Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

Advice for an incoming 1st year medical student


Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, Vivieeeeeee said:

I appreciate your honesty. Thanks for the advice! How easy is it for someone who did IM training at somewhere else like Western to practice in Toronto? It sounds like you don't have anything against the city and your negative comments were more channeled towards the residency itself. I would still like to remain in GTA in the long run but I'm alright with residency anywhere.

It's better to do residency in Toronto if you want to stay in Toronto to practice. Without a doubt doing your residency locally helps and this applies to every program in Canada. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/14/2019 at 10:12 PM, Frederick Sanger said:

Beautifully detailed! Thanks. How would this be different for UofT neurosurgery? 

Neurosurgery is a smaller field, so networking is more important and it tends to be more competitive. Residents play a role in CaRMS more so than in other fields.

If Toronto is your top choice, you want to do a 4 week elective there and work insanely hard. 4 weeks gives them a chance to really see you and get to know you. 

Your major selling point is crucial in neurosurgery, research is important in Toronto especially. You need something that sets you apart. There may be more of an added emphasis on research in this regard. Research can help you go to conferences, meet and network with your future colleagues as well. 

Residency in nsx is very very long hours. It is a heavily on service specialty, post-call days are for operating and you don't sleep on-call, so they are looking for someone who is dedicated enough to do this long term.  

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Frederick Sanger said:

Thank you so much!  I already know a few residents in the department, but I will work hard on my networking abilities. 

What would be a good number of publications to have? 15-20?  I know the quality is what matters, but since I also have a genuine interest in research, I am assuming academic productivity is something that they value.

 One final question: Does research during the summers and networking with profs also sound like a good option?

Thanks again. I really appreciate it. 

I don't know if there is a set number of publications you need. What matters actually more is productivity. For someone who did undergrad and then medical school anything from 1-5 published papers is good. They likely expect more from someone who did a research masters or PhD. It also does depend on your role in the research and how you talk about it in an interview. It is very apparent the difference between someone who initiated, lead and worked through a project on their own versus someone who filled in a few tables. Any commentary in your reference letters about your research skills if applicable can also help in that overall judgement. 

What they care about is your future not your present. The question they are asking is: "is this person going to carry through and become a great academic" and "is this person trainable and great to work with".  

Research during summers and networking with profs definitely is a good option. Always make sure that you give yourself a few weeks vacation during pre-clerkship summers. Everyone, needs to rest and recharge to be their best. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Vivieeeeeee said:

I appreciate your honesty. Thanks for the advice! How easy is it for someone who did IM training at somewhere else like Western to practice in Toronto? It sounds like you don't have anything against the city and your negative comments were more channeled towards the residency itself. I would still like to remain in GTA in the long run but I'm alright with residency anywhere.

From just looking at where people I know from Western went the location of the training won't be the major issue, it will be just that Toronto is a popular place and thus adds pressure to the job market. I know people who did residency in Toronto that had a hard time finding local work as well. 

There really isn't as much of this regional loyalty as people would think - at least not for a lot of fields. 

Edited by rmorelan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Vivieeeeeee said:

I appreciate your honesty. Thanks for the advice! How easy is it for someone who did IM training at somewhere else like Western to practice in Toronto? It sounds like you don't have anything against the city and your negative comments were more channeled towards the residency itself. I would still like to remain in GTA in the long run but I'm alright with residency anywhere.

The old teaching/wisdom is that doing your residency in an area that you want to end up practicing. This is true to some degree, but the GTA is so large that as long as you choose a field that has lots of job opportunities (FM, Psych, IM etc...) you can still end up doing residency in one spot and end up working in another. You just have to be savvy in terms of networking, doing electives, and reaching out to the places you want to work. If you end up liking something with no jobs (or limited jobs), then thats a different story.


I love Toronto. I lived here most of my life and have done medical school and residency here. My comments were geared towards the residency program (as you so rightly pointed out).

I think right now you haven't even started your first day of medical school. I wouldn't worry about remaining in the GTA in the long term. If that is your ultimate goal over all else, then you can end up coming back eventually.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
On 8/14/2019 at 6:26 PM, Edict said:

If your goal is to match to UofT IM from Western coming from year one of med you have plenty of time and this is the right time to think about it. 

