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CaRMS 2020 Interviews -- DISCUSSIONS


btdubs

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50 minutes ago, anesthete said:

Do interviews come out on weekends as well? Some programs are reporting they will inform candidates on a given date (which falls on a weekend).

 

Queen's anesthesia just sent out status update + email invite a few hours ago so I assume anything is possible

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Overall, how important is geography and going to a school on elective to get an interview? Have heard that schools, particularly out West - BC or UofA - for some programs - do not tend to interview unless you "go there at some point".  Anybody know to what extent that's actually true for some of the more competitive programs? They don't separate applicants by "did an elective here" vs "didn't do an elective here" do they? Like could you have a PhD in the field, but have not gone to a certain school on elective and they don't interview you just because of geography? 

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1 hour ago, jamps said:

Overall, how important is geography and going to a school on elective to get an interview? Have heard that schools, particularly out West - BC or UofA - for some programs - do not tend to interview unless you "go there at some point".  Anybody know to what extent that's actually true for some of the more competitive programs? They don't separate applicants by "did an elective here" vs "didn't do an elective here" do they? Like could you have a PhD in the field, but have not gone to a certain school on elective and they don't interview you just because of geography? 

Very entirely possible and does happen for some programs.  You could also do an elective at said school, and still not get an interview.

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7 hours ago, jamps said:

Overall, how important is geography and going to a school on elective to get an interview? Have heard that schools, particularly out West - BC or UofA - for some programs - do not tend to interview unless you "go there at some point".  Anybody know to what extent that's actually true for some of the more competitive programs? They don't separate applicants by "did an elective here" vs "didn't do an elective here" do they? Like could you have a PhD in the field, but have not gone to a certain school on elective and they don't interview you just because of geography? 

I did an elective at a school out west. Worked with some of the Ad Comm, all positive reviews the entire time - they said see you at interviews. Met with the PD who said the same. Got declined for an interview 5 days later when on a different elective. 

They help, but not always a guarantee. Which sucks because electives are extremely valuable, and then you could have used them somewhere else. 

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14 hours ago, jamps said:

Overall, how important is geography and going to a school on elective to get an interview? Have heard that schools, particularly out West - BC or UofA - for some programs - do not tend to interview unless you "go there at some point".  Anybody know to what extent that's actually true for some of the more competitive programs? They don't separate applicants by "did an elective here" vs "didn't do an elective here" do they? Like could you have a PhD in the field, but have not gone to a certain school on elective and they don't interview you just because of geography? 

I got an interview to a school out west for a very competitive specialty and didn’t do a single elective outside Ontario. Honestly, hard to predict what schools will do. I don’t have a PhD in the field but I do have a ton of research in it from during med school so I’m sure that helped. Anything is possible! 

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14 hours ago, MarsRover said:

I did an elective at a school out west. Worked with some of the Ad Comm, all positive reviews the entire time - they said see you at interviews. Met with the PD who said the same. Got declined for an interview 5 days later when on a different elective. 

They help, but not always a guarantee. Which sucks because electives are extremely valuable, and then you could have used them somewhere else. 

Had the EXACT same thing happen to me this year. Definitely sucks to get an interview rejection after all the time, money and effort that could've been spent elsewhere. Hope you're doing okay, buddy.

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Anyone else having sort of a roller-coaster experience of, on the one hand, getting invites that you really weren't expecting (for programs that you thought were super-competitive), but then getting rejected by programs that are historically uncompetitive and seemed like really "safe" backups?

We all knew this process would be challenging,  but I am surprised by the sheer amount of unpredictability.  If I had gambled on what interviews we* would get vs not, I would have lost quite a bit of money by now.

-JJ

*My spouse is actually the med student and I am the full-time parent at the moment. I'm the one who made the account to discuss things on here because my spouse has no time in clerkship! ;)

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5 minutes ago, Dr. JJ said:

Anyone else having sort of a roller-coaster experience of, on the one hand, getting invites that you really weren't expecting (for programs that you thought were super-competitive), but then getting rejected by programs that are historically uncompetitive and seemed like really "safe" backups?

We all knew this process would be challenging,  but I am surprised by the sheer amount of unpredictability.  If I had gambled on what interviews we* would get vs not, I would have lost quite a bit of money by now.

-JJ

*My spouse is actually the med student and I am the full-time parent at the moment. I'm the one who made the account to discuss things on here because my spouse has no time in clerkship! ;)

Yup! Also not a big fan of this whole email-could-come-at-anytime thing :/

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Hey, I'm also in a situation where I'm on a couple of waitlists for psych (McMaster, Queen's). Has anyone heard of people getting interviews from the waitlist? 

Hope you're all hanging in there. We did our best and a rejection doesn't mean you aren't a great person (or even candidate). It just means they were looking for something different and that's ok. Keep your heads up! 

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4 hours ago, Cheers2life said:

agreed...weird mix of rejections at places thought to be secure and invites to most competitive programs of my list...dont know what to think lol

It's a really tough time. Recent string of rejections despite what I think is a unique CV, great feedback on elective and diverse elective locations. Mind you, it's a highly competitive specialty. Despite thinking otherwise internally at times, nobody is totally immune to bad luck in this complex process. For everybody else in this boat, you're not alone, but let's keep our chins above water.

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