EM residency - need sure thing

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producenj

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Hey, I've been reading your threads about residencies for EM. Most people are always asking about the best programs and most competitive. Well I'm a below avg AMG with two years of IM and I'm just looking for sure thing. My question is the exact opposite, what are the least competitive programs in EM right now and with the follow up on why they are not competitive? I'm applying to 40 programs and don't want to waste money on reach programs that won't interview me based on previous training or my lackluster stats. Thanks
 
producenj said:
Hey, I've been reading your threads about residencies for EM. Most people are always asking about the best programs and most competitive. Well I'm a below avg AMG with two years of IM and I'm just looking for sure thing. My question is the exact opposite, what are the least competitive programs in EM right now and with the follow up on why they are not competitive? I'm applying to 40 programs and don't want to waste money on reach programs that won't interview me based on previous training or my lackluster stats. Thanks

EM is only becoming more competitive as compared to when you asked this same type of question after you matched in IM and expressed the desire to transfer last year (or the year before). Your previous post about wanting to do public health medicine because of a short residency, and then the questioning about whether you will you earn enough money and experience to eventually be a consultant.... trust me, if these are truly your priorities, EM is not going to be a good fit for you personally. And I'm not trying to flame, just giving you some insight into what it sounds like.

Perhaps you should have a real soul-searching conversation with yourself and decide what it is you want to do, and for what reasons. Then, if EM is really the answer, i think you have to do something professionally that will take the focus off of your self-professed lacklustre performance heretofore. Did you rotate through the ED during your IM residency? Get good reviews/evals? If not, do you have elective time that you can (somehow) deploy in the ED or something related like toxicology or EMS?

Emergency medicine, perhaps more than any other specialty, takes into account the whole pictures not just the numeric stats of your grades. That's good news for someone like you. But there are no easy gets in emergency... there are just too few programs for any of them to be ****, and it's all about personal fit, like all the FAQs say when someone asks about best/worst residency.

You might also try doing Step 3 and getting it out of the way. But there is simply no program (okay, maybe 1, but even that is just heresay) in this day's climate of emergency medicine that has to take anyone other than top, qualified candidates.

Good luck.
 
EM programs that are in large, well-known cities on the coasts tend to be more competative no matter what their relative merit as a training program. As such, there are many fantastic programs in out of the way places that are somewhat less competative.

Try places in the midwest such as Ohio, Michigan, etc.

However, I agree with the previous poster. EM is not the easy way out. You have to make sure its going to be a good fit for you.
 
Yeah, who ever heard of any good EM residencies in Ohio?

j.k.
 
docB said:
I definitely wouldn't go to Ohio or Michigan looking for push over EM programs. In fact, if you're looking for a sure thing EM in general is not the place to be.

Yeah, I agree. To state that programs in Michigan and Ohio aren't competitive just isn't true. The midwest is where EM started, and the programs there are awesome -- in both states.

Seriously, if you're looking for a weak progarm -- the sure thing -- you're in the wrong specialty.
 
"Seriously, if you're looking for a weak progarm -- the sure thing -- you're in the wrong specialty. "

WELL...except for that new program at tampa general 🙂
 
If you want a "sure thing" apply for Family Medicine or Psychiatry. Emergency Medicine is not the place for people expecting a free ride.
 
Somewhere around here or the general residency forum is a list of unfilled programs from last year. Although they are probably far from a "sure thing" they might be as close as you are likely to find.
 
I have just finished my EM externship and and seriously considering the residency.....What kind of numbers are we talking about to get into a good program?
 
stw2361 said:
I just submitted ERAS application today with one "sure thing" program - Charity Hospital in New Orleans!

please can you have a little more tact? thanks.
 
Producenj,

EM can be, indeed, a place for people looking for an easy ride, for people who aren't interested in working hard. That's why I am in it, and not only did I get into residency, but I'm almost through with it.

Yes, residency is hard work, but after this it's smooth sailing, working 10-12 shifts/month as an attending. What a joke! EM is the best racket in medicine.

And yes, there are some programs that are easier to get into than others. I disagree that the coasts have the more competitive programs. The West Coast, yes, but definitely not the East.

