About to start MS3 year, and thinking about EM seriously

[TexasSurgeon]

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Hey everyone,

This is my first time on the EM forums of SDN so, thank you all in advance for your help. I'm going to be taking STEP1 in about a month. Not having yet started rotations, I've been leaning in towards EM as a potential future specialty. I wanted to ask you guys what I can do during my MS3 year to be a competitive applicant for EM? I haven't done any research in med school and I've been active in our school's student run clinics (as a volunteer) and with our admissions department on interview days.

It's been a pretty stressful and rough first 2 years of med school and I'm just wondering what I can do to make up for it. I know a lot of it will depend on STEP1, but I have also heard that SLOEs/STEP2/Aways will sometimes be even more important than step1. Is this true?

 

[cyanide12345678]

Aways and SLOEs are the most important part of your application. Step 1 and 2 should be > 230 to have a shot in my opinion, otherwise it becomes decently hard to match in EM.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Aways and SLOEs are the most important part of your application. Step 1 and 2 should be > 230 to have a shot in my opinion, otherwise it becomes decently hard to match in EM.

Should I only do aways at the programs I want to do residency in? Or do you recommend an away at a smaller institution and one at a larger one?

 

[cyanide12345678]

Wherever you can shine

 

[anon6134]

Should I only do aways at the programs I want to do residency in? Or do you recommend an away at a smaller institution and one at a larger one?

Worry about that a year from now. Crush Step 1 to the best of your ability for now. In third year work hard, take criticism, and improve your clinical skills. If you have the opportunity do an elective in EM or get a few hours shadowing in there if you have the ability just to get a feel for the flow and expectations. Don't worry about your aways until the time comes

 

[anthony78001]

i recently matched into EM after being interested in EM since before med school. PM me and ill gladly share with you my scores, # of auditions whatever else youd like to know.

advice for 3rd year do well on usmle 220 or better comlex 550 and up pass PE on first attempt. do well on your rotations 3rd year try to keep an open mind on the other rotations. if your school lets you do 2 ER rotations 1 as an elective take advantage of it some schools dont require EM to be a mandatory rotation

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Hey everyone,

This is my first time on the EM forums of SDN so, thank you all in advance for your help. I'm going to be taking STEP1 in about a month. Not having yet started rotations, I've been leaning in towards EM as a potential future specialty. I wanted to ask you guys what I can do during my MS3 year to be a competitive applicant for EM? I haven't done any research in med school and I've been active in our school's student run clinics (as a volunteer) and with our admissions department on interview days.

It's been a pretty stressful and rough first 2 years of med school and I'm just wondering what I can do to make up for it. I know a lot of it will depend on STEP1, but I have also heard that SLOEs/STEP2/Aways will sometimes be even more important than step1. Is this true?

Just focus on a good clinical year during MS3. Things like research aren't going to matter a ton. If you get a chance (and don't mind wading through tons of pages) check out my EM APD AMA thread here, there's tons of good application advice there from over the past 2-3 years or so. Feel free to hit me up for advice by PM if necessary.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

i recently matched into EM after being interested in EM since before med school. PM me and ill gladly share with you my scores, # of auditions whatever else youd like to know.

advice for 3rd year do well on usmle 220 or better comlex 550 and up pass PE on first attempt. do well on your rotations 3rd year try to keep an open mind on the other rotations. if your school lets you do 2 ER rotations 1 as an elective take advantage of it some schools dont require EM to be a mandatory rotation

Just focus on a good clinical year during MS3. Things like research aren't going to matter a ton. If you get a chance (and don't mind wading through tons of pages) check out my EM APD AMA thread here, there's tons of good application advice there from over the past 2-3 years or so. Feel free to hit me up for advice by PM if necessary.

Thank you all so much. I'm in the thick of studying for STEP1 right now and it's been one of the most challenging and growing times in my career. I'm definitely going to go through the advice you guys have given me and absolutely will be looking in your AMA!! I cannot wait to get into clinical years. I'm going to be basically approaching every rotation as if I'm going into that specialty but I've just been really into EM for the longest time. Our school has a required EM rotation which I have early into the start so it will be good for me since I can apply to aways having completed one rotation already. All in all, I just want to see how the residents are- I sort of feel like the residents are the best gauge for me to see how the field is + residency in that program and I'm going to try to be as proactive with them as I can