- Joined
- May 4, 2010
- Messages
- 112
- Reaction score
- 18
As you look back at med school what would you have done differently (aside from the obvious of doing well on Steps, applying to ERAS early, etc.) to solidify your chances of getting an EM slot?
Looking back what would you have done differently when applying for residency?
- Thread starter RynoTheGuy
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2004
- Messages
- 3,370
- Reaction score
- 1,576
Re-learn how to be a normal person. I didn't have any issues, but I did rotate with folks who did.
What I mean by this is to step back from the idea of constantly being the 'on game' med student. By the time you start applying for EM residency spots, you will have already shown this or not based on your scores and evals.
In EM, you are going to have more time outside of the hospital than most specialties. Current residents want to know that you are going to be someone they can have a good time with outside of the ED. This doesn't mean you should portray yourself as the most gung-ho hiker, scuba diver, political activist. Be yourself. If you falsely present these, you may end up spending the next 3-4 years with people you really don't connect with.
Most of us are pretty open to letting the conversation wander. We do so, to let you jump in and add more detail and interest into what makes you who you are. Trust me, I ended up having a long conversation about model railroading with an attending. It was something I had done since I was a kid. It didn't have anything to do with EM, but he realized I wasn't trying to play the game and be a 'sycophant' to whatever conversation I happened to find myself in.
Don't talk too much shop. Most of the residents finished working a shift sometime that day and your stories of a putting in a central line or chest tube don't make that great of conversation. I know that procedures are 'cool as hell' while a med student, as a resident they typically become inured to some things.
If there is an after-party or get-together after the official dinner, go to it. Typically, it's just the interviewees and the residents. Try to find a resident that is in your situation and start a conversation. Was it easy to find an apartment with single folks around? How did you find a quiet neighborhood? How is the dating scene? Is it easy to find a babysitter on the fly? Drop the 'doctor' and talk to us like a regular joe. We'll typically bring our fellow residents, in similar situations, into the conversation. You'll get to talk to single residents about the dating scene and great social spots. You'll get to talk to married residents w/wo kids and info in that direction. Ultimately, you get to make friends with the people you'll spend the next few years with.
The match is both directions. You have to like them and they have to like you.
This is good stuff. It's truly common sense but I think as a med student sometimes common sense goes out the door when "trying to make an impression". I think one thing I've heard along these lines that really relates to regular life as well is "The best impression you can make is by not trying to make an impression at all". Simply means if you drop the "I'm gonna show them how good a fit I am" act and just TRULY be yourself people will feel much more comfortable with you as a person and as a candidate and you'll see if you really mesh with em or not or if you meet some decent people but the chemistry just isn't there. It's hard to do consciously because you feel you should always be on your game (and you should, when it comes to the medical knowledge aspect) and be what they want but much like dating, if you try and act like exactly what that hot girl wants (but you're not) then you may fool the dumb ones but the smart ones will see through it and take off. If you do fool them then you are stuck with them and have to actually GIVE them the person you presented yourself as... for 3 or 4 years. Unlike dating, there are no 1 night stands here, lol!
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2008
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 0
what are your recommendations for aways?
If I would've changed anything before going to residency it would've been picking rotations at the end that gave me as much time as possible with family and friends. You are about to go on a journey that will test you and make you feel like you don't know anything at first. You know so much, but the problem is you don't know how to apply it. That only comes with practice. You can say that you did a rotation in the ICU all you want as a medical student, but when you are the one on call and they page you to the room of a coding patient and turn to you and ask you what they should do you'll realize that what you did as a medical student was exactly how you described it...a rotation. You were not in the ICU.
Take a break those last couple of months by picking electives that you would've never thought of trying in your life but that give you a lot of time and then pack, get ready for the move, hang out with friends and family.
As for away electives, I can give you some mistakes to try to avoid. I am guessing you mean away electives for EM. I have seen several residents do away electives at EM's that don't have a residency. What's the point? You are getting SLOR's and such from people that mean nothing to the academic field and the residencies you will be applying for. You are showing off your skills to someone that will have almost no say on the residency you will be trying to get into. So my biggest recommendation is pick an EM away that has a residency with it. My second recommendation is pick the one you want to go and also the ones around the area you are interested in. When you get there, study and work your a** off. Come early to your shift, leave late from your shift. Offer to do all types of procedures and that includes as many IV's and things as possible (you'll be surprised how nice that skill will be later). If an attending asks you to do something, your next response is where and when do you need it (how high kind of attitude). I had one attending come to me and ask about an impaction that she needed done. I asked her what room and did I need a nurse to assist me. She then told me that it was already being done but that she just asked another student and he had told her he had already done an impaction and didn't want to do another one. She flat out told me that he had told several residents that his number one was that location and she would make sure he was not coming there. P.S. he didn't go there.
Good luck
Take a break those last couple of months by picking electives that you would've never thought of trying in your life but that give you a lot of time and then pack, get ready for the move, hang out with friends and family.
As for away electives, I can give you some mistakes to try to avoid. I am guessing you mean away electives for EM. I have seen several residents do away electives at EM's that don't have a residency. What's the point? You are getting SLOR's and such from people that mean nothing to the academic field and the residencies you will be applying for. You are showing off your skills to someone that will have almost no say on the residency you will be trying to get into. So my biggest recommendation is pick an EM away that has a residency with it. My second recommendation is pick the one you want to go and also the ones around the area you are interested in. When you get there, study and work your a** off. Come early to your shift, leave late from your shift. Offer to do all types of procedures and that includes as many IV's and things as possible (you'll be surprised how nice that skill will be later). If an attending asks you to do something, your next response is where and when do you need it (how high kind of attitude). I had one attending come to me and ask about an impaction that she needed done. I asked her what room and did I need a nurse to assist me. She then told me that it was already being done but that she just asked another student and he had told her he had already done an impaction and didn't want to do another one. She flat out told me that he had told several residents that his number one was that location and she would make sure he was not coming there. P.S. he didn't go there.
Good luck
