QR code link: https://osu.zoom.us/j/96209532503?pwd=lbt8hM5bOkXbm5zSNBBFNUV1bo7LbL.1.

​

I was planning to apply for rheumatology fellowship this cycle, but unfortunately I couldn't because my J-1 waiver ends later than the fellowship start date, and I will not be able to complete the waiver early enough. Instead of submitting a weak application, I've decided to apply next year.

I'm an Internal Medicine hospitalist working permanent nights at a community hospital. The biggest challenge is that we have very limited research opportunities and very few faculty involved in academic research. Night shifts also make networking and keeping up with research difficult.

So far, I've:

Been selected for my hospital's Emerging Leadership Program.....

Started a quality improvement project...

Joined the pain management/opioid stewardship committee.

Recently got the opportunity to help with my first peer review.

\-collaborating on clinical trials in myositis

\-Applied for ACR volunteering position

All this in 2 months. As i have fairly recent interest in rheum.

However, I still feel my CV is lacking, especially in research. I honestly don't know where to start.

If you had one year to strengthen a rheumatology fellowship application, what would you do?

How can I find remote research mentors or research groups willing to collaborate?

Are there online research collaboratives or rheumatology projects that community hospital physicians can join?

Would learning research methodology, biostatistics, and systematic reviews be worthwhile?

Are there one-year research fellowships, virtual programs, or certificate courses that are respected?

Besides publications, what activities made the biggest difference in your application?

I'd really appreciate advice from anyone who matched into rheumatology from a community hospital or built their application without having access to an academic center. Thanks!

So how’s everyone feeling about the board exam coming up in two weeks? I feel like I’ve put in a lot of time studying and I still don’t know anything. I am historically a terrible test taker so the anxiety is real.

Text resources: Cuccurullo, Recap
Qbank: Recap, Board Vitals, AAP, AAPMR, TrueLearn

Just wanted to see if everyone was feeling this way.

PGY-2 here. Took me a minute to decipher tr-msx as transmission…

and then what’s “m.s.” in the explanation on the 2nd card?

and many other cards have crazy abbreviations! I’ll figure them all out eventually, but trying to learn content while also learning how these authors liked to shorthand words is wild.

How will not taking either STEP exam impact my residency options? Which programs would be out of the question?

I have a middle aged female with atypical MS. Their neurologist recommended PM&R referral and so I as PCP placed the referral

The PM&R clinic has told my office they do not see any patients with MS

I was a little confused but maybe I am not understanding what populations can use your specialty

Any insight is appreciated!

Currently have an away rotation scheduled in November that isn’t at a residency program but is with a doctor that is connected to one of my top choices.

I’m torn because I won’t be able to use this rotation to get a letter or even put on my eras and will have to spend the time away from home as well as the money to live out of state for a month but I would gain experience, be able to talk about the rotation in interviews and it will show the residency program the doc works with that I’m interested in their program because I chose to do the rotation knowing I wouldn’t get a letter out of it.

Any advice?

USDO. Got my step score back recently, 230s. Devastated, all of my NBMEs were high 240s-mid250s. Too late to change anything on that. level 2 score pending.

Planning on applying PM&R. Strong interest in field since undergrad (shadowing experiences). PM&R focused activities, volunteering, research since first year of school. Leadership in PM&R orgs. Lots of sports coverage experiences during school. GHHS if that matters. One poster done and one abstract pending. Some other research experiences but no pub out of them.

Currently on a PM&R rotation starting 4th year off. Have 3 away rotations booked at the moment, and a 4th one at my “home” program, so 4 in total. One of them is a rehab elective but the other 3 are Sub-Is. Had other offers but turned down due to schedule.

Have 2 strong PM&R LOR and one general one right now, hoping to get another one from my next rotation before ERAS is due.

Am I cooked for PM&R? I know it’s getting more competitive every year. I realize my STEP will screen me out of some programs. No preference of community vs academic. East coast preference but going to school on west coast so it wouldn’t be the end of the world to be here either. Should I dual apply? Feeling very lost right now

Hey y’all,

What are the pros and cons of choosing IS fellowship over pain. Since spine isn’t ACGME accredited, what is the drive of people wanting to choose it over pain? Wouldn’t it just make your life harder since a lot of interventional pain dives into spine care as well.

I only have 1 away rotation scheduled for PM&R before ERAS sept 23 date and it starts in late august until end of september. Had a pretty late start to 4th year but was wondering how this looks for applying to PM&R and if I still have a chance if I need 2 PM&R lor from only this rotation? I am also pivoting to this rotation pretty late.

What is the best way to excel in an away rotation? I hope to receive a SLOE from an upcoming rotation, as I do not have one yet. Although it is not an official Sub-I, I consider it as one.

Thoughts? pls and thanks!!

