Ok, you may not respond but oh well!

It's nice to see determination so early. Well, it would have been easier if you just lied and said you're a 2nd year med student and asked this in the Allopathic section of this forum and you'd get must more and qualified responses.

Nonetheless, I'm no expert, but I believe it's all about what and how you do it, not where you do it, although it helps to do it at as prestigious and friendly environment possible to succeed in it... What is it we're doing again ?

Good luck for your road ahead.

 

I'm not ignoring.....I just don't have a clue.

Good Luck

 

I recently read in a guide to medical school and the years after that said it's helpful to do rotations at the hospital you want to do your residency at. That way you have an opportunity to make some contacts and impress them. Of course this isn't a requirement, but I don't see any way it could hurt unless you really messed up on your rotation.

The book I read had some interesting perspectives on rotations. Some students felt they should do the rotation that they felt they wanted to pursue first in their series of electives, that way, if they ended up hating it, they could go on to their next rotations with their minds open. However, another student had a plan that I thought was really good. He wanted to be an internist, but he scheduled his internal meds rotation after ob/gyn. That way he got to practice his basic clinical skills (like putting in IV's, etc) on patients that were generally in very good health. Once he moved on to internal medicine, he had enough experience to be trusted to do more interesting things in this rotation, which made it a more fulfiling experience. I think that is a good way to go about it, and I think I will probably do this too. By scheduling the rotation farther into the semster you'll have time to build confidence and skill so when you go to the one where you really want to make a good impression you'll be sucessful.

Finally, I would just like to say that you should keep your options open. It's awesome that you already know what you want to. I wish I would have been so sure of myself at your age. I went back and forth between going into the arts or going into science for years. But don't limit yourself. You might find out that you make a good ER doc, but you could be a terrific neurosurgeon or anything for that matter. Just try to get the most of your college experience and worry about specialties later. I've read that most people that go into med school wanting to specialize in one thing often end up doing something widely different. Just don't burn any bridges!

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^v^

 

As another poster has suggested, doing what is called an "audition rotation" at a particular hospital you're interested in will significantly improve your chances of becoming a resident there. So when you're a fourth-year medical student applying to Emergency Medicine programs, you'll do a rotation (usually about 4-weeks long) at Cook County Hospital and hopefully do well enough for them to take you as a resident the following Fall.

But what if you attend one of Cook County's many (major) affiliated medical schools? According to AMA-FREIDA those are the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago Medical School, and Rush Medical College. I've always been of the mindset that those who know you for more than 4-weeks tend to like you if you do well, so I'd think that going to one of these medical schools and eventually doing a third-year rotation in the ER and then taking a fourth-year elective in the ER would increase your chances even more. Good luck in your career. You've got a long way to go, but keep interested!


Tim of New York City.

 

If you're sure of what you want to do, an option is this:

U of Illinois - Chicago offers a Guaranteed Admission program to competitive high school students... that is, if you get into the program (which from what I understand isn't easy) you're guaranteed a spot at UIC med school as long as you maintain a GPA. UIC-med is currently affiliated with Cook, as well as many other hospitals. Note that affiliations DO change, but you'd easily be able to arrange a rotation there.

I think the program is officially called "GPPA"... if you want to look it up on the www.uic.edu website.

Best of luck!