Question on Aways

[Alejandro]

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In a dilemma currently: Want to match at a west coast program, but programs are telling me that they can only accomdoate me in september/october (past eras). That said, I think having an away letter saying I can hold me own in the ED somewhere else is important for the app. Not sure if I should do an away at a place I am not excited to match at (though i might end up having to interivew/match there if I get no bites) and at least get an additional SLOE or get my SLOEs from my institution and do my away at the places I like in sept/october, despite being later.
I feel its coming down to if i want more interviews elsewhere, or if i want one more interview from the west coast program.

 

[Druggernaut]

Just because ERAS will have opened doesn't mean you can't do an away and get a letter. Hopefully they'll understand that there's some time urgency and churn it out in a reasonable period of time.

That being said, I'd try to have two SLOEs in when programs start downloading applications. I wasn't offered any interviews until my second one went up about two weeks after it opened, but received three that day. I don't think that little delay hurt my chances of matching at all, though it did cause me a little psychological distress due to uncertainty. 😉

 

[ucbsmd]

Just because ERAS will have opened doesn't mean you can't do an away and get a letter. Hopefully they'll understand that there's some time urgency and churn it out in a reasonable period of time.

That being said, I'd try to have two SLOEs in when programs start downloading applications. I wasn't offered any interviews until my second one went up about two weeks after it opened, but received three that day. I don't think that little delay hurt my chances of matching at all, though it did cause me a little psychological distress due to uncertainty. 😉

By no means is September to late for an away. Many programs try to get those letters out within a few days of the end of the rotation so they are available with the first batch of downloads.

 

[Alejandro]

And by SLOEs, given that I may or may not have the letters in by then, should I get two SLOEs from my home institution? I thought he SLOEs were more like "institutional" representations...thus 1 from home and my away?

And I'll have october open-I guess I could save that away for one that I want to match to, but knowing that their letter might not make much of a difference?

 

[arkdoc]

I did an away in September...it worked out fine.

 

[jam3rz]

I did my aways in September and October on the west coast, got plenty of interviews.

 

[Alejandro]

Hm. I guess then the last question I have, is that were all of you guys pretty competitive applicants to start? Like in my situation, I really want my letters to make me shine because my step1 was mediocre, and was sorta foolish enough to put medicine/obgyn at the beginning of my year (when I didn't know how much the shelf was going to botch my grade).

Reason why I ask is that if you guys were all sitting with like 240+ with all HP/H, then I would suppose you guys would've gotten interviews regardless...thoughts?

 

['murica]

Hm. I guess then the last question I have, is that were all of you guys pretty competitive applicants to start? Like in my situation, I really want my letters to make me shine because my step1 was mediocre, and was sorta foolish enough to put medicine/obgyn at the beginning of my year (when I didn't know how much the shelf was going to botch my grade).

Reason why I ask is that if you guys were all sitting with like 240+ with all HP/H, then I would suppose you guys would've gotten interviews regardless...thoughts?

PM'd you

 

[DrDrummer]

I didn't do an away on the west coast, did one in the Midwest and interviewed widely up and down the west coast. Mediocre pre-clinical grades and decent but average for EM Step 1, good clinical grades.

 

[twr11]

Not to hijack the thread but I'm also in a similar situation. Was wondering if it was just as good to do an EM elective like tox or ultrasound in Cali instead of a sub-I. I don't think I'll need more SLORs by that point. I was thinking my elective rotation will hopefully show west coast schools that I'm interested in the region.

 

[BoardingDoc]

Not to hijack the thread but I'm also in a similar situation. Was wondering if it was just as good to do an EM elective like tox or ultrasound in Cali instead of a sub-I. I don't think I'll need more SLORs by that point. I was thinking my elective rotation will hopefully show west coast schools that I'm interested in the region.

Have you already done a Sub-I in EM? I'm assuming so because you said you'd have multiple SLORs by then, and you can only get those from EM rotations. In that case, you should be fine. If you haven't done an EM SubI yet though, you should absolutely do one before you start doing other electives.

 

[twr11]

Have you already done a Sub-I in EM? I'm assuming so because you said you'd have multiple SLORs by then, and you can only get those from EM rotations. In that case, you should be fine. If you haven't done an EM SubI yet though, you should absolutely do one before you start doing other electives.

I guess I'm wondering whether it helps to do an elective in california just to show interest in the region, without getting another letter. Or should I do another sub-I there. I'm already going to do one home EM rotation and one away rotation in the northeast.