CaRMS personal statements

[daleader]

For someone like me who is backing up with family medicine and has not had any FM-specific items on his CV, I am struggling a lot applying to FM programs across the country to minimize my chances of going unmatched. FM programs like UofT, and UBC are competitive and FM programs like Alberta, Calgary, and Manitoba are asking questions about my specific ties to manitoba, or why specifically alberta or calgary.

I guess my question is, how competitive are these FM programs, and for someone like me who probably will have mediocre essays (due to the lack of FM-oriented CV), am I screwed? I thought programs in less desirable areas like Manitoba would be easy to get into but looking at what they are asking to be on their personal statement, i don't know if I should just put a crappy letter together and submit or just avoid applying. 

 

Thanks and sorry if I am not being clear. 

[LittleDaisy]

23 hours ago, daleader said:

For someone like me who is backing up with family medicine and has not had any FM-specific items on his CV, I am struggling a lot applying to FM programs across the country to minimize my chances of going unmatched. FM programs like UofT, and UBC are competitive and FM programs like Alberta, Calgary, and Manitoba are asking questions about my specific ties to manitoba, or why specifically alberta or calgary.

I guess my question is, how competitive are these FM programs, and for someone like me who probably will have mediocre essays (due to the lack of FM-oriented CV), am I screwed? I thought programs in less desirable areas like Manitoba would be easy to get into but looking at what they are asking to be on their personal statement, i don't know if I should just put a crappy letter together and submit or just avoid applying. 

 

Thanks and sorry if I am not being clear. 

I think that you should just apply because you don't want to end up unmatched!

I couldn't say for Manitoba FM competitiveness. You could check if there were leftover spots for second iteration.

You could always say that you discover your passion for FM later in clerkship. For personal connections to Manitoba, you could say you will like to discover the province for the next 2 years.

Don't be discouraged by the program's descriptions!

[daleader]

23 hours ago, LittleDaisy said:

I think that you should just apply because you don't want to end up unmatched!

I couldn't say for Manitoba FM competitiveness. You could check if there were leftover spots for second iteration.

You could always say that you discover your passion for FM later in clerkship. For personal connections to Manitoba, you could say you will like to discover the province for the next 2 years.

Don't be discouraged by the program's descriptions!

Thank you LittleDaisy!