Hello everyone. Welcome back to EM Clerkship. My name is Maddie Watts and this is my series on applying and interviewing for emergency medicine residency. So far, we've discussed writing the personal statement, filling out your ERAS application, and assessing your competitiveness. On this episode, we're going to talk about how to go about researching programs and deciding where to apply.

Speaking from experience, it's really easy to get so wrapped up in the process of filling out your eras, getting your letters of rec, that you don't spend enough time researching programs.

Interview season is just as much about you auditioning for a residency spot

as it is you auditioning programs for your ideal training experience. So in order to make sure that

you don't forsake this big element of the process, I'm going to talk about where you should look

for program information, what you should be looking for, and who you should talk to about programs.

So if you're not even sure what you want or where to start, don't worry, I've got you covered.

Before we get into where to look and who to talk to, let's start with the basics of what

should I even be looking for.

I want to go through five general categories to consider when evaluating which programs

might be right for you.

As usual, I will list them all first and then we'll go through them.

Number one, what type of program, county, community, or academic?

Number two, what length of program? Three year versus four year.

Number three, location.

Number four, culture and lifestyle.

Number five, niches or sub-specialties in emergency medicine.

So the first is what type of program, county versus community versus academic?

These designations are commonly used in emergency medicine, more so than in other specialties.

It's probably the biggest thing I remember hearing people talk about.

You'll hear your advisors say these terms,

and if you choose to dive into the depths of Reddit forums and applying spreadsheets,

...