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brady23

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Is this significant in CARMS rankings?

For example, looking at the 2018 CARMS Data, UofT had 133 FM spots and 89 UofT candidates who ranked FM first, McMaster had 85 FM spots and 77 McMaster candidates who ranked FM first. 

So if applicants have sufficient FM electives, and considering that there's no red flags in the interview, do most schools select their own candidates just based on the fact that the majority of their electives/letters were from well-known faculty at the school?

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To answer your question, there is likely some home school preference for most specialties (especially competitive ones), but there is also a selection bias from applicants when applying for programs. But honestly, it is still way too early for you to be worrying about this, considering you are still a year out from even starting clerkship. Just focus on enjoying your free time while you can and maybe dabble in a few other specialties to make sure you know what you are interested in come clerkship and electives. Also try to stay off the CaRMS website, it induces unnecessary anxiety.

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The carms application process itself is pretty chill. The main thing is to narrow down your fields of interest prior to clerkship so you can network and do research in those areas and ensure you arrange adequate clerkship electives in those disciplines.

Ultimately though, it often isn't until you've spent time actually working on different services during clerkship that you realize what parts of medicine you enjoy and what parts you abhor or find merely tolerable.

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21 hours ago, freewheeler said:

The carms application process itself is pretty chill. The main thing is to narrow down your fields of interest prior to clerkship so you can network and do research in those areas and ensure you arrange adequate clerkship electives in those disciplines.

Ultimately though, it often isn't until you've spent time actually working on different services during clerkship that you realize what parts of medicine you enjoy and what parts you abhor or find merely tolerable.

 

9 hours ago, beeboop said:

??????

'tis true IF you do as we says and narrow things down early so you can focus on those extra steps eaely. Fortunately that was easy for me to do, but most students struggle to narrow things down early enough. And to be honest, I don't think they should. It's not great for medicine/your career, but it helps out with carms.

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On 10/19/2018 at 7:14 PM, brady23 said:

Is this significant in CARMS rankings?

For example, looking at the 2018 CARMS Data, UofT had 133 FM spots and 89 UofT candidates who ranked FM first, McMaster had 85 FM spots and 77 McMaster candidates who ranked FM first. 

So if applicants have sufficient FM electives, and considering that there's no red flags in the interview, do most schools select their own candidates just based on the fact that the majority of their electives/letters were from well-known faculty at the school?

I don't think schools go out of their way to choose their own. They typically end up choosing their own often because they know their own candidates better (this can still be a double edged sword), people are more likely to want to stay at their home school for family reasons/setting down root etc. You definitely can't take home school advantage for granted though, don't make that mistake either. 

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On 10/19/2018 at 7:14 PM, brady23 said:

Is this significant in CARMS rankings?

For example, looking at the 2018 CARMS Data, UofT had 133 FM spots and 89 UofT candidates who ranked FM first, McMaster had 85 FM spots and 77 McMaster candidates who ranked FM first. 

So if applicants have sufficient FM electives, and considering that there's no red flags in the interview, do most schools select their own candidates just based on the fact that the majority of their electives/letters were from well-known faculty at the school?

Hey I have participated in CaRMS selection for  UofT Family Medicine. Unfortunately, the selection committee does not give any merits if you are a UofT med student.

Before the interview, they send out the list of potential candidates, to make sure that there is no conflict of interest. The interview is blinded, i.e, I don't know where you did your medical school, where you did your electives, etc. They do this on purpose to prevent the interviews being biased (giving more points to a candidate from UofT, or having done substantial FM electives). For the file selection, you do get more points if you have done FM electives or a broad range of electives. 

The selection process is very transparent, please PM me for more details! 

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