residency? how does it work?

[Guest medinvan]

i'm wondering how residency matching works. What things do they look for in you to decide where and which specialty you can be a resident in?

 

Also, more particulalry, is it more difficult to get a residency position in a provicne/location that is not the province where you studied medical undergrad at? I'm not sure if I should choose an ontario med school if i ultimately want to be back in my hometown (Van) for residency as a specialist?

 

Thank you for all your help.

[Guest el pansito]

I'm in the same boat as you (coming from Alberta). I'm not sure, but from the docs i've talked to, they've said that the CARMS match is basically a clean slate, and there aren't really any OOP biases (at least in the big sites like Van, Edmonton, Calgary etc).

 

I've been told that what matters is where you start your residency, ie. if you want to sub-specialize in Van you'd better start residency there, because once you're in as a resident there are funding issues. This is what I know from Edmonton, so ask around with some docs in your city and see what they say.

[Guest ubcredfox]

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this topic?

 

I'm sure a lot of us are wondering (even if match is 4 yrs away) if we go to a school in a difference provice from where we'd ultimately like to live, will there be any bias during the match?

 

Also, is it feasible to transfer jobs i.e. move, once you've completed your residency?

[Guest JustCurious]

The "CARMS Application Preparation" might be useful:

p090.ezboard.com/fpremed101frm25

 

I'm in a slightly different situation: I'm trying to decide between Queen's & UofT and not sure where I'd ultimately like to live, whether Ontario, Canada or even overseas. However, I have been questioning to what extent the school you attend influences how well and where you match in terms of residency. From what I can gather, the criteria seem to be program-dependent as the 3rd post in this thread describes:

p090.ezboard.com/fpremed1...=271.topic

 

You might also want to check out the CARMS website if you haven't already (http://www.carms.ca), and browse through the program descriptions at the schools you're interested in - they sometimes have stats regarding the schools/provinces their residents come from. Likewise, you could check out the post-graduate medicine websites of those schools and see what they say.

 

To my mind, what el pansito said is true. After all, if you've got the aptitude for a particular specialty, you've demonstrated it through marks, shadowing, electives, etc., and you have an interest & enthusiasm for the program and/or school you're applying to, that should be what counts.

[Guest drews97]

Hi,

 

Residency is a while off for you guys so I wouldn't sweat that detail too much at the moment. The easy answer as to whether getting into the residency program in the province, city that you did your med school in is "kind of, but not really". The one advantage, of course, is that you get to better know the faculty. But once you enter clerkship you will get elective time where you can choose to spend 3 months doing clinical work in BC if you so desire (some people in my class did and I was in Alberta for almost 5 months doing my electives and my core family rotation there). If you look at where the residents are from in most programs there is a mix of people from that school and from elsewhere in the country. Realistically, if you're a strong applicant you can get into a residency spot anywhere in the country, although it does require a bit of luck and planning, much like getting into medicine to start with.