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New 8-week cap and CaRMS strategies


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Hey folks!

 

I am curious what you guys think about the new 8-week in 1 specialty cap and CaRMS strategies.  Specifically, I'm wondering how this changes the feasibility of applying to 2 competitive specialties.  Since people aren't doing ALL their electives in the specialty they're gunning for, it seems like this is more plausible than before.  

My other thought is that perhaps seeing 2 specialties makes you come across as "wishy-washy" to programs, and despite the cap it's best to do other scattered "related" specialties with a clear 1st choice. 

 

What do y'all think? 

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On 2/6/2020 at 10:05 PM, MedHopeful93 said:

Hey folks!

 

I am curious what you guys think about the new 8-week in 1 specialty cap and CaRMS strategies.  Specifically, I'm wondering how this changes the feasibility of applying to 2 competitive specialties.  Since people aren't doing ALL their electives in the specialty they're gunning for, it seems like this is more plausible than before.  

My other thought is that perhaps seeing 2 specialties makes you come across as "wishy-washy" to programs, and despite the cap it's best to do other scattered "related" specialties with a clear 1st choice. 

 

What do y'all think? 

I think people who are gunning for 1 specialty will do 8 weeks in their specialty and the rest in related but scattered to show their commitment. 

In my opinion though, the cap does allow you to go for 2 specialties more easily than before. Electives demonstrate interest and commitment, but they also give you reference letters. You can be competitive doing 8 weeks in 2 specialties to both specalties. You will lose some points on commitment potentially, but on the flip side you probably will be able to get strong reference letters in both specialties which in the past you may not have been comfortable doing if you felt like you need to do 10+ weeks in one specialty to show commitment. 

 

So overall, I still do think programs can tell if you are a 1 specialty kind of person, but this new system does allow you to be competitive to 2 specialties more so than in the past. The biggest difference, as far as I can tell is those gunning for 2 specialties now have a solid excuse as to why they only did 8 weeks in one specialty. 

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On 2/6/2020 at 10:05 PM, MedHopeful93 said:

Hey folks!

 

I am curious what you guys think about the new 8-week in 1 specialty cap and CaRMS strategies.  Specifically, I'm wondering how this changes the feasibility of applying to 2 competitive specialties.  Since people aren't doing ALL their electives in the specialty they're gunning for, it seems like this is more plausible than before.  

My other thought is that perhaps seeing 2 specialties makes you come across as "wishy-washy" to programs, and despite the cap it's best to do other scattered "related" specialties with a clear 1st choice. 

 

What do y'all think? 

My understanding is that you need to do at least 2 weeks in minimum 3 direct entry CaRMS disciplines. So if you were gunning for anesthesia, you could do 8 weeks anesthesia, and then have to do 2 weeks in family medicine, and 6 weeks something else.

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On 2/9/2020 at 12:40 PM, gangliocytoma said:

My understanding is that you need to do at least 2 weeks in minimum 3 direct entry CaRMS disciplines. So if you were gunning for anesthesia, you could do 8 weeks anesthesia, and then have to do 2 weeks in family medicine, and 6 weeks something else.

Yes I believe you're right!  I was wondering whether people would do "random" (but related) 2-week electives in related specialties, or do a lot in 2 competitive specialties (and whatever other specialty)

For example, if someone wanted ENT as 1st choice but also interested in Plastics, is it wise to do:

  1. Four 2-week electives in ENT, four 2-week electives in Plastics, and maybe one 2-week elective in say Family (clearly going for both ENT & Plastics), OR: 
  2. Four 2-week electives in ENT, one 2-week elective in anesthesia, one 2-week elective ophtho, one 2-week elective plastics etc. (clearly ENT is top choice with scattered related specialties)
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23 hours ago, MedHopeful93 said:

Yes I believe you're right!  I was wondering whether people would do "random" (but related) 2-week electives in related specialties, or do a lot in 2 competitive specialties (and whatever other specialty)

For example, if someone wanted ENT as 1st choice but also interested in Plastics, is it wise to do:

  1. Four 2-week electives in ENT, four 2-week electives in Plastics, and maybe one 2-week elective in say Family (clearly going for both ENT & Plastics), OR: 
  2. Four 2-week electives in ENT, one 2-week elective in anesthesia, one 2-week elective ophtho, one 2-week elective plastics etc. (clearly ENT is top choice with scattered related specialties)

Ya idk how programs will look at things now. It seems really silly that the distribution of your elective weeks will play a significant role on how a program ranks you. The goal of electives is to provide a greater diversity of experiences. If you get grilled at your ENT interview why you did 8 weeks of plastics electives you can say you weren't sure what you wanted and wanted to explore the field more, or that you found certain aspects of the elective valuable (i.e. advanced suturing techniques, skin grafting, etc).

Also, I don't think it's unreasonable for people to be somewhat undecided going into CaRMs. Programs should be selling themselves just as much as you're trying to sell yourself to them. Keep in mind I haven't gone through CaRMs yet, so take all this with a grain of salt.

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On 2/15/2020 at 9:06 AM, MedHopeful93 said:

Yes I believe you're right!  I was wondering whether people would do "random" (but related) 2-week electives in related specialties, or do a lot in 2 competitive specialties (and whatever other specialty)

For example, if someone wanted ENT as 1st choice but also interested in Plastics, is it wise to do:

  1. Four 2-week electives in ENT, four 2-week electives in Plastics, and maybe one 2-week elective in say Family (clearly going for both ENT & Plastics), OR: 
  2. Four 2-week electives in ENT, one 2-week elective in anesthesia, one 2-week elective ophtho, one 2-week elective plastics etc. (clearly ENT is top choice with scattered related specialties)

Seems risky to still be considering two hyper-competitive specialties by the time it comes to choosing electives

I think option 2 is more likely to get you interviews for ENT but it'll really depend on what everyone else does...

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