Official WAMC thread for EM applicants

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sorry, im sure this is too early. step 1 - 226. will at least pass all my clerkships. WAMC matching in northeast if my step 2 is also 220's, and mid-level SLOE's? US MD, apparently top 50, lots of research and decent volunteering (+ ties to northeast area). im a decent person and tend to interview ok / well
 
You'll be fine. US-MD in the mid 220's has a 90% match rate in EM. So if you are socially normal, have a mid 1/3 SLOE or higher, I can't see you having any issue matching. Maybe the boards keep you from getting interviews at some places that are more stringent with board scores, but just matching, you will be fine.
 
gamerEMdoc said:
You'll be fine. US-MD in the mid 220's has a 90% match rate in EM. So if you are socially normal, have a mid 1/3 SLOE or higher, I can't see you having any issue matching. Maybe the boards keep you from getting interviews at some places that are more stringent with board scores, but just matching, you will be fine.
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thank you!!! now just gotta practice some dark souls
 
Alright guys here I go (US MD Allopathic applicant)

Failure in a preclinical course (anatomy) my first semester. Remediated and passed.
STEP1: 223
STEP2 CK: 227 (major upset)
4th quartile

WAMC? I did my EM home sub-I already and I was told by multiple residents that I "made a good impression" on the department. My EM advisor knows about all the things above and she said I'm a "fairly average applicant and that my scores are only a bit below the matriculated number"

Thanks in advance
 
US MD

Step 1: 228
Step 2: 254
1 Residency SLOE - either middle or top 1/3, they didn't specify but they assured me I'm nowhere near bottom 1/3
oSLOE and non-residency SLOE top 1/3
No red flags, only 1 poster presentation

WAMC? My school dean told me I need to be applying to IM and FM as well since I'm a "well below average applicant" but I feel like that is a little neurotic? Am I wrong feeling that way?
 
SLOEs dictate competitiveness. A top 1/3 candidate is not a below average applicant. They are a top 1/3. Which is... above average. So either, your SLOEs aren't as good as you think, your Dean hasn't looked at your SLOEs, or MOST LIKELY they have no clue what they are talking about when it comes to applying to EM.
 
gamerEMdoc said:
SLOEs dictate competitiveness. A top 1/3 candidate is not a below average applicant. They are a top 1/3. Which is... above average. So either, your SLOEs aren't as good as you think, your Dean hasn't looked at your SLOEs, or MOST LIKELY they have no clue what they are talking about when it comes to applying to EM.
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I'm going to go with they have no idea what they are talking about. To be honest, I'm not sure if they know what SLOE's really are...
 
bicyclechief said:
I'm going to go with they have no idea what they are talking about. To be honest, I'm not sure if they know what SLOE's really are...
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This is why you don't get advice on your water heater from the apple genius bar. If you want advice on applying to EM, get advice from people in EM residency programs who view and rank applicants. Getting advice from people in other fields or who are far removed from the process just is wrought with bad advice.
 
Ok this might be a dumb question but I can't seem to find an answer - Can someone explain SLOEs to me? Why is this so important in EM, how do you get them, what does low/middle/high 1/3 even mean.
 
SLOEs are EM's letters of recommendation. They are important because it gives programs some indication of where you plan to rank the candidate based on their rotation with you. When you have 2 programs and they both think you are a rockstar student, or a bad student, they are usually right. Obviously sometimes its more murky than that. But that's why its helpful to have multiple sloes, it gives a broader viewpoint on the candidate. This year is obviously different with covid restrictions. But most year it's recommended that 2-3 of your LORs are SLOEs when applying to EM.

They are consistently rated as the most important part of the EM application when determining both who to interview, as well as how you rank candidates.
If you want to know more about what is in the SLOE, I made a tweetorial about it where I broke down and explained each section of the SLOE.

