Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
When I decided to specialized in emergency medicine, in my second year, I was in the middle of my class at an osteopathic school without a residency program, I had no research experience, did well on COMLEX 1 (89%), mediocre on USMLE 1 (215), and had no previous experience in the ED. I applied to 36 programs, got 17 interviews (some at competitive programs; my rank list is posted), and took 13 of those. Here are some things that I learned (alot of this is already posted elsewhere):
1. If step 1 is mediocre, consider taking step 2 early. I took it in June and scored 241. Emergency medicine is excellent preparation for step 2.
2. You must do away rotations in EM if you don't have a program at your school, and you must get outstanding LORs. Those rotations have to be the peak of your medical school career. I did away rotations in trauma surgery, MICU, peds ED, and 1 1/2 in ED.
3. Apply early. Apply early. Apply early. As has been said before, within the first 2 weeks seems to be ok.
4. Attend a conference or 2; ACEP, SAEM.
5. Do research (academic project) early. You don't want that section of your application to be blank. If you don't have access to someone doing a project, you can do an away research rotation. Or (NOT reccommended), do your own project. That's what I did. Lots of work, but it is fairly easy to present an abstract at a regional conference. Getting published may be another issue.
5. Join EMRA
1. If step 1 is mediocre, consider taking step 2 early. I took it in June and scored 241. Emergency medicine is excellent preparation for step 2.
2. You must do away rotations in EM if you don't have a program at your school, and you must get outstanding LORs. Those rotations have to be the peak of your medical school career. I did away rotations in trauma surgery, MICU, peds ED, and 1 1/2 in ED.
3. Apply early. Apply early. Apply early. As has been said before, within the first 2 weeks seems to be ok.
4. Attend a conference or 2; ACEP, SAEM.
5. Do research (academic project) early. You don't want that section of your application to be blank. If you don't have access to someone doing a project, you can do an away research rotation. Or (NOT reccommended), do your own project. That's what I did. Lots of work, but it is fairly easy to present an abstract at a regional conference. Getting published may be another issue.
5. Join EMRA