I also planned on grabbing these texts to help (Ideally, I'll need them once I match anyway)

The 3-Minute Musculoskeletal and Peripheral Nerve Exam

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Pocketpedia

AAP has a webinar series for international graduates seeking to apply for PM&R residency in the US. I was an IMG and did not know of these resources when I was applying, so I hope this helps some folks out there.

New PGY-4 here wondering what decks folks used to study for boards. I've been making my own cards throughout residency but frankly I don't have a good eye for what is high-yield and I just end up way in the weeds. I've come across a few decks but they either have too few (~1200) or too many (~30k) cards.

Hey guys! So just started my PGY-2 year. One thing I'm having trouble with is learning dispo recommendations for acute care patients. We work on consults at an acute care center and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to learn appropriateness for each level of care. I'm having a lot of difficulty with each cause I feel like there are certain caveats that would push someone into one category over the other. Any advice would be appreciated.

Mark your calanders. Can’t miss opportunity to learn more about different residency programs. More detailed information on participating programs, etc. announced closer to date.

Has anyone applied to an away at Mt Sinai and heard back? / know if they’re full? Thanks!!

reapplying PMR this cycle, current TY, passed level 1&2 (low 400s), will have 1 SLOE and 1 PMR LOR, submitted to present a QI at AAPMR/AAP/AMA, no obvious red flags on app that I’m aware of? Was told from last cycle I needed more research and a letter (letter came in too late)

Incoming PM&R pgy2. Just completed a difficult transitional year. Extremely nervous for PM&R (though excited to finally be here). I realize there is so much to learn and that feels daunting. Would appreciate tips going into day one. What resources would you recommend ? What did you find most helpful? And anything else helpful. Thank you.

Hey everyone. For those of you who are on here and passed oral boards a few weeks ago congrats. For those that didn’t I was in that place last year and it can be a very frustrating experience to say the least. (Thankfully passed this time but no one can convince me that the 10-20 percent chance of failing couldn’t have landed on me again this year.)

So if it happened to any of you just know it probably has nothing to do with you as a person or doctor. For some maybe they actually tank the test and it warrants a retake (not really they should account for basic communication skills in med school, residency etc. if that’s their theoretical goal) but the vast majority you just stumbled on one of the stupidest exams and got unlucky. That’s it.

This is my attempt to pay it forward until this money grabbing exam gets abolished. If anyone needs any help or just someone to vent to feel free to message on here or direct message. Can kind of feel like you’re on an island after failing (which in some ways is good need to channel that feeling and somehow pass the next time. My goal isn’t to take away that completely. But I believe anything in its extreme is also too harmful. So don’t isolate too much. feel free to message.)

hello, I’m an incoming OMS-I who is interested in specializing in PM&R but also considering internal medicine. I was wondering if I should go ahead and look for a mentor even though I’m not 100% sure about PM&R. I saw someone mentioned about the AAP “big buddy” program.

Apologies in advance if I'm being a little to neurotic.

I see that ERAS application review opens for residency programs on Sept 23, 2026, which is near the end of my first audition rotation. By then, I'll ideally have 2 PM&R letters (1 from 3rd year, 1 from my audition) and 1 non-PM&R letter from 3rd year uploaded. I have another 2 audition rotations lined up after the Sept 23 deadline.

I have three questions:

1. Is there any drawback to submitting only 3 LORs by September 23 and uploading the 4th one once it's available by the end of my 2nd audition in mid-October? Assuming I do well and will receive a good letter
2. Can I submit my applications with only 2 letters, then upload the rest as they come?
3. When's the latest I can/should upload a letter? If I wanted to include all letters from my auditions, I'd be uploading my final letter by mid-November. Otherwise, if it's too late to receive a letter from the November audition, what can I do to make sure that that specific program "remembers me"/reviews my application a little more closely?

Hello!! I am really worried about application season as so far VSLO has just led to WL and rejections. I applied as soon as VSLO opened for the most part since I had heard timing was big. I don’t have a home program at my school for PM&R. I’ve been reaching out to medical student program coordinator (not directors dw) to express my interest and any new open spots / WL. I’m not fully sure what to do from here. My school has told me to pivot to neurology and to give up on PM&R.

As of right now, I only have 1 confirmed outpatient elective with a physiatrist I worked with a year ago.

At this point, I’m trying to apply to locations that are still open on VSLO but unsure if i did something wrong in my applications? Does anyone have any advice?

AAMC sent an email out yesterday with updated data from the 2025-2026 application cycle. I was looking through the PM&R data for programs, but I heard this information is all self-reported. I'm not sure if it's self-reported by applicants or by program leadership.

How much can this be trusted? For example, if a program last year did not interview applicants who did not rank them in their geographical preference or had a board failure, should applicants this cycle take that into account when building their program list?

I know the 20 signal thing was new last year. The data pretty much also confirmed that you have a higher chance of getting an interview if you signal the program. Some programs offered 0% of interviews if you did not signal.