Got my ER evaluation back - Now What?

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binswanger

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I was considering applying to an ER program that I just rotated through but when I got my evaluation back I only received a "high pass" peppered with the most generic comments you could ever hope (not) to recieve. Overall, in my opinion, it was a less than stellar review even though I thought I worked pretty hard and did fairly well - - I was aiming for honors, naturally. Should I still apply there in light of a lukewarm evaluation?
 
Of course you should. After all you just spent a month there and the staff is familiar with you. You received a "high pass" so what? That is still above average. Some programs will limit the number of "honors" they hand out on a given rotation so you shouldn't take it too hard.

While the evaluation might not shine as brightly as you wish it would have, I'm sure you still made a positive impression on the people you worked with. Often times there is just one person filling out the evaluation so it might not accurately reflect the collective opinion of your performance. Some times evaluators are lazy and just plug in their favorite comments. You should also remember that for many people filling out the evaluations it has been a while since they have been in the shoes of a medical student. As a result, they sometimes don't put the effort into really trying to word your evaluation as a personalized, critically thought out appraisal of your performance. If your gut is telling you that you had a good month and formed some good relationships, then you should go with that and press on. If there were one or two attendings that you felt you worked particularly well with, you should probably approach them now for letters.

Ultimately you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by applying there. The fact that you rotated there alone will, in most instances, serve you well come match time.

MikeCWRU has discussed a similar situation he was faced with last year and he ended up matching at his desired program. Perhaps he will share his opinion...
 
It happened to me; I received a high pass as a result of the exam at the end, and I thought it was the end of the road for me. 14 interviews later, I was reassured.

Not the end of the road. Best of luck! (I was/am thrilled with my match!)
 
The ED at my school HP'd everyone during one month for having too many H's the mo before. No one had any problems matching, even to the program that gave them the lowly HP...
 
My school only gave 1 Honors/rotation, so during the summer when all the wanna-be EM's worked, we pretty much all got HP's. Don't be discouraged... you should definately still apply AND get a letter from someone. I was told that it looked really bad to other programs if you didn't have a letter from every place you rotated... sort of like a dead give-away that they didn't like you (which I'm sure is NOT the case).
 
Last year one of the guys here got HPs in both his EM rotations. He had plenty of interviews and matched ok.
 
I can relate completely. I am not applying for EM, but I had a similar experience when I did my gas rotation. The evaluation I got was a plain old pass and and all the numbers circled on the evaluation were "above average". every single one. Whoop-te-doo. Whoever filled it out, not sure can't read the sig, obviously put no thought into it. Frustrating because I busted my hump during this rotation. Funny because I got 2 good LOR's from program hotshots that I worked with and seemed to like me. All a big game.

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