but kinda seems like it isn't very favorable.

Hoping that as all the "higher-tier" people drop interviews that we get some love. Maybe we are just at the lower-end of the waitlist because of our SLOE rankings? At first I thought it was being DO and not having USMLE but I have a classmate with almost similar scores who is racking them up.

Just wanted to also say my heart goes out to those of you still sitting at zero. I am sitting at one and not feeling so great, especially considering all of the places in my region (including newer programs) have not shown me any attention at all. I can't imagine how you guys feel. I know we have been given the advice of not to hit the panic button until November, so lets try to keep a positive outlook. Hopefully, we will rack them up in the next couple of weeks.
 
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PrayForUs said:
The trend that I am noticing that most of us currently sitting on 0-3 interviews got a "Pass" (or at least got a good idea) for first rotation. I do realize maybe not everyone updates the spreadsheet that often, but seems more than coincidence.

SLOE Lower Third Ranking: Is it the Kiss of Death? - ppt download This info seems to suggest it isn't the kiss of death, but kinda seems like it isn't very favorable.

Hoping that as all the "higher-tier" people drop interviews that we get some love. Maybe we are just at the lower-end of the waitlist because of our SLOE rankings? At first I thought it was being DO and not having USMLE but I have a classmate with almost similar scores who is racking them up.

Just wanted to also say my heart goes out to those of you still sitting at zero. I am sitting at one and not feeling so great, especially considering all of the places in my region (including newer programs) have not shown me any attention at all. I can't imagine how you guys feel. I know we have been given the advice of not to hit the panic button until November, so lets try to keep a positive outlook. Hopefully, we will rack them up in the next couple of weeks.
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Yeah its almost universally always the SLOEs. Not being a DO. Not boards. Its the SLOEs. Every year after the match when someone either doesn't match, or before when they aren't getting interviews, and I get asked to look at their app, there is always a low 1/3 SLOE, and often more than one. Every. Single. Time.

That being said, I do agree that a single low 1/3 SLOE is not the kiss of death. But in combination with other factors (like a boards failure, a 2nd low 1/3 SLOE, a leave of absence, etc) it can be. Several low 1/3 SLOEs basically sink the app typically, and oftentimes when you see someone who has multiple low 1/3 SLOEs, there are damning comments on at least one of them about the candidate. Typically something about them being difficult to work with, resistant to feedback, etc.

Lack of many interviews at this point does not mean you have terrible SLOEs though. I can tell you, people with top 10 and top 1/3 SLOEs rake in early interviews. That's where we are, the early interview timeframe. The mid 1/3 SLOE range typically will get a few interviews, places they rotate and some regional places. But many of the interviews for the mid range folks, and most of the interviews for the lower 1/3 folks, are going to come in a later wave of interviews for when the top 10 / top 1/3 types decline interviews and cancel interviews. There are typically plenty of interviews to be had come November.
 
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How about not getting any rejections? I have not received any rejections yet. Does it mean I should be hopeful?
 
FMER said:
How about not getting any rejections? I have not received any rejections yet. Does it mean I should be hopeful?
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I actually don't know how many places actually send out rejection emails. I mean, I click "doesn't meat guidelines" when I reject an app, but I have no idea if ERAS notifies someone when I do this. I put "select for interview" the ones I want to interview. I click waitlist for anyone that I think would be a good waitlist candidate if we've burned through the selected for interview group by the end. Maybe there is a way to reject and app and have eras notify the candidate but I haven't found it. In talking to students over the years, I think silent rejection is the norm, probably because everyone applies to so many places that arent even going to look at their app, so the app never gets viewed and therefore never reaches "rejection" status in the first place.
 
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If a nurse complained that you were rude to them and it got documented in a SLOE is that a kiss of death so to speak? I initially applied to a bunch of programs with this SLOE and had very low yield with interview invites despite Honoring all my EM rotations (roughly 5% interview yield). I sent out 2 applications without this SLOE last week and I am 1 for 2 in interview invites. Not sure if I should send out more applications without this SLOE. I have two other SLOEs I can use both very positive and honors as well. I'm at 7 interviews total.

Just curious on thoughts.
 
E=mc^2 said:
If a nurse complained that you were rude to them and it got documented in a SLOE is that a kiss of death so to speak? I initially applied to a bunch of programs with this SLOE and had very low yield with interview invites despite Honoring all my EM rotations (roughly 5% interview yield). I sent out 2 applications without this SLOE last week and I am 1 for 2 in interview invites. Not sure if I should send out more applications without this SLOE. I have two other SLOEs I can use both very positive and honors as well. I'm at 7 interviews total.

