Emergency med chances

[Dr.Narcos]

Good morning everyone,

Just wanted to get peoples opinions on my situation. Im a 3rd year medical student who got a 207 on my first attempt for STEP 1 and a 470 on COMLEX. Ive always been interested in EM but now I feel like my chances of matching are slim to none. I am a US DO student. I have a fair amount of research and conference presentations as well as 2 publications. I wanted to see what my chances are for matching into EM. Should I give it up? My back up would be primary care such as Internal or family? any advice- other then killing step 2? I also am a founder of a nonprofit organization. Volunteered in a ER for 3 years

Any hope is appreciated

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[DrStephenStrange]

You'll be fine for EM. Apps decreased by like 10% this year, and I imagine it will only continue to go down due to the current oversaturated market and scarcity of jobs. If I were you, I'd look into another specialty while you still can.

 

[MedScat]

Although the job market concerns are true, I'll try to answer you taking that out of the equation

For EM, the thing that matters most are your LOR. With two top 1/3 SLOEs, that 207 doesnt matter except if it gets you beyond any programs that have a cutoff. I had a friend this cycle applying with a 210 first attempt and hes gotten numerous interviews. Based on his personality though, I bet you he had good SLOEs. So to answer your question, no, your chances are not none based on your step 1 score. Whether you should give it up or not is on you based on job outlook and what not. I'm applying EM myself and people call me dumb every single day. I plan on doing fellowship so I stuck with it. Best of luck, reach out with any questions

 

[Dr.Narcos]

Although the job market concerns are true, I'll try to answer you taking that out of the equation

For EM, the thing that matters most are your LOR. With two top 1/3 SLOEs, that 207 doesnt matter except if it gets you beyond any programs that have a cutoff. I had a friend this cycle applying with a 210 first attempt and hes gotten numerous interviews. Based on his personality though, I bet you he had good SLOEs. So to answer your question, no, your chances are not none based on your step 1 score. Whether you should give it up or not is on you based on job outlook and what not. I'm applying EM myself and people call me dumb every single day. I plan on doing fellowship so I stuck with it. Best of luck, reach out with any questions

Thanks! That was actually really helpful. Do you think I should do subI's for EM? Is it as helpful as people say?

 

[UnlimitedTraction]

You'll be fine for EM. Apps decreased by like 10% this year, and I imagine it will only continue to go down due to the current oversaturated market and scarcity of jobs. If I were you, I'd look into another specialty while you still can.
View attachment 344815

This isn't exactly a decrease in applications by 10%, as you state. This is a 10% decrease in average applications received by program, which can be a function of both total applicants in the EM pool and number of applications submitted per applicant. The latter can be attributed to changes in the job market, virtual interviews, increased applicant pool size, etc. To know the YOY change in applications, you should look at the total number of applications submitted this year in the EM pool compared to last year. But an even better metric would be number of applications submitted last year divided by total number of PGY1 EM positions last year compared to number of applications submitted this year divided by total number of PGY1 EM positions this year. None of this is expressed in the chart above.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

Thanks! That was actually really helpful. Do you think I should do subI's for EM? Is it as helpful as people say?

You need to do a SubI. Your SLOEs are key. Also plan to take CK early and crush it. I had a sub 220 and had no problem with interviews or quality of programs because of great SLOEs and a strong CK score.

 

[collegestud2013]

Good morning everyone,

Just wanted to get peoples opinions on my situation. Im a 3rd year medical student who got a 207 on my first attempt for STEP 1 and a 470 on COMLEX. Ive always been interested in EM but now I feel like my chances of matching are slim to none. I am a US DO student. I have a fair amount of research and conference presentations as well as 2 publications. I wanted to see what my chances are for matching into EM. Should I give it up? My back up would be primary care such as Internal or family? any advice- other then killing step 2? I also am a founder of a nonprofit organization. Volunteered in a ER for 3 years

Any hope is appreciated

You'll probably Match somewhere if you apply broad enough, though it will likely be in a lower tier community program like an HCA program. The number of apps per program to EM decreased sharply with the very poor job market. The job market saturation is already picking up and and only going to get worse (per ACEP there will be around 9500 surplus of EM attendings by 2030) due to rapid residency program expansion and increased use of midlevels, graduating from a a lower tier community EM program means your chances of finding a job in any decently desirable location will be VERY uncertain.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

A friend last cycle matched with 209, 510, 530 (level 2), no CK, no ECs, average class rank, decent SLOEs. Didn't match top choice but a match is better than not matching.

No it isn’t. I would be reluctant to match in to a low tier or newer program with all the negative job market prospects. I interviewed at one new program simply because of proximity to family. And even before covid cut the market more than half the class didn’t have job offers in January. Training means nothing without reputation and network. If you do choose to apply to those programs, job placement rate needs to be the first question to the PD.

 

[MedScat]

Thanks! That was actually really helpful. Do you think I should do subI's for EM? Is it as helpful as people say?

So I'm not sure how familiar you are with the EM application process but, you absolutely have to do a Sub-I, there is no choice, because that's where you get your second SLOE from. The SLOE is the standardized letter of recommendation form that all EM residencies require. They require at least 2 (the exception to this was last year during COVID).

Here is more info about the SLOE https://www.cordem.org/resources/residency-management/sloe/

As someone mentioned before, where you train absolutely matters in this day and age. If you settle for an HCA, good luck because you'll forever be stuck in their cycle working for them. That's what I've heard at least from a few attendings in the northeast. HCAs don't have a great reputation up here. So, you'll just have to do your research about programs that are a good fit for you.

 

[06wolf]

Good morning everyone,

Just wanted to get peoples opinions on my situation. Im a 3rd year medical student who got a 207 on my first attempt for STEP 1 and a 470 on COMLEX. Ive always been interested in EM but now I feel like my chances of matching are slim to none. I am a US DO student. I have a fair amount of research and conference presentations as well as 2 publications. I wanted to see what my chances are for matching into EM. Should I give it up? My back up would be primary care such as Internal or family? any advice- other then killing step 2? I also am a founder of a nonprofit organization. Volunteered in a ER for 3 years

Any hope is appreciated

I would go for what you love to do. I know it sounds corny or stereotypical; all the same, I think it's important. Residency is hard, the hours are long, and it's high stress and high stakes. Without a real passion for what you're doing, I think residency ends up being a miserable slog. If you've been volunteering in an ED for 3 years, and EM is your passion, then put yourself on track to make it your life's work. I would worry less about the numbers (which are fine, by the way; I agree with the previous posters who encourage you) and more about setting yourself up for success in a program that will support you. I wish you all the best of luck! DM me if you want to talk offline.

 

[Dr.Narcos]

I would go for what you love to do. I know it sounds corny or stereotypical; all the same, I think it's important. Residency is hard, the hours are long, and it's high stress and high stakes. Without a real passion for what you're doing, I think residency ends up being a miserable slog. If you've been volunteering in an ED for 3 years, and EM is your passion, then put yourself on track to make it your life's work. I would worry less about the numbers (which are fine, by the way; I agree with the previous posters who encourage you) and more about setting yourself up for success in a program that will support you. I wish you all the best of luck! DM me if you want to talk offline.

Thanks for the encouragement. I appreciate you guys. I’ve learned a lot just from a simple post. Really appreciate it!

 

[solitarius]

Peak EM competitiveness has already passed. You just need decent-enough SLOEs.