Senior Medical Student

Emergency medicine (EM) physicians must be prepared for whatever comes through the door, so spend your third and fourth years of medical school learning the diagnosis and management of the most common pathologies encountered across your core rotations.

Continue to explore the field of EM through shadowing, elective rotations, and connecting with residents and attendings. Ensure this is the field you want to commit to! Additionally, check if your home program has EM electives, such as toxicology or emergency medical services (EMS). This will expose you to the breadth of the field while simultaneously allowing you to make valuable professional connections. Some institutions have volunteer rescue squads that can be staffed by medical students.

At the end of your third year, if you are sure that EM is the field for you, apply for away rotations at programs at which you would be interested in training. Competitive EM applicants typically complete one to two away rotations. Program directors cite performance on an away rotation and the standardized letter of evaluation (SLOE) as some of the most important factors in deciding which applicants to interview and are weighted heavier than the applicant's home institution's SLOE. However, many program directors still view completing a home rotation in EM as critical. To be the most competitive applicant possible, it is recommended to secure two SLOEs before applying through the match.

It goes without saying, but not all residencies are created equally. Ensure that you are applying to residencies that will set you up for future success, whether it be in the geographic area in which you hope to practice or provides exposure and research opportunities in subspecialties you might want to pursue.