rosetta123

Not gonna lie! It's been really tough at times being away from my family and supports, particularly with COVID because it's limited my ability to fly home at holidays. COVID has also made it harder to meet people and foster new friendships. I have a spouse who moved with me so that was helpful. This is why I emphasize the importance of picking a residency program that has a culture you can thrive in - because your co-residents will likely be the start of your support network in a new place. Then you'll start to meet other people too :-) 
First year residency (pre-covid) absolutely flew by. The year of COVID had some slower periods and became a grind at points but it's still moving fast overall. If you decide to move then take advantage of everything your program and the city it is based in has to offer. I've gotten involved in some interesting research/academic projects where I learned a lot of academic stuff but also learned a lot about myself. I took an online leadership course through CMA during early COVID because why not if you're stuck home anyway and I've gotten involved in teaching medical students (my favourite thing to do). I've learned more about cheese curds than I ever thought possible and I can tell you what 300,000 tulips looks like. I have found staff physicians in my program who know many things I also want to know and make it a point every time I see them to try and download some of their brain into my brain - none of them have ever begrudged being asked questions and teaching even when I'm not on service with them. I have 5 years to be a paid student and I've found a program that encourages residents to shape their own experiences. Would things have been worse if I stayed home? Maybe, I don't know. Would things be better if I stayed home? Maybe, I don't know. Would I have had the same opportunities or motivation to pursue them had I stayed home? Probably not. Would I have found different opportunities at home? Sure, probably. 
Basically I decided if the powers that be at CaRMS were going to force me away from my family for 5 years then I was going to make dang good use of that time and suck every piece of value I could out of it. In the beginning being busy was a survival tactic (distraction from sad feelings of leaving home) but it turns out when pack your life full of interesting and rewarding experiences to make things survivable you also build a life worth living and things become thrive-able :-) If you decide to rank an away program (or if the powers at CaRMS compel you) then it IS possible to move away for residency and have a good experience provided you are willing to put in the effort to build a life worth living, or at least one that is "ok for now". When I am feeling sad about leaving home I remind myself that it doesn't have to be forever - I can go back at the end of residency if I want to, or I can stay here, or I can go somewhere else. 2 years ago when I opened my CaRMS match I would have told you that the first opportunity I had to move home I was outta here... Now in the 2nd year? Ehhhh... I can't say with conviction that I'm moving back. I could see myself staying if the right opportunity is available with the right group of colleagues :-)

This example was very helpful, thank you! I think the bit we were missing was that person C would get their second choice over person E getting their first choice, with all this talk about the applicant being preferred and so on. I've just been wanting to wrap my head around the idea that the only way to go forward is to rank based on preferences solely, which I know to be true from reading it over and over, just have been needing to get it in my head! 
 
Thanks for this example as well! Helps me to understand.

No this is incorrect. Take a simplified example:
Applicants: You, Jim, Bob, Lino. Jim, Bob, and Lino ranked Competitive Program A first, and you decide to rank Competitive Program B first. 
Competitive Program A has 1 spot. They rank: 1) Jim, 2) Bob, 3) you, 4) Lino. Jim gets the spot.
Competitive Program B has 1 spot. They rank: 1) Bob, 2) You, 3) Lino, 4) Jim. Bob will still get the spot even though you ranked it first, and Bob ranked it second. 

No, it never makes sense to rank less competitive programs higher just because the program you want is competitive. 
Essentially it works like this. Let's say 3 people (A, B and C) rank the same program first (Program Alpha). Program Alpha has two spots, and creates a rank list in order of B, A, C. Image there's two other people (D and E), who rank a different program, Beta, first. Beta program creates a rank list of C, D, E.  When the algorithm runs across the first choices for everyone, because B and A ranked program Alpha first AND the program ranked them in the first two slots, they will match, but C will not yet be matched. The algorithm will also tentatively match D and E to Program Beta, because that's their first choice and no one else who ranked it first is currently above them on Beta's list. But at this point the matches for D and E are still tentative, because there's a person on Program Beta's list who remains unmatched AND is ranked higher than them. Now the algorithm looks at the second choice of everyone who is still unmatched, i.e. person C. Person C's second choice was Program Beta, and they're actually ranked higher on that program's list, so they match to it. So now C and D are matched to program Beta, and E is no longer tentatively matched. Now the algorithm tries to match everyone who's still unmatched (i.e. E) to their next highest choice. And so on.
So you might be tempted to say, well why didn't person C just rank program Beta first from the beginning if that's where they were more likely to match? But you don't actually know which person you are in this scenario and you don't know how the programs are going to rank you. You could be person A, B, or C. If you were person B and you said to yourself "Oh man, everyone is so competitive and wants program Alpha so bad, I'm not going to bother ranking it as high" you may have potentially just lost yourself a spot in the program you want. 

... reflecting on this, I think maybe the letters and program names I chose are a bit confusing  let me know if that does not make sense lol

Bottom line: Rank by your true preference (regardless of PDs' promises, your self-assessment of your interview performance, even whether they interviewed you or not). The algorithm is really that simple and can't be gamed 

my friend hasn't received theirs yet either!

To the premeds following along, if you have multiple acceptances, it's worth looking at how the different schools respond to a pandemic. Do you want to attend the school that puts your safety at risk by having you continue with rotations as though nothing's going on, or do you want to attend the one that pulls clerks away from their duties while providing a virtual alternative to ensure that it's still possible to graduate on time?

Bumping this thread in case there are any Med Gen residents on here or even some clerks who have done some good electives?! 
Interested in this field as well although also looking at options through Peds or Oncology, etc. 

I have already voiced my opinion on this multiple times in the past and I have no energy repeating myself entirely, but this is what comes to my mind in no particular order.
- paid vacations for rich kids to pad their CVs
- FB profile pic with a poor black kid
- FB pic with a stethoscope around your neck and SELFIE, although you have no idea how to use it
- these kids commonly misplace bricks because they don't know how to lay bricks, and they think building unsafe buildings will help... 
- you'd think you are learning about poverty + helping out while in reality you just perpetuate poverty there for a million of different reasons
Edit: VOLUNTOURISM BASICALLY
Edit2: why go elsewhere when poverty is a problem for many in Canada?
 
I am strongly opposed to such BS, so do take what I say with a grain of salt, especially because I am tired and salty right now.