This is how I would approach specialty applications in hindsight

Pre-year 1: relax, maybe do some light reading in anatomy/physio to get you off to a head start especially if coming from a non- med/health background

year 1 (first half): Take the first few months to get familiar with your school, your classmates, enjoy and start shadowing 2-3 months from med school, keep and eye out  for interest groups as applications often start within the first few months of med school. get involved with your local IM interest group. Start by shadowing specialties that are good rule outs (competitive ones that would require early commitment that are dissimilar to IM that you have some potential interest in). 

year 1 (second half): Continue shadowing longitudinally, if IM remains your top choice, think about what kind of app you want to make. Is research your selling point? leadership? innovation? Ideally, you want one major selling point and a few minor checkmarks to show you are well rounded. For example, if you think you might like research, then this is the time to get involved, research takes time and the earlier you start the more likely you are to have publications before CaRMS. Think about your first year summer: if your goal is Toronto, find a preceptor in Toronto through networking or emailing and work with them over the summer. Leave yourself some time to travel and relax as well. If you aren't sure you have a specific area of interest, I agree with the poster above, research is a great way to network. Don't forget that academic staff are the ones involved in CaRMS and academic staff usually need to publish to get promotions. By helping them with research you are helping them out as well as yourself. With that being said, clinical research is not the only way to go, some people write articles in the media, edit etc. Others who have a tech background may incorporate that into healthcare and have a side hobby. If you have a passion and work towards it, it all looks fantastic on your app and can be used as your major selling point. Keep involved in your minor selling points be it interest group stuff or committees etc. and try to stay active in them. 

year 2: At this point you can continue shadowing but for a field like IM, if you are set on it, you don't need to shadow anymore. Hopefully by now you are working towards your major selling point and doing well. Keep in mind you can have more than one research supervisor, as long as you are able to keep on top of things with both. Choosing a supervisor is important, try to find someone with a track record of publications and mentoring med students well if you can. A supervisor (for summers) who is active on the UofT IM committee will be a bonus, but more important is having the former. Try to have a preceptor at Western as well, it is hard to do research with someone if you spend most of the year away. Depending on where your career goals lie, consider writing the USMLE in the summer of year 2. Otherwise, consider doing an international elective if you have interests in travelling and global health etc. Consider continuing with research during the summer (in Toronto if  possible) or taking the time to prepare for clerkship. This is your last chance before things get really serious. Rank your clerkship streams appropriately, ask around, make sure your streams are set up in a way that allow you to explore unexplored specialties and allow you to succeed. If you want IM, try to have your IM rotation in the middle of clerkship, so you can impress and get letters in your core rotation, this is very important. Some people make the mistake of an early IM rotation and you can get letters but you usually aren't as sharp in the beginning of clerkship as near the middle or end. 

year 3: Work hard on all your rotations, you may find less time to work on research now, hopefully you still can continue projects that you have started, but you likely won't have as much time. Plan your electives carefully. If you want 2 week electives in GIM in Toronto you need to network with Toronto staff before the electives even open. Most of these valuable 2 week spots are gone before they open. Try to get a GIM elective in Toronto if possible and a subspecialty (of your interest) in Toronto as well. Message your research preceptor in Toronto and try to get an elective with them if possible (a combined research+clinical strong recommendation letter will be absolutely massive when it comes to CaRMS). Avoid doing an elective in a subspecialty you aren't interested in. Try to get at least one elective out of province, but two is better in order to increase your chances of matching. Make sure to book your electives the second they open, otherwise they will be gone. 

Year 4 (first half): start your CaRMS app early. know your CV by heart. Start writing your personal statements early, before elective season. Practice on how to sell yourself. Put yourself in a program's shoes and ask yourself: what would they want? Then try to sell yourself in that vein. By now you'll probably have a lot more advice to work with, so i'll leave it at that. 

Year 4 (second half): enjoy! you've made it through 4 hard years of med school. People do international electives for fun, to travel. Write your MCCs early and then take a nice big month long vacation because it's the last month long vacation you'll have for a while  :lol:

 

 

This is extremely helpful, thanks for sharing. Would you make any changes to this approach if going for a surgical speciality and/or a competitive speciality?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...