Scorbix

I applied in 2015 (accepted summer of 2016), but had also applied on two earlier occasions; the first time I didn’t get an interview, but the second time I did. I wouldn’t say a medical school explicitly looks for applicants who have done something earlier, but having life experiences certainly can help (though does not necessarily give one an advantage). I completed all my my undergraduate, graduate and medical school at the same university, and because I was such a, relatively speaking, uncompetitive applicant on paper, I did not apply out of province. There were not other PTs in my class, but I interviewed at least one classmate when he applied to PT (and I was an interviewer), and a former PT classmate of mine was accepted to medical school in the year ahead of me. Lastly, with respect to GPA conversation, I honestly don’t know since I’ve never discussed my grades on a GPA basis; it’s simply not something my university ever did. If you have other questions please feel free to PM me.

I applied to medical school in my final year of an MPT program. My GPA (~80%) was not certainly not stellar, nor was my MCAT (<500) particularly competitive, but the timing worked out for me. Had I been applying to medicine now, I likely wold have not gotten accepted; I suspect my interview is really what got me in as I had experience with interviews from both my MPT program and previous attempts at getting into medicine. For what its worth, I finished medical school and was able to match to my top specialty/location, so your MCAT/GPA does not reflect on your abilities. If you have particular questions I'd be happy to offer some insight.

Wear your hair however you want

I’m a big fan of ProCompression. They have good compression and I also like very “loud” and obnoxiously coloured socks when I wear scrubs. I think I have about 10 pairs. I used their code on Facebook a long time ago, “FB95” and got 5 for the price of two or something since they’re relatively expensive for socks.

Incorrect. There will always be ~100 seats per year. If a deferral is granted, they will move down the waitlist and accept the next available applicant. The following year, the College will accept one less student as the deferred student has effectively been given one of the spots for that subsequent year.

The Committee consists of the follow members (18 with vote):  Chair (Director of Admissions)  Dean of Medicine or Designate  Director of Northern Medical Services  Seven Faculty Members  Faculty Member/Site Director - Regina Campus  Three undergraduate medical students (one representing each – Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3)  College of Medicine Indigenous Coordinator  The Dean or Designate of the Faculty of Science, University of Regina  Two general public representatives - appointed by the Saskatchewan Urban and Rural Municipalities Associations, SUMA and SARM, respectively  Representative, Student and Enrolment Services Division, University of Saskatchewan (non-voting)  Administrative Coordinator - Admissions (non-voting)  Program Manager - Undergraduate Medical Education (non-voting) See: https://medicine.usask.ca/documents/ugme/admission/Applicant-Information-Document-for-Entry-2020.pdf

I have my LOC through Scotiabank, and I felt very comfortable working with them. When I started medical school, my student debt was below their cut-off for the maximum allowance; however, as my student loans grew yearly, they were still very accommodating and worked to get me the most money possible as their limits increased.

Admission offers generally have come out around the 15th of May, and most times -- if not always, I remember correctly -- come out on the Friday closest to the 15th of the month. Until then, try to relax.

One of the later programs I interviewed at had some candidates unable to attend due to last-minute severe weather in the east coast. The program was very understanding, and despite the interview being a mini-MMI of sorts, the staff walked around with laptops, and it seemed to run smoothly. Of course, now that there is much more notice, programs will have a much longer period of time to prepare. I don't anticipate a great deal of trouble conducting interviews this way.

All of those students who were due to write in April/May are still waiting to write, and our exam dates have been postponed at this time. Future registration has been cancelled -- I suspect -- because there will be a large cohort of students that have had their exam postponed, and understandably want to write it as soon as possible. I believe there are discussions of possibly being able to write as early as June, but this whole situation is very fluid and likely to change.

No, it does not. The College will try to place you in your site of preference, but you are not more likely to be accepted if you rank one site over the other. You are, however, more likely to get your site of choice if you are ranked higher in the admission ranking list.