Just curious on thoughts.
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How do you know thats in the sloe? Yes negative statements like this can definitely hurt, but typically arent a kiss of death if the other sloes are very positive. I mean, you have 7 interviews. I think its more likely that you have a 5% yield because you applied to 140 programs (assuming you are truly at 5% yield). If you did, your app may only be getting looked at by 10-20% of the places you applied depending on your other factors that could get you screened out (geography mainly and/or boards).

7 interviews is a very good number of interviews right now. I assure you, if you have 7, you do not have anything that is a “kiss of death” on your app. You could have a negative statement, but clearly the other stuff is positive enough that programs would overlook it.

If you did absolutely know this was in your sloe, I would consider omiting it if you did apply to more. But its unnecessary at this point if you truly applied to more than 100, and also unnecessary if you have 7 interviews already.
 
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Hey friends. Question, when sending a LOI to select programs that you would love to hear from, do you typically attach personal statement and CV? If so, do you typically just download these from ERAS and attach? Sorry if this is neurotic. Thanks :)
 
Out of curiosity how do people find out what's on their SLOEs? I got good feedback from both my SLOE sites throughout the course of my rotations there, and the written evals that I received from both were glowing. I can only assume that same sentiment was reflected in the SLOEs they wrote. However, here I am in late October without a single interview offer yet, so I'm trying to figure out where I went wrong.
 
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gamerEMdoc said:
Yeah its almost universally always the SLOEs. Not being a DO. Not boards. Its the SLOEs. Every year after the match when someone either doesn't match, or before when they aren't getting interviews, and I get asked to look at their app, there is always a low 1/3 SLOE, and often more than one. Every. Single. Time.

That being said, I do agree that a single low 1/3 SLOE is not the kiss of death. But in combination with other factors (like a boards failure, a 2nd low 1/3 SLOE, a leave of absence, etc) it can be. Several low 1/3 SLOEs basically sink the app typically, and oftentimes when you see someone who has multiple low 1/3 SLOEs, there are damning comments on at least one of them about the candidate. Typically something about them being difficult to work with, resistant to feedback, etc.

Lack of many interviews at this point does not mean you have terrible SLOEs though. I can tell you, people with top 10 and top 1/3 SLOEs rake in early interviews. That's where we are, the early interview timeframe. The mid 1/3 SLOE range typically will get a few interviews, places they rotate and some regional places. But many of the interviews for the mid range folks, and most of the interviews for the lower 1/3 folks, are going to come in a later wave of interviews for when the top 10 / top 1/3 types decline interviews and cancel interviews. There are typically plenty of interviews to be had come November.
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My first 2 auditions were both "Pass" out of H/HP/P... and I'm assuming this correlates with 2 bottom 1/3 SLOES. I just received my second SLOE and am wondering if I should even submit it since it's probably another bottom 1/3. My home EM rotation was not with residency program but I got an A and received a standard LOR. I am also on another audition now where I can get an individual SLOE.
I'm a DO student with decent board scores and currently have 5 IVs (2 from auditions). Feeling pretty bummed out and like I have little chance of matching now.
 
followyourdreams01 said:
My first 2 auditions were both "Pass" out of H/HP/P... and I'm assuming this correlates with 2 bottom 1/3 SLOES. I just received my second SLOE and am wondering if I should even submit it since it's probably another bottom 1/3. My home EM rotation was not with residency program but I got an A and received a standard LOR. I am also on another audition now where I can get an individual SLOE.
I'm a DO student with decent board scores and currently have 5 IVs (2 from auditions). Feeling pretty bummed out and like I have little chance of matching now.
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Pass doesnt mean bottom 1/3. If you have 5 interviews right now, you almost certainly do not have 2 low 1/3 sloes. More likely you have two mid 1/3s and will probably still have a handful of invites that will still be coming in. Even if you didnt get any more, the match rate with 5 interviews isnt that terrible. A DO who ranks 5 programs in 2018 had a 70% chance of matching for EM. Hardly little chance of matching, and thats the worst case scenario. You’ll likely have 10 or more when its all said and done.
 
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So I know we're all being a little neurotic here, but I still have to ask. And also, gamerEMdoc thank you for what you do. You're seriously an absolute treasure to put up with all of us. So I'm getting nervous as well.

