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CORD Standardized Letter of Evaluation (SLOE)

CORD Standardized Letter of Evaluation (SLOE)

Welcome to the Official CORD SLOE site. Information for faculty for the 2025-26 application cycle

Note: If you are a medical student looking for SLOE guidance, please review Chapters 5-7 in the EMRA and CORD Student Advising Guide.   Additional residency application advice can be found on the CORD Advising Students Committee in EM webpage.

The Standardized Letter of Evaluation (SLOE) Instructions

  • The SLOE is a letter of evaluation and not a letter of recommendation.  Please keep this in mind when filling this out.
  • There are a few different versions of the SLOE. Many of them contain overlapping content with one another, but only the eSLOE, which is to be written by EM faculty at a site with an EM residency program, asks where a student will fall on the rank list. SLOE types: 
        • eSLOE: Written by faculty at an EM residency program, with knowledge of all students rotating through the program and the projected rank list. Usually written by a group including PD/APD/CD.
        • Non-residency based SLOE: For EM faculty without an EM residency training program
        • Sub-specialty SLOE: For rotations that teach EM sub-specialty content. Examples include but are not limited to ultrasound, pediatric emergency medicine or toxicology. 
        • Off-service (O)SLOE: For off-service (non-Emergency Medicine) faculty based on a rotation outside the ED including but not limited to internal medicine, anesthesia or surgery. 
  • It is important that you read these instructions in their entirety before you complete your first SLOE for the application season.

Instructions for all SLOE types: 

  • The SLOE was designed to be an evaluative tool that can provide residency programs with an accurate and global picture of the EM applicant. It has both:
        • Competency-based domains (does a student meet a benchmark)
        • Comparative domains between students
  • The SLOE has been designed to be:
        • Concise
        • Standardized 
        • Discerning
  • Please utilize the full grading scale. The letter is designed to highlight strengths and areas of growth for applicants.  Residency programs prefer an honest letter over an inflated one. 
  • Use the written comments section wisely. 
        • Provide pertinent information about the applicant that reflects their rotation performance within the appropriate word limit. 
        • Do highlight strengths and growth areas for students. Keep in mind that training programs vary in the attributes they value in a successful candidate.
        • Do explain pre-entrustable designations from Part A and extremes of scale use (1 or 5) from Part B Evaluation of Student sections.
        • Review your comments for bias. Consider using a tool such as https://textanalysis.beapplied.com
        • Avoid listing random faculty comments without context
        • Do NOT reiterate information that can be found in other sections of the ResidencyCAS application
  • Your student experience/rotation should be described in the institutional characteristics section.

eSLOE Specific Instructions:

  • Group SLOEs authored by some combination of Clerkship Director/Program Director/Vice Chair of Education are standard and expected when writing an eSLOE
  • Before writing your first eSLOE you should gather the following information (note: if you wrote eSLOEs last year this information may be saved in your account, but it is best to double check for accuracy):
        • Student grades from the prior year
        • Your rank list distribution from the eSLOES that you wrote in the prior academic year

How to access the eSLOE site and begin writing SLOEs: 

  1. To access the website to create eSLOEs, non-residency based SLOEs, subspecialty SLOEs or O-SLOEs, click here.
    • You do not need an eSLOE login to create non-residency based SLOEs, subspecialty SLOEs and O-SLOEs.  For instructions on how to create these SLOE types, click here.
    • You DO need an eSLOE login to create a residency-based eSLOE.  Logging in and requesting an account is covered here.  If you are unable to login, contact CORD staff at cord@cordem.org. 
  2. After logging into the eSLOE website to create a residency-based eSLOE, you are then taken to your dashboard.  Navigating the dashboard as well as creating and editing SLOEs is covered in this video. 
    • Each season, you should begin with creating the template of information that you would like to be included on every SLOE.  To do so, go to “View/Update SLOE Template Values.”  For instructions on how to input this information, view this video.
    • To create a new SLOE, click on “+Add new Evaluation” on the left side of the dashboard.
        • You will be asked to include a ResidencyCAS ID for each applicant. You will receive the ResidencyCAS ID via an email from ResidencyCAS when the applicant requests a SLOE.  You may still start / save letters in the eSLOE system for applicants who have not yet requested a letter in the ResidencyCAS system.  You may also save PDFs without a ResidencyCAS ID. You will not, however, be able to submit the letter to the ResidencyCAS system until this ID is received. 
    • To view or edit prior SLOEs, click on “Show your Evaluations” at the bottom or “Evaluations” on the left side of the dashboard.
        • New this year:  Previously written non-residency based SLOEs, subspecialty SLOEs and O-SLOEs can now be retrieved and updated.  Please see here (“Form Recovery Scenario”) for further guidance.
        • Certain eSLOE users with higher level access (typically program directors) can manage the eSLOE users at their institution by clicking on the “Users” section on the left side of the dashboard.
  3. Once the letter is complete, click "Submit to ResidencyCAS." The discrete data elements, as well as a PDF form, will be sent directly from eSLOE system to ResidencyCAS with this button.
    • If you need to download a PDF to be uploaded in a separate portal (ex: military programs), you may still do so. 
    • Note on resubmissions:  If you re-submit a previously transmitted SLOE to ResidencyCAS, it will update on the ResidencyCAS side to replace it with the most recent version.
    • For further information and guidance on the eSLOE and ResidencyCAS integration, please visit this “How To” guide.

Contact information for CORD: 

If you experience problems using the eSLOE, please contact the CORD office by email at cord@cordem.org or by phone at 888-444-2090 ext 3229.

Access the SLOE Website