The sites are generally the same in a lot of regards. Both centres are excellent for teaching, as everyone gets the same lectures; some are streamed from Saskatoon, while others are from Regina. In every practical sense, the first two academic years in Saskatoon or Regina are the same. As a student in the Regina cohort due to graduate in June, I can speak more to what I enjoyed about Regina specifically, but I will preface by saying that my experiences are my own, as are my opinions. Regina, generally speaking, has less residents training in the city, which may translate to more one-on-one face time with staff; moreover, as it currently stands, clerks (Year 3 and 4 students) in Regina have the capability of writing orders without the need for a co-signing resident or staff. This may change in the future, but I found it to be something that brought out more maturity and ownership of my patients. You may also get more responsibility as a clerk, but I do not know if this is true for everyone. Regina has a particularly strong Family Medicine and Obstetrics/Gynecology programs, and so if you are considering either of those specialties, Regina might be a better fit for you. Saskatoon has stronger access to a more diverse range of specialties (surgical and non-surgical), and the majority of the University of Saskatchewan PGME Program Directors are based out of Saskatoon. Research may be easier to do in Saskatoon -- that is not to say research in Regina is difficult to do, one simply might need to work a little harder to find the best project for one's self. You should also consider looking into which city you could see yourself living in for 3-4 years, so I would encourage you to look more into Regina and Saskatoon as places to live. Regardless of what site you end up at/choose, you'll get a strong education, and come out of the program as a very competent and capable clinician, and be well-prepared for the demands of residency.

I'll try to answer this as best I can. I come from a University that does not have a great deal of surgical sub-specialities, but I still managed to match this year, so hopefully my insight might still be useful for you. 1. How do you find a research supervisor? What are the criteria that I should be looking for when choosing a research supervisor (e.g staff that's on adcom etc.)? If your school has summer research projects for students, then that would be a good place to start. Alternatively, you can try emailing staff who have a history of doing research, and explain to them that you're interested in specialty X, and are wondering if they have any projects that might need more help. 2. Ideally, I would like to match to my home province not the one that I am currently in. Is it feasible/advisable to go with a supervisor from another school? I would not recommend this. You'll have opportunities to meet staff at places you want to match to when you do electives. Research, in my experience, is not a very high yield area to have on your CV anyway. 3. What kind of project should I join? How do I know which projects are publishable (especially before my CaRMS application deadline)? You should join a project that you'll genuinely enjoy. Find an area of research or the specialty that you are actually passionate about. Having publications is nice, but you might not be asked about your research -- I was asked about my research about 20% of the time on my CaRMS tour. 4. What is the typical time commitment required? Is it feasible to do research with clerkship? I did not do any research throughout clerkship. Your time in clerkship, in my opinion, should be about becoming stronger clinically, making connections with staff, and showing that you can be a member of a healthcare team. I'm sure there are those that would disagree, and that is fine, but there are much "higher yield" ways of standing out and being a strong applicant. 5. What is the goal here - quality or quantity? Showing investment in a project aka quality. If you have 5 projects, no publications, and did very little with each project, then what kind of message does that send to staff compared to someone who has done one project, participated from start to finish, and got that published? If you have other questions about research, CaRMS, applying, really anything, please feel free to PM me. I'd be happy to try to help.

As someone with a different health/professional degree before entering medicine, I think having a degree in nursing is tremendously beneficial not only for your learning and experience, but also as it related to your future CaRMS application. The classmates that I have who have been a nurse, pharmacist, etc., are incredibly competent, and this, I can only assume, helped them in their successful match this year. Also, for what its worth, you might very well be asked about your experiences as a nurse, "what sets you a part from other applicants", etc. when it comes time to apply for residency positions, and I think having a previous nursing degree with only be a benefit to you. Don't let your concerns about not being on a level playing field with your classmates hold you back; if anything, you are likely already ahead of many of them in clinical experiences, knowledge, and patient skills!

