To any of you who arent tied down or otherwise limited by geography, how are you deciding where to apply? I am open to anywhere in the country, I just want good training, but there are so many programs I dont know how to further narrow them down without going on the interviews and learning the juicy details. I have tried looking at the program websites but honestly they all kind of sound similar after a while. I also dont have a 3 yr or 4 yr preference at this point.
I have 59 programs saved in ERAS right now that all seem like great places to train, in cities I wouldnt mind being. Would like to get down to 35 or 40 but struggling to do so for fear of missing out on a gem (is program FOMO a thing? haha). Any advice or anecdotes on what yall are doing would be great! Thanks!
P.s. Also highly recommend Chase Sapphire Reserve!
I know very little and all I can provide is my framework, but I used this strategy and was very happy with where I matched.
The best thing you can do is find a good advisor who 1. knows the application process (what it takes to be competitive) and 2. will provide honest, unbiased advice to you.
Next, be willing to have an honest conversation about what your competitiveness truly is. Be careful saying you're willing to go anywhere in the country unless you very much mean it. If all you truly care about is quality of training, then there are plenty of places that aren't Cinci, Carolinas, Highland, Denver, and the SoCal programs that provide similarly top notch training, but you'll need a knowledgeable advisor to help you navigate. There's also a fair amount of programs where residents aren't pushed out of their comfort zones, aren't given a variety of learning environments, and are prioritized as laborers rather than learners. That's not to say that any graduate of a US EM program is incompetent, because that's absolutely not true, but there are differences in training, like it or not.
Then, finally think about your away rotations, what you liked and disliked, i.e. if you rotated at UCLA Harbor and loved the county vibe and population then big quaternary care academic centers by and large won't scratch that itch, but if you rotated at Michigan and loved the cerebral vibe, super complex patients and resources available to you then you won't be happy at a low resource, high volume safety net institution.