Competitiveness of IM?

[Sonostudenti67]

Hey guys,

I’m an Université de Montréal medical student and I have my mind set on internal medicine. I always heard it was fairly uncompetitive due to the large number of spots/programs, but apparently for the last couple of years it’s been really hard to get into. This is really disappointing since I didn’t really want to apply to FM (just all out IM -broadly).

I was wondering if you guys know

1. If it’s still an option to only apply IM and be pretty safe in terms of Carms.

2. How to become competitive? Particularly research, which isn’t an area I’m really experienced in. Would a lot of research really help secure a spot? Are extracurriculars really important? Or do they just want good clinical grades/Letters?

3. Is Quebec different? I’m bilingual but have a preference for staying in Quebec or Ottawa/Moncton because of the French opportunities there. I would apply to both French and English across the country though to increase my chances. Savez-vous si les programmes de médecine interne au Québec recherchent des étudiants ayant fait beaucoup de recherche? 

[bearded frog]

15 hours ago, Sonostudenti67 said:

I was wondering if you guys know

1. It’s about 1:1 first choice cmg applicants to spots for IM. When you factor in strong applicants who dual apply to IM and something else and don’t match their something else then there are more applicants than spots. I don’t think there were any unmatched spots in this years match. So it’s competitive. That being said if you're at least average and apply broadly you’ll likely match, especially applying to both English and French programs.

2. Maybe an IM resident can comment, but generally it’s a combination of med school performance, extracurriculars, research, LORs, interview, and elective performance. The relative importance of each element will vary.

3. As far as I know the process is the same for both English and French programs and you are indeed wise to apply to both if you’re bilingual.

[Sonostudenti67]

22 minutes ago, bearded frog said:

1. It’s about 1:1 first choice cmg applicants to spots for IM. When you factor in strong applicants who dual apply to IM and something else and don’t match their something else then there are more applicants than spots. I don’t think there were any unmatched spots in this years match. So it’s competitive. That being said if you're at least average and apply broadly you’ll likely match, especially applying to both English and French programs.

2. Maybe an IM resident can comment, but generally it’s a combination of med school performance, extracurriculars, research, LORs, interview, and elective performance. The relative importance of each element will vary.

3. As far as I know the process is the same for both English and French programs and you are indeed wise to apply to both if you’re bilingual.

Thanks! I’ve heard from some Quebec students that it’s typically not as competitive here (although this year there were no leftover spots and there typically are). Do you know if this is true?

[Haribo7173]

^Spots fill every year in Quebec in first iteration but there are also many many spots (UdeM alone has like almost 50) so it’s pretty doable.

[Sonostudenti67]

24 minutes ago, Haribo7173 said:

^Spots fill every year in Quebec in first iteration but there are also many many spots (UdeM alone has like almost 50) so it’s pretty doable.

Thanks! I wonder why people say it’s not as competitive?

[Haribo7173]

1 minute ago, Sonostudenti67 said:

Thanks! I wonder why people say it’s not as competitive?

Maybe because a lot of people back up into it (or have in the past)?

Here are some Quebec-specific stats from 2020. On page 40: 0.98 for IM.

https://fmeq.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Guideresidences.pdf

[Sonostudenti67]

8 minutes ago, Haribo7173 said:

Maybe because a lot of people back up into it (or have in the past)?

Here are some Quebec-specific stats from 2020. On page 40: 0.98 for IM.

https://fmeq.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Guideresidences.pdf

Thanks so much for the stats!

[ACHQ]

17 hours ago, Sonostudenti67 said:

Hey guys,

I’m an Université de Montréal medical student and I have my mind set on internal medicine. I always heard it was fairly uncompetitive due to the large number of spots/programs, but apparently for the last couple of years it’s been really hard to get into. This is really disappointing since I didn’t really want to apply to FM (just all out IM -broadly).

I was wondering if you guys know

1. If it’s still an option to only apply IM and be pretty safe in terms of Carms.

2. How to become competitive? Particularly research, which isn’t an area I’m really experienced in. Would a lot of research really help secure a spot? Are extracurriculars really important? Or do they just want good clinical grades/Letters?

3. Is Quebec different? I’m bilingual but have a preference for staying in Quebec or Ottawa/Moncton because of the French opportunities there. I would apply to both French and English across the country though to increase my chances. Savez-vous si les programmes de médecine interne au Québec recherchent des étudiants ayant fait beaucoup de recherche? 

 

1. I still think it would be an option to apply to IM if thats all you want to do, just make sure you apply across the country and do electives broadly. TBH given you can apply to all the french programs AND all the English programs in Canada, if anything your chances are higher to match to IM just given the number of spots available to you.

2. I can't comment on every single program (and cannot comment at all about Quebec programs), but research wasn't a huge deal at UofT (and they are a research heavy school). It doesn't ever hurt, but the amount it helps is debatable. Definitely clinical performance on electives (and ergo reference letters) trumps all.