Letters for EM

[lemondifficult]

Hi everyone,

Anxious M3 here thinking about reference letters for CaRMS. I'm thinking of applying to EM but also have 6 weeks of FM with 4 weeks of rural FM.

I was wondering what the thoughts were on having (at least) one referee in family medicine for applying to EM. Of course it would be hard to tell until electives roll around and I get a feel of my relationship with preceptors, but would a letter from one preceptor who I worked with for 4 weeks in rural FM (with EM) be a better option than working 1-2 shifts with an EM preceptor for a visiting elective?

Also, a general question regarding quality vs. quantity of electives for EM (I.e., would you recommend 2 x 2 week visiting electives, or 1 x 4 week elective)?

Thanks!

[bearded frog]

Generally, you want a letter from a person in that specialty, so they can comment on how you would do in the training/life of that specialty. That being said, if this was a FM that does lots of EM and can give good anecdotes about your EM performance and you know it will be an amazing letter, you could consider using it when you apply for that affiliated program (or any program with rural emphasis I guess), but generally unless it's glowing you'll want to choose good letters from EM docs over it.

Generally 2 different 2 week electives are better as it gives you exposure/letter opportunity from two programs instead of one, unless you're gunning for one program then you could consider doing 4 weeks in it, but it will be a sacrifice for applying broadly.

[Bambi]

1 hour ago, bearded frog said:

Generally, you want a letter from a person in that specialty, so they can comment on how you would do in the training/life of that specialty. That being said, if this was a FM that does lots of EM and can give good anecdotes about your EM performance and you know it will be an amazing letter, you could consider using it when you apply for that affiliated program (or any program with rural emphasis I guess), but generally unless it's glowing you'll want to choose good letters from EM docs over it.

Generally 2 different 2 week electives are better as it gives you exposure/letter opportunity from two programs instead of one, unless you're gunning for one program then you could consider doing 4 weeks in it, but it will be a sacrifice for applying broadly.

I agree with the above and more specifically, 2 x 2 week electives allows you to give face time for 2 programs to which you will apply. This is only to your advantage!