CaRMS 2019 Interview -- DISCUSSIONS

[polarbear89]

12 hours ago, Radiopaque said:

I got family but was gunning for pediatrics. Was it very competitive this year? I applied broadly and was willing to go anywhere. Is there anyone who got peds in an undesirable location that might prefer UT family instead? 

Can someone who matched in the first round reapply in the second?  There is a spot at the U of O primarily in Nunavut and Northern Ontario available? Was this spot available to you to rank in the first round?

[2019CaRMS]

Any advice on swapping into family medicine? I matched to a 5 year specialty in a very undesirable location. I'm also interested if lab medicine allows location transfers?

 

[ubcgrad]

23 hours ago, 2019CaRMS said:

Any advice on swapping into family medicine? I matched to a 5 year specialty in a very undesirable location. I'm also interested if lab medicine allows location transfers?

 

I have heard of people transferring between provinces in lab medicine. As I understand it, the accepting program needs to have capacity to take on a new resident and you need to be 'released' by your current program. Keep in mind there may be a minimum amount of time you need to spend in your matched program. Swapping into family medicine at your current program may be more straightforward as you would only need to deal with one institution, but you'd need to make sure you'd be happy staying in the location for at least a couple years and more importantly that you'd be happy in family medicine for the rest of your career. 

[bearded frog]

On 3/2/2019 at 9:01 AM, polarbear89 said:

Can someone who matched in the first round reapply in the second?

No, but you can reapply for the second round in subsequent years.

You can definitely try to transfer. Generally you will have to wait until a few months into residency though. You start by going through your own PGME office and they reach out to the PGME office of where you want to go. Note switching sites within the same program is different and will be entirely within your program, can't comment on that.

In terms of ease of transfer, its generally easier to transfer from 2+ to 2 year programs due to provincial funding, and within school/province cause the money follows you. If you already have 5 years of funding then programs don't need to find other funding if you're transferring within province. Here is the ranking from easiest to hardest:

1. Royal college -> family medicine at same school
2. Royal college -> royal college program at same school
3. family medicine -> royal college at same school
4. royal college -> family medicine at different school in same province
5. royal college -> royal college (including same specialty) at different school within province
6. family medicine -> royal college at different school within province
7. royal college -> family medicine at school in different province
8. royal college -> royal college (including same specialty) at school in different province
9. family medicine -> royal college at school in different province

If you're trying to go out of province you need to rely on the destination school having funding, ie one of their residents drops out or transfers out of province. They will usually prioritize students from other programs in their own school first though. Once a school/program has said they are interested and a spot is available, you need to get a letter of good standing from your current PD, so they will know at that point, but you don't have to let them know until then, the PGME office is usually good about discretion. Obviously if you have any red flags then this gets much more difficult.

[2019CaRMS]

3 hours ago, bearded frog said:

No, but you can reapply for the second round in subsequent years.

You can definitely try to transfer. Generally you will have to wait until a few months into residency though. You start by going through your own PGME office and they reach out to the PGME office of where you want to go. Note switching sites within the same program is different and will be entirely within your program, can't comment on that.

In terms of ease of transfer, its generally easier to transfer from 2+ to 2 year programs due to provincial funding, and within school/province cause the money follows you. If you already have 5 years of funding then programs don't need to find other funding if you're transferring within province. Here is the ranking from easiest to hardest:

1. Royal college -> family medicine at same school
2. Royal college -> royal college program at same school
3. family medicine -> royal college at same school
4. royal college -> family medicine at different school in same province
5. royal college -> royal college (including same specialty) at different school within province
6. family medicine -> royal college at different school within province
7. royal college -> family medicine at school in different province
8. royal college -> royal college (including same specialty) at school in different province
9. family medicine -> royal college at school in different province

If you're trying to go out of province you need to rely on the destination school having funding, ie one of their residents drops out or transfers out of province. They will usually prioritize students from other programs in their own school first though. Once a school/program has said they are interested and a spot is available, you need to get a letter of good standing from your current PD, so they will know at that point, but you don't have to let them know until then, the PGME office is usually good about discretion. Obviously if you have any red flags then this gets much more difficult.

Thank you,

I'll look at possibly swapping into FM depending on how things go. But, it's really comforting to know the approach to take.