Emergency Medicine 2014-2015 Residency Cycle

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Ayybaybay said:
You now know that we have to ask why is your situation different than the average applicant :p?! Lol.
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If I hear-" I'm a DO " as the reason I will scream.
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GTP said:
Hey guys this question is directed at pgy1s but I'd like to hear from anyone with useful anecdotes. I only have one interview left. I've decided what my top five programs will be. Unfortunately, out of the 5, I have noticed that I have only received emails from the #4 residency program (I also rotated there so it almost doesn't count). The other place I've decided will be in my top 5 is my next interview. It's kind of concerning because i only seem to be getting attention from my mid to bottom programs. Has anyone matched at a place where they didn't make contact ? It's hard to tell if they are not interested or if they just don't contact anyone as a rule.
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PGY-1 here. I don't remember getting much in the way of post-interview communication. Maybe one or two programs emailed me. My number 1 program wasn't one of them. I emailed my number 1 program in early Feb to say that I was ranking them number 1 and they wrote back. Matched there. Just my n=1.
 
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well all the programs that interviewed me who used interview broker have open spots in January(6 programs)
 
just letting people know that if they didn't get interviews its not because spots were taken by people doing too many interviews and that spots may open up still
 
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how many places did most ppl interview at and are ranking?

i went full crazy and did 22 ints and am ranking all but one
 
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pandahunter said:
how many places did most ppl interview at and are ranking?

i went full crazy and did 22 ints and am ranking all but one
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I received 21 interviews (3 were dual ACGME-AOA programs), went to 17 interviews and will be ranking 15. I would rank all 17, but one of the dual programs will only allow me to do the AOA match, and the other will let me do the ACGME match for them but its not their preference.

SoyMilk said:
You must be from texas...
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Hey... I'm from Texas. :p
 
Nothing against texas, in fact I will be ranking a texas program quite highly. I was just saying because I met a haughty person from Texas with that many interviews who was a MD/PHD.
 
SoyMilk said:
Nothing against texas, in fact I will be ranking a texas program quite highly. I was just saying because I met a haughty person from Texas with that many interviews who was a MD/PHD.
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haughty? well, i never!
 
when do programs have to submit their match list? ie what is the last day they could possibly change their list
 
rsiguy5 said:
Doximity says Indy EM was #1 last year. Anyone who interviewed care to chime in?
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Doximity is a poor evaluation of EM programs. It does not take into account many personal factors for programs. For example, if you are interested in EMS, especially HEMS, Indy would be a terrible place to do your residency because the PD is against physicians flying unless things have changed over the last couple of years.
 
I interviewed at Indy and really liked the program. The faculty and residents have a very down-to-earth attitude about those rankings. They basically said, "Hey, we're definitely not complaining, but we do recognize the survey was totally flawed."
 
Anyone clever enough to get interviews at a place like Indy shouldn't even be asking how valid that list is.

It's childish, reductive, and more than a little stupid
 
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rsiguy5 said:
Doximity says Indy EM was #1 last year. Anyone who interviewed care to chime in?
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They're really good. But Doximity is meaningless.

ucbsmd said:
Doximity is a poor evaluation of EM programs. It does not take into account many personal factors for programs. For example, if you are interested in EMS, especially HEMS, Indy would be a terrible place to do your residency because the PD is against physicians flying unless things have changed over the last couple of years.
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I don't know. I got the sense that they had one of the best EMS experiences available to residents who were interested through their EMS track, though you might be right that it's exclusively ground-based. They will have a new PD starting next year that was hired from within the ranks, too.
 
Hey guys, I have a couple questions I was hoping yall could help me out with. I'm a MSIII DO student looking to match ACGME. I scored a 234 on the step one and a 610 on the comlex. Would it hurt me to not take the USMLE step II? Are my scores adequate enough to apply only to ACGME programs?
 
BabMorgagni said:
Hey guys, I have a couple questions I was hoping yall could help me out with. I'm a MSIII DO student looking to match ACGME. I scored a 234 on the step one and a 610 on the comlex. Would it hurt me to not take the USMLE step II? Are my scores adequate enough to apply only to ACGME programs?
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The short answer is: You should take USMLE II if you definitely plan on going ACGME. I am not saying that you would never match ACGME without step II (in fact, some people do it with just both COMLEXs), however you would have to be really careful going on interviews because some places will interview you without step II because they think you will be taking it later, but they will not put you on their match list at the end of interview season without that score in their hands. Some places will substitute your COMLEX II score for USMLE step II, but it is hard to say which programs advertise that they will do this and will actually do it. Plus, if you took step I and don't take step II, it kind of looks like a red flag... Whereas if you just never took USMLE, people might understand that you are a DO and don't need to prove yourself by taking essentially the same exam twice every time.

Basically, you could get away with it but it could also turn out very very badly in terms of getting interviews and actually matching... In my opinion, the risk is not worth not taking it.

