U of T for only UGME and not residency?

[mhat]

Hi, 

This may sound weird but I am really considering accepting my U of T acceptance for med, knowing I wouldn't want to stay for residency. I just don't see myself in a huge city for the rest of my life, but think it would be fun to experience it for 4 years and get the perks of U of T med. 

Would this affect my chances of matching elsewhere for residency? Say Ottawa or McGill? (I am a French speaker)

Should I base my UGME decision on where I want to do residency?

Thanks

[popfossa]

Definitely not! Doing school in a city where you want to match will be helpful because you are able to make connections and network; however, that doesn't mean you can't network with professionals in other cities. Pick the school that best aligns with your personality and where you see yourself living. Do not pick a school because you are already thinking of residency. That's still 4+ years away!

[DrOtter]

20 hours ago, mhat said:

Hi, 

This may sound weird but I am really considering accepting my U of T acceptance for med, knowing I wouldn't want to stay for residency. I just don't see myself in a huge city for the rest of my life, but think it would be fun to experience it for 4 years and get the perks of U of T med. 

Would this affect my chances of matching elsewhere for residency? Say Ottawa or McGill? (I am a French speaker)

Should I base my UGME decision on where I want to do residency?

Thanks

You can defs match to French Canada (i.e. Quebec) for residency for sure! People match all over the country for CaRMS. As well, you don't need to become staff where you do your residency either. The vast majority of docs are community physicians and they just go where they want/see themselves living and raising a family.

All that to say you can travel around in between each stage of training.

[indefatigable]

On 5/13/2021 at 1:06 PM, mhat said:

This may sound weird but I am really considering accepting my U of T acceptance for med, knowing I wouldn't want to stay for residency. I just don't see myself in a huge city for the rest of my life, but think it would be fun to experience it for 4 years and get the perks of U of T med. 

Would this affect my chances of matching elsewhere for residency? Say Ottawa or McGill? (I am a French speaker)

Should I base my UGME decision on where I want to do residency?

There is typically a "home school" advantage when it comes to matching - but, except for some smaller, very competitive specialties isn't worth worrying about.  If that is something you wish to pursue at one point, then doing away electives at the program/school you want to match at will help.

UofT has a good reputation for academic and most specialties, so matching to either Ottawa or McGill shouldn't generally be an issue as they are additionally in the same region.  Residency programs at both those schools are mostly in English/Bilingual although there are a few French-language programs (e.g. FM and IM).  

If you wish to match to full French-speaking programs in Quebec, you would likely also benefit from a rotation at Laval/Montreal/Sherbrooke.  You may also have to write a language test for residency, but that shouldn't be an issue as a native French-speaker.

[mhat]

8 hours ago, indefatigable said:

There is typically a "home school" advantage when it comes to matching - but, except for some smaller, very competitive specialties isn't worth worrying about.  If that is something you wish to pursue at one point, then doing away electives at the program/school you want to match at will help.

UofT has a good reputation for academic and most specialties, so matching to either Ottawa or McGill shouldn't generally be an issue as they are additionally in the same region.  Residency programs at both those schools are mostly in English/Bilingual although there are a few French-language programs (e.g. FM and IM).  

If you wish to match to full French-speaking programs in Quebec, you would likely also benefit from a rotation at Laval/Montreal/Sherbrooke.  You may also have to write a language test for residency, but that shouldn't be an issue as a native French-speaker.

Thanks for your reply! Super helpful.

So the funny thing is I actually did get accepted at Ottawa/Sherbrooke/Laval but the two Québec schools just aren't my vibe and I grew up in Ottawa, so U of T would be something different. I guess I am just worried about French students not being common in Toronto (or at all?) and the transition from only English medical exposure to French patient care... 

[indefatigable]

2 hours ago, mhat said:

Thanks for your reply! Super helpful.

So the funny thing is I actually did get accepted at Ottawa/Sherbrooke/Laval but the two Québec schools just aren't my vibe and I grew up in Ottawa, so U of T would be something different. I guess I am just worried about French students not being common in Toronto (or at all?) and the transition from only English medical exposure to French patient care... 

Glendon Campus at York is both a nice place (next to Sunnybrook) and an officially bilingual campus in Toronto; there's also new University of French Ontario.  That being said, Toronto is a huge city, and even with a fair number of francophones (~60 000) it's probably relatively rare to hear French (except on the Go Train ha).

There's a good number of francophones that go to McGill for med school and then have no problems with residency in the French-speaking schools.  Personally, I had absolutely no issue going from a French environment (which was sometimes a very difficult for me) to doing a few electives in English where I generally did really well.  Sometimes I didn't know some terminology, but I found it was much easier for me to pick things up and perform on all levels.  

Still, it would probably be easier to do a 4-week elective for Laval/Montreal/Sherbrooke to get acclimatized - especially for more communication-oriented specialties (psych, peds, family...)  McGill could be a good compromise as I think you would adjust instantaneously coming from Toronto and your French would be an advantage should you want to rotate in Quebec.  Plus it could give you in-roads in applying to Quebec residency - I think you would have no issue adjusting over 2 to 5 years - it just might be harder in a very short elective.