Will anybody take me?

[bghs11]

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I am a 4th-year student who just went unmatched for Ophtho. Now I am going to apply for ER positions, but obviously I am VERY late and obviously all of my 4th year electives were wasted doing Ophtho rotations. I have decent board scores (222 and 244, respectively) and I have quite a lot of ER experience (worked as an ER tech for five years during college). I also got Honors in an Intro to ER elective, a Medical Spanish elective, and my IM rotation (and Ophtho rotations, but nobody will care about that). I was actually going to apply only for ER until late in my third year of medical school when I switched to Ophtho, so now I haven't even applied to any ER programs yet, and my personal statement and LOR's are totally geared towards Ophtho, so that's not working out too well either. Also, even if I were to get invited for an interview, every program director will know that ER was not my first choice and will probably not want me as a resident, even though I really like it and think I would be really good at it. So my question is, does anyone out there have any idea if I have any chance of matching anywhere, or am I pretty much screwed?

 

[basementbeastie]

if you are a 4th year medstud then don't you have to do a transitional year anyways?? you can (maybe) find one of those and certainly can get a prelim medicine or surgical (not recommended) year.....i wouldn't see you matching into anything else unless perhaps you scrambled into an unmatch position. my guess at least....

 

[bghs11]

if you are a 4th year medstud then don't you have to do a transitional year anyways?? you can (maybe) find one of those and certainly can get a prelim medicine or surgical (not recommended) year.....i wouldn't see you matching into anything else unless perhaps you scrambled into an unmatch position. my guess at least....

I have already done some Transitional interviews, but I was talking about possibly matching into a 3-year Categorical ER program, in which you don't have to do a TY.

 

[basementbeastie]

any reason you can't try again...sounds like you had your sights set on ophtho?

 

[GeneralVeers]

I have already done some Transitional interviews, but I was talking about possibly matching into a 3-year Categorical ER program, in which you don't have to do a TY.

Despite excellent board scores your chances of matching to any 3 year EM program are poor if you don't have much formal EM experience. That being said you can always scramble, and try to get a spot. I know a few ortho residents who ended up in EM due to the scramble. One of my colleagues had never worked an EM shift in his life until the scramble. Now he's one of our better residents.

 

[EctopicFetus]

bghs rough man.. I would call ahead to some of the programs you might be interested in but it is def an uphill battle without any 4th yr electives. You might want to consider applying to the new UF-Gainesville and Nevada programs they might be more willing to listen because interview season is obviously wrapping up.

Good luck.. Keep us updated on your plight.

Your other option is to do your TY and then look at the saem.org site for open residency spots and hope you can get one of those and if not then I think you will have to reapply next yr. But before you look that far out I would look at some of the newer programs or programs undergoing some changes.. So you might want to add MLK to that list but as I mentioned FWIW I think it is a major uphill fight!

 

[basementbeastie]

yeah, good luck, let us now how it turns out///

 

[kungfufishing]

Are you really sure you want to do EM?
Dedication to the specialty is important to programs when evaluating applicants for a good reason. Why not do a TY or prelim and go after optho again?

 

[ErGirl]

Just my $0.02 -- Does your school have an EM program? If so, I would talk to the faculty at your school. They may help you out.
If not, I agree with Corpsman -- scramble or match your top choice transitional and then go for an open spot on the SAEM website. There always seem to be a couple.

Good luck!!!!!!!

 

[bghs11]

Thanks for all the info so far. I'm going to try and scramble for an Ophtho spot (which is pretty much impossible), and then go ahead and do a Transitional Year starting in July. Are most ER programs pretty good about giving PGY-1 credit for a Transitional Year, so that maybe I can find an open PGY-2 ER spot later on and not lose a year?

 

[BKN]

Thanks for all the info so far. I'm going to try and scramble for an Ophtho spot (which is pretty much impossible), and then go ahead and do a Transitional Year starting in July. Are most ER programs pretty good about giving PGY-1 credit for a Transitional Year, so that maybe I can find an open PGY-2 ER spot later on and not lose a year?

Not possible. You need to learn more about the field before you apply.