GamerEMdoc SLOE Tweetorial
 
gamerEMdoc said:
This is why you don't get advice on your water heater from the apple genius bar. If you want advice on applying to EM, get advice from people in EM residency programs who view and rank applicants. Getting advice from people in other fields or who are far removed from the process just is wrought with bad advice.
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What's a genius bar?
 
Apollyon said:
You go to the Apple Store, and you talk to an Apple "genius". They have something like a bar (no drinks or anything) in the back of some stores.
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Oh.
I'm not cool enough to own an apple product.
They're not cool enough to have a real bar in the store, seems.
 
How bad is it to have a Step 2CK score lower than Step 1? Just got my Step 2 back and feel pretty devastated (Step 1 245 ; Step 2 244 despite my practice test scores being significantly higher).

Otherwise my application is pretty good—honors SLOE, honored 3/5 graded clerkships, lots of leadership activities, research with a few publications, etc. Just trying to get an idea of how much this affects my application and how I ought to apply. Obviously, I'm going to reach out to my EM advisor too, but I was hoping to get some opinions here.
 
skazki354 said:
How bad is it to have a Step 2CK score lower than Step 1? Just got my Step 2 back and feel pretty devastated (Step 1 245 ; Step 2 244 despite my practice test scores being significantly higher).

Otherwise my application is pretty good—honors SLOE, honored 3/5 graded clerkships, lots of leadership activities, research with a few publications, etc. Just trying to get an idea of how much this affects my application and how I ought to apply. Obviously, I'm going to reach out to my EM advisor too, but I was hoping to get some opinions here.
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It’s not going to affect it at all
 
@gamerEMdoc, yours was the opinion I was looking for honestly, so thanks for indulging my neuroticism!
 
Tarrek said:
Reposting as an update. Got a 260 on Step 2. Just wondering if there's any advice for a rough guideline on how many schools to apply to. Our department chair said that 30 would be more than enough but I added a few more just in case and I'm sitting on 44 right now. Also just to clarify, US MD but my school is a newer one, started in the last decade.
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I was wondering the same thing on numbers of programs to apply to. I just certified and submitted and paid for 61 applications. I think I over applied, but this is a very uncertain year with COVID and all......and I won't have to incur $10,000 of debt just to travel for 12 or 13 interviews. My worry is most other applicants will have the same thinking and would apply to more programs than usual since they have money to spare this season.
 
Tarrek said:
Reposting as an update. Got a 260 on Step 2. Just wondering if there's any advice for a rough guideline on how many schools to apply to. Our department chair said that 30 would be more than enough but I added a few more just in case and I'm sitting on 44 right now. Also just to clarify, US MD but my school is a newer one, started in the last decade.
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Depends on your SLOE. If its a good one, 30 will be fine. If its a low 1/3 SLOE, you will need to apply much more broadly. And therein lies the issue, you need a good advisor who has the ability to look at your letters to give you some idea of how competitive you are. If the dept chair who said 30 knows what your sloe/sloes say, then I'd imagine you are golden.
 
Oligodinero said:
I was wondering the same thing on numbers of programs to apply to. I just certified and submitted and paid for 61 applications. I think I over applied, but this is a very uncertain year with COVID and all......and I won't have to incur $10,000 of debt just to travel for 12 or 13 interviews. My worry is most other applicants will have the same thinking and would apply to more programs than usual since they have money to spare this season.
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Should be more than enough as long as you applied to programs that you feel like you are competitive for and to programs all around your geographic indicators (home address, school location). You can always add more if you find out you aren't as competitive as you think you are.
 
gamerEMdoc said:
Should be more than enough as long as you applied to programs that you feel like you are competitive for and to programs all around your geographic indicators (home address, school location). You can always add more if you find out you aren't as competitive as you think you are.
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any tips to breaking the regional bias? I tried to address it in my personal statement. I’m from the north trying to match to the south/southwest
 
boolin_1 said:
any tips to breaking the regional bias? I tried to address it in my personal statement. I’m from the north trying to match to the south/southwest
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Not really. Just because the "regional bias" is just built around filters. No one will see the PS because the app will be filtered out. Same with rotating in a region. It doesn't unlock a region, because you can't see the letter from that region if you never see the application. Once your app is viewed, I don't think many programs hold region against you. Its just that they use regional filters to try to find the people who are the most likely to come to their program.

