Value of students going to ACEP?

[stemi8]

I'm a 4th year student applying to EM this cycle. Can anyone comment on how valuable going to ACEP 2019 is for a student applying to EM?

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[bravotwozero]

If I recall correctly, they do have a residency fair, where residents from different programs are there to talk about their residency. May be useful in getting information, but you could easily obtain a lot of that online and on this forum. Other than that, not terribly useful (or cost effective) for you guys.

 

[DeadCactus]

I went as a 4th year. The residency fair can be helpful to just feel out the programs that you seem to interact well with and put some on your radar that you may not have been thinking about. Personally, I also think it tells you something if a program doesn't bother to staff a booth but that's just my bias.

 

[deleted109597]

The residency fair only serves to increase your interest in a program. Feel free to do it. But at the same time, nothing you can do there will make them look at your application any differently (except to red flag it). I promise.
If you want to go, it's a pretty good time. But don't expect anything of it.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Absolutely, if you have a major red flag, going to the residency fair isn't going to make that go away. I find the residency fair only helpful for one main reason:

I'd imagine most programs will look at the applications of people that stop by. If you dont meet the cut to be considered somewhere, showing up isn't going to help that. But if you otherwise would meet the cut to interview somewhere, but are just being geographically filtered out, then actually stopping by and showing your interest may help you get your foot in the door and help you standout from the other 400 people who also would have made the cut that applied. The argument against this is, you can basically accomplish the the same thing with a well written email.

That being said, I'm going to try and go again this year! I always appreciate the chance to get to talk to as many students as I can, and it's always cool that I have a few SDN'ers out there that I get to meet in person.

 

[BoardEligibleEventually]

If I recall correctly, they do have a residency fair, where residents from different programs are there to talk about their residency. May be useful in getting information, but you could easily obtain a lot of that online and on this forum. Other than that, not terribly useful (or cost effective) for you guys.

I met many PDs and APDs and there were 6 out of region programs that I grabbed interviews from that I probably wouldn't have been invited to if not for the facetime I had with those folks at the residency fair. 100% worth going to.

 

[scummie]

I’m gonna go against the grain and say that you should save your money for later in the year. Airfare and car rentals ain’t cheap.
In the rank meetings, no one ever goes up or down based on stopping by a residency booth. If you don’t have the chops to get invited for an interview in the first place, talking for a few minutes isn’t going to magically work either.

Sometimes they will have a student track. That’s really just to get your anxiety up as they convince people that you don’t need more than 3 aways. Are 5 publications enough? Personally, I felt it there were tons of EM gunners, which is an oxymoron in itself. Not my cup of tea.

 

[GonnaBeADoc2222]

Didn't go. Got somewhere around 20 interviews and couples matched into competitive program. More facetime with a program may actually be detrimental to you. Unrelated, but I stopped going to interview dinners towards the end of the season and matched at a program where I didn't attend the dinner.

I honestly don't know why this residency fair exists. It's mere presence pressures applicants into going because "everyone else is" in the hopes of squeezing a few extra brownie points. Airfare, car rentals, and hotels are very expensive for a medical student. Not to mention potentially having to take off time from a rotation to go.

I call BS on the "getting information" aspect of it. Any information that can be gleamed from the fair can be / should be easily accessed on the residency's webpage. Newsflash: it does not matter when you do your MICU rotation, or how much ultrasound time you have, or what electives you can do.

 

[Groove]

Please don't waste your money as a MS4. Are you applying to every program in the country? If not, then I'd use the money you were planning on investing for ACEP and spend it on applying to a few more programs to maximize your interview offers. You'll get MUCH more bang for your buck that way.

The best time to attend ACEP in the grand scheme of things is your last year of residency during the job hunt. You can knock out a lot of interviews at ACEP. I met a couple of groups I was interested in at ACEP during my 4th year and interviewed that evening with one and the next afternoon with another.

 

[scummie]

Please don't waste your money as a MS4. Are you applying to every program in the country? If not, then I'd use the money you were planning on investing for ACEP and spend it on applying to a few more programs to maximize your interview offers. You'll get MUCH more bang for your buck that way.

The best time to attend ACEP in the grand scheme of things is your last year of residency during the job hunt. You can knock out a lot of interviews at ACEP. I met a couple of groups I was interested in at ACEP during my 4th year and interviewed that evening with one and the next afternoon with another.

Also a good place for fellowship interviews.