Should I upload a potentially bad sloe? what to do to subvert the possible disaster

[pinguthepenguin]

Hey guys,

I am an MS4 applying for EM residency and I have been dreading about the bad sloe that is going to be uploaded any day now. I know it's not going to be a good sloe because a person who gave me negative evals said that I was not performing up to the institutions standards couple of times and I saw that sentiment being relayed on my mid-point feedback. Other than that my other 2 EM rotations went very well and the people in there treated me really well. I have average grades and slight above average (for EM) board scores. My dilemma is what should I do with potentially bad sloe???

Option A: Don't send it to other programs BUT I kinda need that SLOE to open up the northeast for me (I am not from northeast and I haven't gotten any interview invites from my northeastern apps). I also mentioned to one of my interviews that I did an away there, and the interviewer told me they would look out for that SLOE (facepalm)


Option B: Send it to my home institution and have them survey it for me. BUT that is not sitting well with me. Plus, I am actually interested in going to my home institution. So I don't want them to see a bad sloe and I also don't want them to get the impression that I play dirty as a professional.


Option C: call the program that is giving me a bad sloe and ask them to give me a feedback. Hell, I am not going to that program, even though I really wanted to go there initially. But I don't know how much of a help that is going to be and I don't want them to talk bad about me to other residencies.


Option D: watch the train-wreck catch on fire and submit the sloe only to have my future interviewers to ask me why I sucked at that away. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

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[EthylMethylMan]

I feel for you, my dude. It's my understanding, though, that seeing an AI with no SLOE is a red flag in and of itself. PDs know that outside of them being massively late, the only reason for a SLOE to not be submitted to them is because it was questionable, so the student chose not to assign it. That'll really just open up awkward questions at places where you do get invites. Long story short, I don't think you'd at all benefit from withholding it, but I'd be interested in hearing what others around here have to say.

 

[surely]

This is such a tough situation to be in.

On one hand, I believe firmly that CORD needs to issue a mandate that all SLOEs be uploaded. Take the agony out of the decision, and make sure everyone's on a level playing field. (Though, let's be honest, there's no real leveling this particular playing field - too much subjectivity, lack of transparency, blah blah I've made my views on SLOEs clear before.)

So here's the thing: If this was your final EM rotation, it's technically possible that no other program will know you even went on this rotation. You could potentially not upload it and have programs be none the wiser. If there's any risk that other programs know that you went on this third rotation, then yeah, not submitting a SLOE has the potential for being a big misconduct red flag.

Calling the program that wrote the SLOE and asking for feedback is a good option, but they might be tight-lipped and/or too busy to answer. And if they're like "oh you did great!", are you really going to trust that? SLOEs are blinded to the applicant for a reason... People hate giving negative feedback.

Here's a fifth option that I would consider in your shoes (even though, like I said, I think all SLOEs should be uploaded):

Option E: Only upload that SLOE to the Northeast programs. This is a harm reduction strategy. A hedge. If it's a bad SLOE, it won't completely tank your changes of matching altogether, it'll just torpedo your changes in the Northeast. Having lived in the Northeast before, it may be doing you a favor.

If you're an otherwise strong applicant (good SLOEs, good Step 1 scores), you may find that you actually do get great interview offers from the Northeast programs even without a geographic tie to that location. I met multiple applicants last year who got interviews in Texas and California without having ties there/without having done Aways there, which I was really surprised by, and TX and CA are known for being more geographically insular than the Northeast.

 

[tealzeal]

You should definitely contact the program that wrote you the bad SLOE. It won't help your application process but it will help you as a person.

You should definitely NOT upload this bad SLOE to everybody. Sure not sending may raise questions at some places but sending it will answer those questions and not in the way you'd like. You should also definitely NOT send it to any programs that have already offered you an interview.

The proposed option E is a reasonable idea but...will a bad sloe open any doors that your app without that letter wouldn't open? I doubt it and it may close some.

Sending it to your school to get the inside scoop is (in my opinion as somebody without this option) a pretty bull**** move but definitely on the table. Maybe just talk to them to tell them you're worried about the sloe but have these plans to open the northeast, if you send it to them could they advise you on roughly how somebody might act on it? (or if they are down with that unethical assist then maybe they could give you even better feedback)

Consider uploading two SLOE letters to fill out the total, at least that gives you some plausible deniability.

That's all just my opinion though.