Basic science years (MS1 and MS2)
Overview
Congratulations on getting into medical school. Similar to what I mentioned in the pre-med page, you might want to just focus on the task at hand and work on getting good grades and a great board score. In addition to that, if you would like to do more, then you can do some of the same things a pre-med might do, but now you have more resources at your level and institution.
Keys to your success
1. Start joining and participating in your local EM interest group (EMIG) or club. Get to know the faculty involved and consider being an officer. Stay in touch with the upper classmen so that you can ask them for specific advice related to your school (courses, rotations, exams, school policy, away rotations, interviews, EM residencies that have connections to your med school).
If your school doesn’t have an EMIG, then start one. SAEM offers up to $500 to those wanting to start an EMIG (see the SAEM EMIG grant page and past grant recipients).
You can also start EM activities and conferences. (Here’s a an example on pdf.) By having an EM club, you can arrange for the group to visit or invite EM program directors and residents in order to start making connections.
2. Look into what is going on at the national level by visiting the SAEM, ACEP, AAEM, and other EM websites (see links page for more). Check into joining the organizations (some are free for students while others will cost some money) and reading their newsletters and journals. You can meet residents and EM program directors if you get the chance to their conferences.
3. Research is always good. Publications are even better. The chance to present your project at meetings allows you to meet EM residents and faculty from other places.
4. You can shadow an EP to get more experience and connections. You may not get to do or learn as much as an MS4, but it should be a good experience.
5.
Many schools, like UTMB, allow
you to do one or two clinical preceptorships
during
the eight weeks of summer after your MS1 year.
I spoke with a UTMB student that was able to do an EM preceptorship in
My
experiences
I was leaning towards surgery during my first years of med school so I did not do anything specifically related to EM at that time. I participated in the surgery club and got good practice suturing pig’s feet. The internal medicine group had events where I got to present a clinical vignette to students and faculty. I also got to learn/perform certain exam skills and procedures on mannequins. I learned more about the applications process at a family practice meeting that had a good description of the match process. Overall, I worked really hard to do well in all of my classes. I also studied more than I had ever studied before for the USMLE, Step 1 because I knew that was the great equalizer which residencies (whatever you go into) can use to compare you to students from other schools. Although it is not the only or most important thing, it can help you if you do very well or hurt you if you do poorly. By working hard during your classes, studying for Step 1 becomes easier. In conclusion, definitely focus on doing your best on your grades and board score. After that, if you want to do some of the extracurricular activities, they can help somewhat, but the bottom line is that your performances in classes and Step 1 are what most places will focus on. (This is similar to getting into med school as admissions people don’t have time to go through every detail of your application and have tons of candidates so a few things become the focus.)
Be sure to check out
the links
page for other resources (EMRA, SAEM, etc.) to
learn more about this topic.
Last updated on
3/12/04
Questions,
comments,
suggestions?
Feel free to contact me at [email protected]
(I will reply as soon
as possible.)
(EM=Emergency
Medicine,
ED=Emergency Department, EP=Emergency Physician)
