application question (last one screwed up)

[PTP]

I must apologize ahead of time if this is a dumb question BUT ill ask anyways.

Would it be useless/stupid to apply to EM w/o having done the rotation and w/o a EM letter of rec?

During my medicine, as well as, surgery and FP rotations i spend a lot of time in the ER so i never thought the need to do a separate ER elective nor was ER my number one choice then.
However, now i have had a change of heart and am intrested in EM.
Any ideas?
Is it just too late for me? Should i not even bother applying w/o the rotation or LoR?

Would volunteering at an ER and maybe trying to get a letter of rec that way be an option?

Thanks for the input.

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[edinOH]

If EM is what you want, it would be stupid NOT to. After all, this is your residency and your future career you are talking about. It would be foolish to either sit out a year before the match or to apply to a field you know you don't want.

I am assuming that as of today you haven't done or are not currently doing an EM rotation. If that is the case, you should start looking tomorrow for an EM rotation spot in September or October at the latest. September would be ideal because it would allow you to obtain an EM letter of rec in plenty of time to include in ERAS. Most programs require two EM letters so ideally you would get two letters during Sept. If Sept. isn't possible, then you could probably make October work but it would be tight. By the time you obtained your letters and had them submitted to ERAS, many of the interview invitations would have gone out and you might find yourself behind the curve.

I wrote the above while making a huge assumption. That assumption is that EM programs won't consider you without at least on EM letter in your file. This is a big assumption on my part. One that I don't know to be correct. This is basically a "worse-case scenario" type thing. I think it is not unrealistic to expect that many programs would consider you for interviews without EM letters in your file if you had other letters of support, a strong personal statement outlining your interest in EM, as well as an indication in your app. that EM letters were forthcoming. As for the latter, ERAS has a section where you write in who you expect to receive letters from. This way the PDs have an idea how close to complete your app is as well as gives them a heads-up if one of their buddies is recommending a candidate and thus makes it more likely they will invite that person to interview! I would suggest geting a strong medicine and/or surgery letter where the writer places a strong emphasis on your desire/suitability for EM while waiting to obtain your EM letters.

You also wrote that you spent a lot of time in the ED during your other rotations. Is it possible that one of the ED attendings would be willing to write you a letter? Is there one or two that you had a significant amount of interaction with? If so, you have nothing to lose by explaining your situation to them and asking for a strong letter. Most EM docs will be more than happy to help you out in anyway they can. Make sure the letter doesn't sound like it is coming from someone who barely knows you.

 

[ckent]

I don't know how it works for ER, but I was told that for medicine, everyone is expected to get a letter from the chairperson of medicine irrespective of whether they know him or not. I imagine that if you met with the chairperson of ER, showed him your IM evaluation and told him that you spent a lot of time in his er, he'd probably write you a letter. Of course your strongest letters are going to come from the people that know you, but some people are willing to write a letter based on what other people wrote for you.