Question about Canadian USMGs applying through CARMS

[blueskyguy]

Hi all,

I am currently a second year Canadian student at a mid-to-low tier U.S. medical school, and I have been doing some research on USMGs applying through ERAS and CARMS.

I have been looking at previous years match data for Canadian students at my school, and the vast majority of them matched at U.S. residencies instead of Canadian residencies.

Also, for the Canadian students at my school that matched at Canadian residencies, the overwhelming majority of them matched into Family Medicine. 

Is it very difficult for Canadian USMGs to match into anything other than Family Medicine? (Like, say, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, etc.).

How is it difficult for them to match into a field like, say, Internal Medicine, that had "unfilled spots" just last year? Why aren't the USMGs matching into the "unfilled spots" in the 1st iteration, etc.? (It seems that, even though there were "unfilled spots" in Internal Medicine last year in CARMS, the vast majority of Canadian students at my school had to do US residencies on a J1 visa, which sends them back to Canada afterwards).

 I would love some clarity on these points so I can understand how this works exactly. 

Thank-you in advance!

[Edict]

On 10/2/2018 at 4:27 PM, blueskyguy said:

Hi all,

I am currently a second year Canadian student at a mid-to-low tier U.S. medical school, and I have been doing some research on USMGs applying through ERAS and CARMS.

I have been looking at previous years match data for Canadian students at my school, and the vast majority of them matched at U.S. residencies instead of Canadian residencies.

Also, for the Canadian students at my school that matched at Canadian residencies, the overwhelming majority of them matched into Family Medicine. 

Is it very difficult for Canadian USMGs to match into anything other than Family Medicine? (Like, say, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, etc.).

How is it difficult for them to match into a field like, say, Internal Medicine, that had "unfilled spots" just last year? Why aren't the USMGs matching into the "unfilled spots" in the 1st iteration, etc.? (It seems that, even though there were "unfilled spots" in Internal Medicine last year in CARMS, the vast majority of Canadian students at my school had to do US residencies on a J1 visa, which sends them back to Canada afterwards).

 I would love some clarity on these points so I can understand how this works exactly. 

Thank-you in advance!

I think its because Canadian schools know Canadian grads better and Canadian grads are able to network better and are perceived as more committed to Canada and they do more electives in Canada naturally. Canadian residencies don't usually have any reason to take US medical grads especially when Canadian medical grads are available, interested, closer and have more networking opportunities. The few Canadian US MD grads i know of who have matched to Canadian specialty residencies have gone to Ivy League medical schools, so perceived prestige/reputation may play a role.