“After such a tough year last year, I assumed there would be a large rebound. EM is a very welcoming specialty where many types of people fit – our strength is in our motley crew,” Zink said. “EM is the only specialty that allows me the depth and breadth of pathophysiology, plus the added flexibility of fellowship training. There is no recipe for a perfect career; you have to follow your passions.”

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Many applicants, like Nsikak Daniel who graduated medical school in St. Lucia, felt like they would never have a chance at matching in EM were excited at the opportunity to be given a chance. At ACEP’s Scientific Assembly in Philadelphia last October, Dr. Daniel had no plans to participate in the 2024 Match. She doubted she could earn a spot in an emergency medicine residency program in the United States.

There were financial limitations. She wasn’t personally impressed with her U.S. Medical Licensing Exam test scores. And she thought there would be steep competition from U.S.-based students. But a sponsor she found at ACEP’s annual meeting encouraged her to continue her dream of practicing emergency medicine.

Following ACEP24, “I bought my ERAS token, prepared my entire application in less than two weeks, including my personal statement and letters of recommendation, and submitted to 47 programs,” she said. “The next few weeks, I received eight interview offers and now, so help me God, I matched into EM! It has been a rollercoaster ride but personally, I think it makes this latest achievement all the more worth it.”

Dr. Daniel, who graduated medical school in 2022, is just one of 2,891 applicants who matched into emergency medicine in the 2024 Match program this spring.

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“Our residency program leadership was very deliberate with recruitment, interviewing, and ranking as were many other programs,” said Annahieta Kalantari, DO, vice chair of education at the Penn State Health Milton S Hershey Medical Center. “They spent hundreds of hours finding the right candidates for our rank list.”

Many experts have noted that top grades and board scores do not always predict who will become the best emergency physicians. There are a number of emergency medicine leaders who have said that they themselves were just average students. Identifying future residents who fit the mission and values of a program and have genuine interest in serving that specific patient population is also an important part of a successful Match.