adrenergic24

Woah I had no idea it was that restrictive!! Any idea why?

Would it make sense to then reserve IMG spots only for these rural areas and with longer return of service contracts?

As far as I am aware, you need to be either a PR or a citizen in order to be eligible to apply to CaRMS. So applicants have already gone through the immigration process, brought their families, etc., before they are allowed to apply. This is different form the US, for example, where no such requirement exists and you can train on a visa. I held the same view up until a recent conversation I had with a friend, who suggested that Canada is so uniquely difficult to secure a residency training spot in that many don't even fathom how hard it could be. They just assume it's doable with enough work and move here regardless. And the truth is that in the rest of the world, the difficulty of equivalating your medical training varies, but is at worst 'doable with effort'. And this is including the US (approx 50% match rate across all specialties, and much higher if you're applying to FM) which is globally known to be 'hard' to get into. Is it technically their fault for the checking before? Sure. But I completely understand why many don't given the above perspective. EDIT: I think it would make sense to have immigration Canada forward a copy of IMG match data to medical applicants to submit an immigration form to ensure they're fully informed.

As an IMG who matched to a specialty through CaRMS, I believe it would be most fair to have iterations separated by applicant status. That is, Canadian med students should have one match, and then IMGs should be allowed to compete for the left-over spots. However, the only way that would work is by the following conditions being satisfied: a) severely limiting Canadians from going abroad to study and by allowing foreign IMGs a chance to try and match BEFORE moving their families to Canada and gaining status. That way if they don't secure a spot, they can go elsewhere (similar to how the US does it) b) Letting all IMG applicants know that they're most likely going to be limited to Family Med or Pathology (IF spots are even available) before they even go abroad to study/immigrate. However, there are a few real-world issues which make the aforementioned difficult: One problem that I've become aware of recently is that Immigration Canada is not fully informing IMG immigrants of the realities of trying to work as a doctor here, as many of my IMG colleagues say they had no idea how competitive it would be before they already uprooted their families and made the move. The immigration process for foreign docs and their families would have to change. Regarding CSAs, another problem is that you can't really tell people not to go abroad to study. If I'm not mistaken, at the moment there are more Canadians studying medicine abroad than there are studying within Canada, many of whom were competitive for medical school in Canada but were waitlisted numerous times or whatnot. Not offering them an opportunity to come back may lead to a rather large brain-drain for Canada, as most of these individuals end up in the US.

Have a look here at the recently released CaRMS preliminary data for 2019. The numbers for current-year graduates (which, I believe, are mostly represented by Canadians studying abroad (CSAs)) are about 50% match rate back to Canada. For Australian graduates (which includes CSAs and Australian immigrants), the overall match rate is pretty high compared to other cohorts. So overall, coming back to Canada is pretty doable if you focus and do well in school, on exams, on elective rotations in Canada, etc. Having said that, I completely agree with most of those who have posted here already: Look into doing medicine in the US. Going abroad to study leaves your likelihood of returning to Canada up to the flip of a coin. Even in the US where it is anecdotally easier to match, non-US IMGs typically see a 45-55% match rate every year. It gets even more complicated if you happen to love a really competitive specialty, and you may be put in the position where you will have to give that up and choose another in order to return home.

As far as I can tell, this stat is only for 'current-year graduates'. In the vast majority of cases, this probably means CSAs (Canadians studying abroad). If you look at previous-year graduates (more likely to represent true IMGs), the numbers are significantly lower.

IIRC its not marked that way...like one correct questions does not equal one point. But I could be wrong. I just took the first of each. I got like 78-80/100 correct on the first one and 24-26/30 on the CDM. Ended up with 27X on the real deal.

I took one MCQ and one CDM practice test and found them to be similar to the real thing in terms of style and content. As far as how predictive they are, it's hard to say; the results are displayed as how many questions you scored correctly for each tested competency and in total, without giving you an idea of how other people did or how your score would correlate to actual scores.

Hi everyone, I'm very excited and looking forward to residency, but I'm also aware that it is a very difficult transition period and steep learning curve. What advice could you give someone like myself in order to ensure that I will be the best resident that I can be? Looking back, what sort of things do you wish you knew as an intern? Any advice on material prep before residency? Thank you!

While I don't disagree with you, keep in mind how hard it is to select and differentiate candidates for residency, where you at least have scores, final class rank, and letters. Now imagine trying to differentiate between hundreds of such students that have none of those things under their belts. You also can't really use grades because schools around the world have completely different marking systems and schemes, making it a giant headache for everyone. I think a lottery system makes much more sense. I have also heard (anecdotally) that because IMGs do electives on a lottery-basis, PDs are more understanding if it is lacking. Having said that, I also know IMGs who have ALL of their electives done in Canada. I think if you set enough time for this and apply broadly to different Canadian schools, you may have some luck! Regarding your initial question, I know matched IMGs who were also unable to get LORs from Canada and applied with US letters. I'm not certain whether this is something to put in your personal letter, but certainly something you can address during an interview. Don't know how others here feel about that.

I'm not sure about needing several rotations, especially if you can't fit it in or your school doesn't allow it. But you should have at least one rotation in your desired specialty. You have to go to the AFMC Student Portal to apply for rotations in Canada.

From what I know, you don't have to submit Step 1 scores. And this makes sense to me because as a USMG you are applying in the same stream as CMGs, and CMGs don't submit any standardized examinations during CaRMS. As such, it would be very difficult to compare the two.

Second iteration?

Should I assume the lack of responses is a positive sign that it is exceptionally rare to fail the AVP?

If yes, do you know the cause for their dismissal?