Total Gunner Posted May 18, 2020 Report Share Posted May 18, 2020 If you are okay with taking a fifth year, Is it stupid to not have a back up and risk going unmatched if you focus on only say 3 highly competitive specialties? Or could doing even a 2 week elective in family med mack u admittable for some residencies in Ontario? How about the GTA? would that be too optimistic? BUT IS IT WORTH IT? Would this be better combined with also preparing for USMLE and having some high ranked programs on it too? I case you don't match to the choices on CARMS itll go to usmle. And in case you do match on CaRMs itll be one of the better ones you wanted? And then next year would you say you have just as good of a shot at those specialties and the newly added backups? Or is repeat interviewing looked upon badly? If at U of T, is there even the option of a 5th year? What can you even do during this 5th year? I do know that ottawa has one. Is the extra debt worth it? I assume the medschool would charge full tuition? If there's a 5th year. I'm not too fussed about "wasting" a year as I am about having to be stuck in a specialty and job I don't love for the rest of my life, because I took a gap hear after my degrees and it took me a while to get into medschool, so I'm patient. But I don't know if its worth it like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZBL Posted May 18, 2020 Report Share Posted May 18, 2020 No it’s not worth it. Just do FM as a backup, be done in 2 years and make money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted May 18, 2020 Report Share Posted May 18, 2020 Nothing wrong with not backing up with FM, its not for everyone. Many people gun for the very competitive specialties and then take a year off to re-apply if it doesnt work out. But at that point, you need to decide if going unmatched a 2nd time versus doing FM somewhere is the better option for you. Haribo7173 and w8list 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronDuck Posted May 19, 2020 Report Share Posted May 19, 2020 With med school comes a new level of debt that may affect your risk tolerance. Honestly, you'll just have to gauge where you're at once you start med school and get a feel for the specialties and match process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearded frog Posted May 20, 2020 Report Share Posted May 20, 2020 It depends on what your personal pros and cons are. I didn't back up when I applied because I couldn't see myself doing anything else and would have been very miserable doing family. There are anecdotes here and on student doctor of residents who matched to their back-up only to realize they really didn't want to do their back up. Usually people gunning for the super-competitive specialties will have a similar back-up (ENT backing up with gen surg, etc). Your school will strongly encourage you to back-up but be aware they are also doing that so their total match numbers are up. That being said, if you're going to medical school thinking derm or bust you might end up having a bad time... Haribo7173 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocBrown9 Posted May 21, 2020 Report Share Posted May 21, 2020 Gunning for more than one competitive specialty will likely bite you in the ass. Certain specialties (especially surgical) are looking for commitment. Not to say it's not possible and may very much be easier with this new electives thing. That being said I would only recommend backing up with family medicine if you could actually see yourself doing it. If you are planning to do a 5th year if unmatched, try to commit to that in your head before match day. I know people who thought they'd do a fifth year, went unmatched and then panicked and are now miserable doing family in the middle on know where. I personally applied to a competitive surgical specialty and did not back up because I could not see myself doing family medicine. Now if you want to back up and you don't want to back up with family, pick any 5 year specialty. Easier to switch if you have 5 years of funding. pinkneuron 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robclem21 Posted May 21, 2020 Report Share Posted May 21, 2020 I understand gunning for 1 super competitive specialty, but why 3? You won't physically have enough time to make yourself competitive enough to succeed in any including your back-up. That just seems like a bad idea and I don't think it would matter if you back-up or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDinCanada Posted May 21, 2020 Report Share Posted May 21, 2020 5 hours ago, robclem21 said: I understand gunning for 1 super competitive specialty, but why 3? You won't physically have enough time to make yourself competitive enough to succeed in any including your back-up. That just seems like a bad idea and I don't think it would matter if you back-up or not. OP probably hasn't even started med school yet. We've all been there, I remember being incredibly manic in first year, and now that I'm in 4th year, I couldn't care less and just want to graduate lol. The 3 specialties are vastly different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robclem21 Posted May 22, 2020 Report Share Posted May 22, 2020 13 hours ago, MDinCanada said: OP probably hasn't even started med school yet. We've all been there, I remember being incredibly manic in first year, and now that I'm in 4th year, I couldn't care less and just want to graduate lol. The 3 specialties are vastly different. Oops. Just realized it's the same person who posted in another thread that I annoyingly answered already. I'm done here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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