Seeking advice - Residency in another province

[aakk]

Hi, I'm an incoming medical student from Ontario, I recently got offers to UBC and OttawaU.

I'm just wondering how much more difficult it would be to match for residency back in Ontario if I go to UBC (are there additional requirements re. college licensing? etc.)? Also, will being from Ontario originally be a disadvantage for matching in BC if I go to UBC for medical school? 

Would appreciate any advice or guidance from those who have gone through the process and know much more than I do! 

Thanks

[indefatigable]

There's little formal barriers - i.e. the application process for residency is more or less equal/transparent wherever you go to medical school (exception is French-speaking schools QC since they have a different language with potential language tests...).

People have different opinions on this topic, but everyone seems to agree that "home school" advantage is a big plus.  As UBC is the only medical school in BC, you would have a better chance at matching there if you matriculated at UBC.  And, similarly for residency at Ottawa.   

I can't really comment if being originally from Ontario would be factor: I suspect it may help match back to Ontario; don't think it would change your BC matching chances much after 4 years at UBC.

Stats seem to suggest that there is "regionalism" when it comes to matching - i.e. many more people in Ontario med schools match to Ontario, although whether this is only "applicant preference" or other factors is debated (I fall into the latter camp). 

(see link below for discussion)

https://forums.premed101.com/topic/113987-im-in-ontario/

[frenchpress]

47 minutes ago, aakk said:

Hi, I'm an incoming medical student from Ontario, I recently got offers to UBC and OttawaU.

I'm just wondering how much more difficult it would be to match for residency back in Ontario if I go to UBC (are there additional requirements re. college licensing? etc.)? Also, will being from Ontario originally be a disadvantage for matching in BC if I go to UBC for medical school? 

Would appreciate any advice or guidance from those who have gone through the process and know much more than I do! 

Thanks

Your ability to match back to Ontario will also depend somewhat on what you decide to apply for. If you are going for a large speciality like Family Medicine or Internal Medicine you’ll have a very good chance of matching to Ontario from BC (or from anywhere really). If you go for something very competitive it may be more difficult, and while the home school advantage may help, you’ll have to be prepared to elsewhere. The amount the home school advantage helps you will also depend a bit on specialty (some specialities take their own more than others). Although in all cases, the fact that there are more schools in Ontario helps, because if you bomb one interview you still may have other options 

At UBC usually roughly half of the 4th year class matches to UBC, and half to other schools. Not sure how this compares to other schools. But even a program like family medicine is competitive at UBC, and there is only one interview for every site in the province.

Honestly, CaRMS is a crapshoot. You can do everything right and still not match. I know several extremely talented peers who did not match where they most wanted, or even went unmatched. It’s ok to think about CaRMS in deciding where to go to medical school, but I would not put much weight on this, because you have no way of knowing how it’s going to work out. Instead, I would focus on trying to pick the medical school you think you’ll most enjoy attending for the 4 years you’ll be there. 

[bearded frog]

8 hours ago, indefatigable said:

(see link below for discussion)

https://forums.premed101.com/topic/113987-im-in-ontario/

Definitely had deja vu reading this thread ha

[shikimate]

So everybody is saying you can just do electives and match anywhere, but that assumes in 3 years COVID will be under control and there won't be some other virus that wrecks havoc and that away electives won't be restricted or won't become more competitive. Is that a safe assumption?

[indefatigable]

2 hours ago, shikimate said:

So everybody is saying you can just do electives and match anywhere, but that assumes in 3 years COVID will be under control and there won't be some other virus that wrecks havoc and that away electives won't be restricted or won't become more competitive. Is that a safe assumption?

Good point - we don't really know when restrictions will be lifted.  It's definitely possible that limited electives could come back initially (e.g. only by region).  Freely flying from coast to coast might not happen for some time.  And, yeah, it's possible that away electives would be discouraged by "home school", etc..

IMGs may not see return to electives for much longer.

 At least we seem to be getting better at making vaccines if worse came to worst.  

[aakk]

Wondering what your thoughts are: 

Would it be easier to match to BC from an Ontario school or to any Ontario school from UBC? Or would it be similar?

[zoxy]

On 5/17/2021 at 8:38 AM, shikimate said:

Is that a safe assumption?

Yes it is a safe assumption. I'm tired of the fear-mongering of endless COVID waves and implying the need for perpetual lock-downs and isolation. The vaccines do work and all the data points to their efficacy against variants as well. Look at data out of the UK and Israel. Indoor pubs and restaurants are open and stadiums are half-full. We'll probably get to where they are in a month or two as our vaccination rates have picked up. The sky may have fallen but it's on its way back up.

[bearded frog]

10 hours ago, aakk said:

Wondering what your thoughts are: 

Would it be easier to match to BC from an Ontario school or to any Ontario school from UBC? Or would it be similar?

I would say easier to go from UBC to Ontario due to sheer numbers, and depending on specialty, some Ontario programs are likely to be less compeditive than UBC. And from a practical perspective, its a tall order to have all your eggs in one basket, if you (or your interviwer) are havinbg a bad day on UBC interview day then that could throw everything.