Picking aways?

[HopefulM4]

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I just finished my last third year rotation (yippie!) and now I have to figure out where and when to do away rotations. I'm going into emergency medicine and we don't have a home program. I should try to do two, right? Where do I even start? Just randomly pick and apply? A little overwhelmed!

 

[Guile]

I would pick one "reach" and one "safety" program. Since you don't have a home program it may be hard to get good advice on which programs to apply to. I'm sure others will be able to add which are the good EM programs. You might want to check out the EM forum, too, to get some advice on different programs.

 

[kdburton]

I know that www.scutwork.com is a decent place to find information from fellow rotators and current residents at different programs for some specialties, but I haven't looked at it for EM. If you don't have a home program then you need to at least make sure you do enough rotations to get the required amt of letters of rec for EM (which I don't know either, and is probably program-specific). EM isn't exactly the most competitive field, so if you've got a decent Step 1 score and 3rd year grades you should try rotating at places you want to end up at for residency

 

[ShyRem]

I did my away rotations near places I was applying for residency. This made travel costs MUCH more manageable. I also did aways at places I was looking at applying. Amazing the information I got this way on all kinds of programs nearby.

I am a little puzzled you haven't been working on getting your away rotations already set up - some programs fill in March.

Also of note, if you're going into EM, you're likely going to need a SLOR. Get your EM done EARLY and get that SLOR in to your ERAS app.

And as for competitiveness - EM has been getting more and more competitive. It's not a given anymore. Not even close. Good luck.

 

[Guile]

What is a SLOR?

 

[HopefulM4]

I only decided on EM about a couple of weeks ago (hence the lack of preparation). I just finished my surgery rotation so I kind of pushed everything till after the shelf. I have one program for August, and I'm trying to find something for July. I'm a little worried about doing an away when the new interns start, but I need to get those SLORs. Two SLORs plus one or two other LORs are enough?

 

[ShyRem]

generally two SLORs plus one or two others is enough, yes.

SLOR is a Standard Letter of Recommendation. It's a form. Don't know why the heck EM folks would rather have a SLOR with checkboxes rather than a nice letter with explanations other than their ADHD precludes them from actually taking the time to read the regular LORs, but hey... whatever floats their boat.