I also disagree that one has to be a "top, qualified candidate" to get in. Stuff and nonsense. I won't bore you with the details for the umpteenth time (some of you know my exact stats) but I was ranked at the bottom of my class in med school (I mean WAY at the bottom, with only like 10-15 people below me) and barely cracked a 200 on the Steps. I received interview offers from 20+ programs (listened to too many people, thought there was no way I'd get in, applied to too many programs) and matched in my top three.

It's been three years since I applied, so my memory may be a bit foggy, but I can list a few programs that interviewed me and may therefore not be that hard to get into:

Toledo, OH (forgot the program's name)
Beth Israel, NJ
Detroit Receiving
Sinai-Grace (Detroit)
Saginaw, Michigan
Baton Rouge (even pre-hurricane, this program was shi-t easy to get into)
*MLK/Drew (Los Angeles)
Metropolitan (NYC)
Lincoln (Bronx, New York)

*Actually didn't interview here, but it's widely considered "the easiest EM residency to get into in America".

Do an archival search - ask someone how to do this, since I don't know, but I always hear posters say this - on my other messages for a complete list of places I interviewed. Sure, some of them were good programs - why did even good programs like Hennepin and Yale interview a bottomdweller like me? - but I'm not listing them here on the off chance that they were flukes. I'm just listing the real stinkers.


the HORNET
 
producenj said:
Hey, I've been reading your threads about residencies for EM. Most people are always asking about the best programs and most competitive. Well I'm a below avg AMG with two years of IM and I'm just looking for sure thing. My question is the exact opposite, what are the least competitive programs in EM right now and with the follow up on why they are not competitive? I'm applying to 40 programs and don't want to waste money on reach programs that won't interview me based on previous training or my lackluster stats. Thanks

Why'd you change your name from Redstorm to producenj?
 
Hornet, i just PM 'd you

Hornet871 said:
Producenj,

EM can be, indeed, a place for people looking for an easy ride, for people who aren't interested in working hard. That's why I am in it, and not only did I get into residency, but I'm almost through with it.
 
Hornet871 said:
Producenj,

EM can be, indeed, a place for people looking for an easy ride, for people who aren't interested in working hard. That's why I am in it, and not only did I get into residency, but I'm almost through with it.

Yes, residency is hard work, but after this it's smooth sailing, working 10-12 shifts/month as an attending. What a joke! EM is the best racket in medicine.

And yes, there are some programs that are easier to get into than others. I disagree that the coasts have the more competitive programs. The West Coast, yes, but definitely not the East.

I also disagree that one has to be a "top, qualified candidate" to get in. Stuff and nonsense. I won't bore you with the details for the umpteenth time (some of you know my exact stats) but I was ranked at the bottom of my class in med school (I mean WAY at the bottom, with only like 10-15 people below me) and barely cracked a 200 on the Steps. I received interview offers from 20+ programs (listened to too many people, thought there was no way I'd get in, applied to too many programs) and matched in my top three.

It's been three years since I applied, so my memory may be a bit foggy, but I can list a few programs that interviewed me and may therefore not be that hard to get into:

Toledo, OH (forgot the program's name)
Beth Israel, NJ
Detroit Receiving
Sinai-Grace (Detroit)
Saginaw, Michigan
Baton Rouge (even pre-hurricane, this program was shi-t easy to get into)
*MLK/Drew (Los Angeles)
Metropolitan (NYC)
Lincoln (Bronx, New York)

*Actually didn't interview here, but it's widely considered "the easiest EM residency to get into in America".

Do an archival search - ask someone how to do this, since I don't know, but I always hear posters say this - on my other messages for a complete list of places I interviewed. Sure, some of them were good programs - why did even good programs like Hennepin and Yale interview a bottomdweller like me? - but I'm not listing them here on the off chance that they were flukes. I'm just listing the real stinkers.


the HORNET
Hornet-

Missed you so these past two and a half years. Whatchu been up to? Where you gonna go when you're done?

Q
 
QuinnNSU said:
Hornet-

Missed you so these past two and a half years. Whatchu been up to? Where you gonna go when you're done?

Q

Been hangin' out, doing things Hornetstyle since '03.

But this week I'm out of hiding, y'all, as I bring it to the house at ACEP in a big way!

Yes, look for the Hornet, old friends. You'll know me when you see me.

Quinnie, I'm going away after residency. Far, far away. Where, exactly? No one knows, not even me. I'm going to fade into oblivion for a few years....


the HORNET
 
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