Interested in EM/PM&R/FM - Advice/Suggestions/Outlook?

[EvidenceLockup12]

Hey ya'll!

I'm an incoming OMS-1 at a decently established school in the NE. Based on my experiences, I'm mainly interested in EM***, PM&R**, and FM** (in that order-ish). I like the work-life outlook and the general breadth of medicine in all 3.

My school is a traditional 2-year preclinical pathway with Honors/HP/P/F grading. I know things are still slightly up in the air with Step 1 becoming P/F (As early as January 2022?), but I plan on studying as if it's going to be scored.

I do have a semi-serious hobby that I'd like to keep up with so I wanted to get an idea of what I should be doing to be successful without letting it go. Any studying tips (e.g. Zanki from day 1), EC goals (e.g. research, leadership, etc.), or things I should know about applying/the fields would be AMAZING!

TIA

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[AnatomyGrey12]

I would suggest not crossposting.

 

[GoSpursGo]

There's nothing magical about studying that you're going to get from this thread that you won't get from anywhere else. As with all things, the more you study the better you will do. Some amount of balancing studying for your current exams while consolidating knowledge for step 1 is best, and only you can strike that balance.

In terms of ECs, really with the exception of research in fields that require it, that stuff kind of doesn't matter for residency applications--you need to have something on your CV that you can talk about in your interviews, and having some kind of leadership is nice, but really everybody has the same kinds of ECs. None of the fields you mentioned really require research, so I would focus on ECs that give you more exposure to those three fields--while they may be more "general" fields, in practice all 3 are pretty unrelated and your day-to-day would be very different. Join some interest groups, find a mentor in each of your fields, and take it from there. Most importantly, don't go overboard on these ECs early in first year--you have 4 years to figure this out, but you can't afford to fall behind in your course material, particularly if you have another interest outside of school that you're unwilling to put on hold.

 

[Billroth_III]

In terms of ECs, really with the exception of research in fields that require it, that stuff kind of doesn't matter for residency applications

This. It's the mentality you needed to have to get into medical school but the game is different here. Study hard and crush the boards regardless of it being P/F or whatever may happen.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Graduate without red flags. None of those fields are competitive.

 

[Sardonix]

The Johns Hopkins 2024 PMR class was 100% DOs. Do what you will with that information.