I took both sets of the COMLEX and USMLE, and scored below average on both USMLEs... But if I could go back and do it all over again, I would have taken USMLE I and II again. It probably didn't open that many doors for me since I made below average scores. However it definitely didn't close any doors because I was able to show that I took them and passed, which is a "check box" for many programs.
 
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BabMorgagni said:
Hey guys, I have a couple questions I was hoping yall could help me out with. I'm a MSIII DO student looking to match ACGME. I scored a 234 on the step one and a 610 on the comlex. Would it hurt me to not take the USMLE step II? Are my scores adequate enough to apply only to ACGME programs?
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234 is fine and you should absolutely take step 2 usmle. No question about it

Also its a better test overall, my usmle step 2 was better percentile wise than my comlex level 2 by quite a bit.

On many interviews people were very relieved i took step 2. It is obvious that they really dont know anything about the comlex and feel wary about it....for good reason
 
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BabMorgagni said:
Hey guys, I have a couple questions I was hoping yall could help me out with. I'm a MSIII DO student looking to match ACGME. I scored a 234 on the step one and a 610 on the comlex. Would it hurt me to not take the USMLE step II? Are my scores adequate enough to apply only to ACGME programs?
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If you don't take USMLE Step II it would definitely hurt you. There's way to many people with awesome scores - take it so you can be on a level playing field with MD students.
 
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JuliaJulia said:
If you don't take USMLE Step II it would definitely hurt you. There's way to many people with awesome scores - take it so you can be on a level playing field with MD students.
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I'm in MD student and was told by my Dean's office to take step 2 late bc I did well on Step 1 and had good grades. Found out there are some programs (not a lot) that may not interview w/o Step 2 and none will rank you without it.
 
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Is taking Step 2 in sept/oct considered late?
 
AS a general rule of thumb, have step 2 cs and ck done by the end of December so you can transmit after interviews. A decent number of places have game office requirements for a passing step 2 to rank. It is a gamble for a program to rank someone without a passing step 2 because you cannot start residency without it. A few places emailed me in early Feb asking me to transmit my cs for ranking purpose.
 
hoot504 said:
Wrong. Multiple PDs told me otherwise.

You should still take it early though.
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For an MD student, I can't see how a program would feel good about ranking someone without a step 2 by the time rank lists are in... That would be a poor choice. Im actually surprised that any PD would tell you otherwise. That is a gamble because you can't go into residency without passing it. Did those PDs give you a reason why they would allow it? Im mostly just curious.
 
noshie said:
For an MD student, I can't see how a program would feel good about ranking someone without a step 2 by the time rank lists are in... That would be a poor choice. Im actually surprised that any PD would tell you otherwise. That is a gamble because you can't go into residency without passing it. Did those PDs give you a reason why they would allow it? Im mostly just curious.
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Completely agree, I wouldn't do it if I was a PD. I was never given a reason, just had several occasions where a PD would ask me if I'd taken CK (which I took late), to which I told them yes and would have the scores up soon, to which they replied "just curious, we don't need it to rank".
 
hoot504 said:
Wrong. Multiple PDs told me otherwise.

You should still take it early though.
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And my experience was different. Most, if not all, of the places I interviewed stressed the importance of Step 2 if not outright said you will not be ranked without Step 2 CK scores available prior to ROL drop dead.
 
racerwad said:
It depends on the context. Yes, if you want a good score to help increase the number of interview invites. No, if you only want to have a valid score come rank list time.
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noshie said:
For an MD student, I can't see how a program would feel good about ranking someone without a step 2 by the time rank lists are in... That would be a poor choice. Im actually surprised that any PD would tell you otherwise. That is a gamble because you can't go into residency without passing it. Did those PDs give you a reason why they would allow it? Im mostly just curious.
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Thanks for the info. I plan on hopefully taking it at the end of sept, so I will prob just miss the first round of interviews for some programs who might want to wait for the step 2ck score. Once I get the score in oct, I will email a few of my top programs and that can serve as an interest/update email.
 
congrats to everyone who matched
 
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Giving out names of programs would be a match violation
 
Step scores 220-230s.
Average student.
Applied to 40+.
Interviewed at 5.
Ranked 5.
Matched EM.
Thank God.
 
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B1G RED said:
Step scores 220-230s.
Average student.
Applied to 40+.
Interviewed at 5.
Ranked 5.
Matched EM.
Thank God.
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What programs did you interview at if you don't mind me asking? Also, do you have any idea how strong your SLOEs were?

Congrats on matching!
 
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Is anyone else having match day nightmares? I feel like I have created an algorithm of my reaction to any program on my match list that I end up with. Then yesterday, I kept checking the NRMP site to make sure that I am still matched. :/ This wait is making me a crazy person.

One more day...
 
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noshie said:
Is anyone else having match day nightmares? I feel like I have created an algorithm of my reaction to any program on my match list that I end up with. Then yesterday, I kept checking the NRMP site to make sure that I am still matched. :/ This wait is making me a crazy person.

One more day...
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LOL... i keep checking too... haven't gotten through my reactions though if its not my number #1
 
My anxiety is through the roof. Feel like I'm going to pass out and/or throw up at any minute.
 
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