Importance of research for EM matching

[mew 43]

Hi all, 

I'm in M3. Long story short I love emerg but didn't get the chance to do any research (had a project getting started mid-M2 that we were preparing to submit to REB in March...things have been stalled since then). 

I do have other academic activities (e.g. I'm involved in UGME curriculum development) but don't have any posters or publications. I have lots of extracurriculars in med school but they aren't expressly related to emerg- more focused on my other advocacy interests. 

Is this going to be a significant barrier to matching- ie, should I be trying to get my M2 project back off the ground? I'm finding clerkship challenging and don't have a lot of bandwidth for non-clinical right now but if a lack of research is going to significantly disadvantage me I'd rather hear that now and try to make it work.

Thanks!

[Redpill 63]

From the other threads on here I gather that the most important things for matching are references, followed by interviews. I think the rest (research, ECs) will depend on how competitive a year it is. People who have done more will probably look better. So I doubt lack of research will significantly disadvantage you, but it may put you behind others who also receive good references and have it.

That being said, I get the sense that EM in particular values advocacy as an EC. So I think that will help to some degree.

I'm also still in medical school so take what I say with a grain of salt.