Anatomical Pathology: Laval (Dec 4), UofT (Dec 5), UBC (Dec 9), Memorial (Dec 10), Queens (Dec 13 IMG), Dalhousie (Dec 11), McMaster (Dec 16 IMG) Anesthesiology: Manitoba (Dec 6), NOSM (Dec 9), UBC (Dec 11), Ottawa (Dec 12), Dalhousie (Dec 13), Queen's (Dec 14), Calgary (Dec 16*), USask (Dec 17), Alberta (Dec 17*), Western (Dec 17*), Memorial (Dec 18), McMaster (Dec 18), Montreal (Dec 19), McGill (Dec 19) Cardiac Surgery: Dermatology: Alberta (Dec 4), Ottawa (Dec 16), Calgary (Dec 19) Diagnostic Radiology: Saskatoon (Nov 28), UBC (Nov 29), MUN (Dec 4), Calgary (Dec 6) McMaster IMg (Dec 18) Emergency Medicine: Queen's (Dec 9), Calgary (Dec 16*), McMaster (Dec 16 - phone call), Manitoba (Dec 16) Toronto (Dec 18), Edmonton (Dec 19) Family Medicine: Sherbrooke (21 Nov), Laval (21 Nov), Montreal (21 Nov), Ontario IMG (30 Nov), UBC (10 Dec IMG/CMG), McGill (Dec 10), Alberta: Edmonton (Dec 12), Red Deer (Dec 15), Grande Prairie (Dec 15), Saskatchewan: North Battleford (Dec 11 IMG), La Ronge (Dec 17 CMG) Western (Dec 13), Ottawa (Dec 16), Queens (Dec 16), McMaster (Dec 16*), Memorial (Dec 16*), La Ronge (Dec 17 IMG), Regina (Dec 17 IMG), Prince Albert (Dec 17 CMG/IMG), Saskatoon (Dec 17 IMG), Moose Jaw & Swift Current (Dec 17 CMG/IMG), NOSM (Dec 17), Toronto (Dec 17), McGill - Châteauguay, Val-d'Or, Gatineau (Dec 17 IMG*), McGill - Montreal (Dec 18 IMG*), Manitoba (CMG-Dec 18*), Calgary - Medicine Hat (Dec 18*), Calgary (Dec 18 CMG/IMG), Montreal (Dec 19 IMG), Manitoba-Northern remote stream (Dec 19* IMG) General Pathology: McMaster (Dec 6 IMG), Saskatchewan (Dec 16 IMG) General Surgery: McGill (Dec 10), Manitoba (Dec 13), Toronto (Dec 14), Toronto (Dec 15* IMG), MUN (Dec 16), Dalhousie (Dec 16*), Edmonton (Dec 16), Vancouver (Dec 16*), Niagara (Dec 17), Calgary (Dec 17 - CMG), Western (Dec 18), Saskatchewan (Dec 19) Hematological Pathology: UofT (Dec 13* IMG) Internal Medicine: Sherbrooke (Nov 26), Manitoba (Dec 19*) Medical Genetics and Genomics: UofT (Dec 6) Medical Microbiology: Neurology: Manitoba (28 Nov), Ottawa (Dec 9, IMG/CMG), Dalhousie (Dec 9), UBC (Dec 9), Calgary (Dec 11), McGill (Dec 11), McMaster (Dec 13th CMG), Western (Dec 16th CMG), U of T (Dec 16, IMG), Western (Dec 16, IMG), U of T (Dec 17th CMG), Alberta (Dec 18*) Neurology - Paediatric: McGill (Dec 16) Neuropathology: Neurosurgery: Ottawa (Dec 3), McMaster (Dec 12*), Dalhousie (Dec 13), UBC (Dec 16), UofT (Dec 17) Nuclear Medicine: Western (Dec 9), McGill (Dec 17) Obstetrics and Gynaecology: Montreal (Dec 10), Alberta (Dec 12), UBC (Dec 12), Montfort (Dec 16*), Saskatoon (Dec 16), Regina (Dec 16), Calgary (Dec 16), Queen’s (Dec 17), uOttawa (Dec 17), Winnipeg (Dec 17), U of T (Dec 17), Dal (Dec 18), NOSM (spots NOT OFFERED, no ministry funding), Western (Dec 18), Dalhousie (Dec 18), McGill (Dec 19) Ophthalmology: Manitoba (Dec 11), McGill (Dec 12*), UBC (Dec 13*), Western (Dec 16), Edmonton (Dec 16), USask (Dec 17), Dalhousie (Dec 17), Ottawa (Dec 18*), Dal (Dec 18), NOSM/UoT (Dec 18 - PROGRAM NOT OFFERED) Orthopaedic Surgery: Calgary (Dec 11), Dalhousie (Dec 12), McGill (Dec 12), Alberta (Dec 13), UBC (Dec 16), Sask (Dec 16), MUN (Dec 16), McMaster (Dec 17*), UofT (Dec 17*), Ottawa (Dec 18) Otolaryngology: Alberta (Dec 9), Ottawa (Dec 10), McGill (Dec 11), Manitoba (Dec 11), McMaster (Dec 16), Dalhousie (Dec 16), Toronto (Dec 17), Western (Dec 17), Calgary (Dec 18), UBC (Dec 19) Pediatrics: McMaster (Dec 13 IMG), Manitoba (Dec 13 IMG), Western (Dec 13 IMG) Western (Dec 16* IMG, Dec 17* CMG), Dalhousie (Dec 17), Memorial (Dec 17), McGill (Dec 17), Toronto (Dec 17 CMG), McMaster (Dec 17), Manitoba (Dec 17), Saskatchewan (Dec 17 IMG/CMG), Calgary (Dec 17), Alberta (Dec 17), Western (Dec 17), UBC (Dec 17 IMG/CMG), UBC-Island (Dec 17), uOttawa (Dec 17 IMG/CMG), Montreal (Dec 17*), Sherbrooke (Dec 17), Toronto (Dec.18* IMG), Queens (Dec 19 CMG) Plastic Surgery: McGill (Dec 14), Laval (Dec 16), Dalhousie (Dec 16), Ottawa (Dec 17), U of T (Dec 17), McMaster (Dec 17), UBC (Dec 18), Western (Dec 18), Manitoba (Dec 18) Alberta (Dec 19) PM&R: Sask (Dec 6), Alberta (Dec 6), Manitoba (Dec 6), Montreal (7 Dec), Ottawa (9 Dec), Laval (10 Dec), Calgary (Dec 10), Dalhousie (Dec 11), Toronto (Dec 11), Queens (Dec 12), Western (Dec 12) Psychiatry: Memorial (Nov 22), McMaster-Hamilton (Dec 3), McGill (Dec 3), Manitoba (Dec 3), Western-London/Windsor (Dec 4) McMaster-Waterloo (Dec 6), Sherbrooke (Dec 10), Saskatchewan-Saskatoon, Regina (Dec 11), Calgary (Dec 11), UBC - Greater Van, Van, Vic, Prince George (Dec 11), Queens (Dec 11*), Toronto (Dec 11), Ottawa (Dec 13), NOSM - Thunder Bay (Dec 13), Dalhousie (Dec 16), Ottawa - Monfort (Dec 16*), Queens (Dec 16) Public Health and Preventative Medicine: Sherbrooke (Dec 6), UBC (Dec 6), Toronto (Dec 11), McGill (Dec 17) Public Health and Preventative Medicine with Family: UBC (Dec 9), McMaster (Dec 12) Radiation Oncology: Alberta (Dec 2), Calgary (Dec 5), McMaster (Dec 6), UBC (Dec 10), Queen's (Dec 11), McGill (Dec 11), Dalhousie (Dec 12), Ottawa (Dec 17), Manitoba (Dec 17*), UofT (Dec 19) Urology: Western (Dec 2), Dalhousie (Dec 4), Manitoba (Dec 5), McMaster (Dec 5), UBC (Dec 5), Toronto (Dec 6), Ottawa (Dec 10), Alberta (Dec 10), McGill (Dec 11), Queens (Dec 16), Laval (Dec 18) Vascular Surgery: (Western, Mac, Manitoba, UBC "CMG" Dec 12) [Mcgill "CMG" Dec 17] (Calgary CMG Dec 17 - CMG)