I'm 22x, 25y, DO, P/H/P 3 SLOEs. Mostly good comments on evals. So I thought I was solid applying to about 60 EM. So far I've only received 3 IVs, two from the last two aways, and another random one. So considering the fact that I have only a single straight non-away EM interview... what do I need to be doing? I seriously thought it'd be going better than this. The lack of outside love is concerning.
 
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Not to be annoying, sincerely I mean that for those gunning for more interviews if you only have 0-1 so far, but what about those of us that have 30+ (31 here) but only like 7-8 from programs we're really excited about (Denver, Cinci, etc.), while about to drop more than 15 of those within the next 2-3 days, gamerEDdoc, should we expect the top programs we may be into to extend more interviews in the next few weeks to applicants like us? Or should we just expect that we got so far is the best that's yet to come? Again, sorry in advance, I feel this post is sure to get some hate...
 
EM2019Midwest said:
Not to be annoying, sincerely I mean that for those gunning for more interviews if you only have 0-1 so far, but what about those of us that have 30+ (31 here) but only like 7-8 from programs we're really excited about (Denver, Cinci, etc.), while about to drop more than 15 of those within the next 2-3 days, gamerEDdoc, should we expect the top programs we may be into to extend more interviews in the next few weeks to applicants like us? Or should we just expect that we got so far is the best that's yet to come? Again, sorry in advance, I feel this post is sure to get some hate...
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lol
 
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Sorry if my post was un cle
Apollyon said:
Huh? I first thought that you were saying you were 25 years old. You're being obfuscatory by just not writing "220, 250".
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Sorry if my post was unclear, I meant for the ones of us that have 30+ (34 for me at this point today).
 
EM2019Midwest said:
Not to be annoying, sincerely I mean that for those gunning for more interviews if you only have 0-1 so far, but what about those of us that have 30+ (31 here) but only like 7-8 from programs we're really excited about (Denver, Cinci, etc.), while about to drop more than 15 of those within the next 2-3 days, gamerEDdoc, should we expect the top programs we may be into to extend more interviews in the next few weeks to applicants like us? Or should we just expect that we got so far is the best that's yet to come? Again, sorry in advance, I feel this post is sure to get some hate...
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This is madness haha and I can't tell if you are trolling. 7-8 programs you are excited about and 2-3 lower tier is called a rank list. Drop the rest and then be stoked for whatever big ones come your way later on.
 
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Is it ok to ask your away PDs what they wrote in our SLOEs? Currently sitting at only 1 IV, and am hunting down any potential red flags in my application that I may have overlooked.
 
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EM2019Midwest said:
Not to be annoying, sincerely I mean that for those gunning for more interviews if you only have 0-1 so far, but what about those of us that have 30+ (31 here) but only like 7-8 from programs we're really excited about (Denver, Cinci, etc.), while about to drop more than 15 of those within the next 2-3 days, gamerEDdoc, should we expect the top programs we may be into to extend more interviews in the next few weeks to applicants like us? Or should we just expect that we got so far is the best that's yet to come? Again, sorry in advance, I feel this post is sure to get some hate...
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Why on earth did you accept 34 interviews? Why do you keep accepting them? You know you aren't going to go on that many. Cancel at least half of them. Immediately. You are directly hurting other peoples chances and you are wasting programs time by scheduling you, only to have to go back and find someone to reschedule. Its ok to just decline the invites you aren't serious about going on.

Seriously though, I mean this, congratulations on your success, you clearly did a terrific job in medical school and on your rotations to have that kind of success. 14 years ago, I was fortunate to be in a similar situation, I applied to about 30 programs and had about 25 invites. I declined all but like 8 interviews, because I knew I was competitive and I knew I was going to match at my top choice which was a community EM program I really loved after accidentally rotating there. I just implore you to be considerate of others and start dropping the ones you really don't have much interest in ASAP so others can have a chance at places you aren't actually seriously considering.

Keep your top 10. Maybe keep another 2-4 you consider backups you know you'll get into. I wouldn't hoard any more than 14, and I'd consider paring it down even more than that.
 
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Doctor W said:
Is it ok to ask your away PDs what they wrote in our SLOEs? Currently sitting at only 1 IV, and am hunting down any potential red flags in my application that I may have overlooked.
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No, its not ok. You waived the right to know what's in the LOR. Do not directly ask a program what they wrote. You can feel free to reach out to the clerkship director or program, ask for feedback or advice on how to proceed in your predicament, and maybe they will give you honest feedback, but if they didn't while you were there, then they may still not. But absolutely do not in writing email a program and ask directly what is in your letters.
 
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