Not every place is going to use them. A highly competitive program doesn't need to worry about looking at regional candidates. Instead, they can set a super high board cutoff filter to sort through apps if they so choose.

About the only way to truly "get around" a filter like this is to rotate at a place because you'll obviously interview where you rotate. Then after that, reaching out and contacting the program directly later in interview season. I say later, just because programs get really annoyed when ERAS opens and they start getting a deluge of LOI emails from people wanting interviews.
 
gamerEMdoc said:
I say later, just because programs get really annoyed when ERAS opens and they start getting a deluge of LOI emails from people wanting interviews.
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Any thoughts on when LOI emails are appropriate to send out this year given the weird timeline?
 
12jas said:
Any thoughts on when LOI emails are appropriate to send out this year given the weird timeline?
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Obvi there’s no exact right answers but I’ve been hearing from PDs and zoom meeting that if you don’t hear back from a top choice around mid-late Nov that would probably be reasonable time
 
Just got an email from a program asking me to submit a short LOI....250 words max.
 
Oligodinero said:
Just got an email from a program asking me to submit a short LOI....250 words max.
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Yeah said program sent that to everyone who applied.
I really hope secondary apps are not a thing this year.
 
12jas said:
Yeah said program sent that to everyone who applied.
I really hope secondary apps are not a thing this year.
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have they been in the past? I mean.....come on already. I have enough shucking fit to do as it is right now.
 
Just locked in my first interview date at UPMC Hamot
 
Oligodinero said:
have they been in the past? I mean.....come on already. I have enough shucking fit to do as it is right now.
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I don't think so I have heard rumors of programs introducing things like this this year because of Virtual Nature but I agree not a fan of the extra essay especially when their website is rather lacking on information.
 
Yeah it's kind of interesting to see that some programs have been real proactive this year due to covid and had professional videos made, started Twitter/FB accounts, and had a pro make their websites beautiful and easy to navigate. Others look like their website hasn't changed since 1997.
 
Oligodinero said:
Don't fret just yet. I auditioned there so I think the first batch of IVs were sent to auditioners
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Thanks for the follow-up. That makes sense actually lol. Same at my audition site. Good Luck and if you have any insight on the program please do share (you can DM if that is better). All I know about Hamot is through the grapevine and their residency video.
 
Place I auditioned said they’d be sending Invites to us and home students this week first. I think that’s pretty common so I’m not freaking yet when I see places I applied but didn’t audition sending out invites until at least November.
 
No WAMC for this year yet?
Anyone have any thoughts on whether or not it might be easier this year after the whole "No jobs left!" thing in Jan? I know my med school's EM bound people dropped by half. Hoping it helps the rest of us have an easier time.
 
acetylcholinesterasee said:
No WAMC for this year yet?
Anyone have any thoughts on whether or not it might be easier this year after the whole "No jobs left!" thing in Jan? I know my med school's EM bound people dropped by half. Hoping it helps the rest of us have an easier time.
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"WAMC to land an EM residency" has now become "WAMC to not want to swallow a shotgun shell at some point during my career?"
 
acetylcholinesterasee said:
No WAMC for this year yet?
Anyone have any thoughts on whether or not it might be easier this year after the whole "No jobs left!" thing in Jan? I know my med school's EM bound people dropped by half. Hoping it helps the rest of us have an easier time.
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It's August. The first one last year wasn't until mid September, and the field of emergency medicine wasn't completely on fire then (or at least people didn't know about it).

Your chances this year are probably better than most people's chances were last year as I suspect application numbers will be down. That said, there's a reason for that.
 
These threads used to inspire me to respond periodically. Now, I just find it sad.
Asking about chances to get into a dying field. sigh.
 
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