“Backing up” family med at U of T?

[dr44]

I’m a third year med student at UofT. I’ve been interested in family medicine for a while, which will be reflected in my application for family med:

- 2 family med electives (4 weeks total)

- references from family doctors (2 secured so far)
- one health advocacy project related to family med

I also have two publications that are not family med related (one is in medical education, other is basic science from undergrad) as well as extracurriculars not necessarily related to any one specialty (mentoring, etc).

During clerkship I discovered an interest for a competitive specialty and have decided to pursue it. However, I really do like family medicine and U of T would be my top choice. 
My worry is that by pursuing another specialty, it may appear that I am only “backing up” with family and would therefore would be unlikely to match at a competitive family med program like U of T. 

So my question is: am I unlikely to match to U of T family medicine if parallel planning with a competitive specialty? Will my elective choices, experiences, and genuine interest in family medicine be enough to give me a chance?

[jb24]

I don't think it will be a big deal, this is a very common scenario. You have electives, and it is not unreasonable to be interested in multiple specialties, including family medicine. Good luck!

 

[struggling2getin]

I know multiple people who were   gunning super hard for a competitive speciality who matched to UofT FM. It will be fine.

[rubikscube]

6 hours ago, struggling2getin said:

I know multiple people who were   gunning super hard for a competitive speciality (derm) who matched to UofT FM. It will be fine.

How do they feel about family medicine? Do they aim to incorporate a lot of derm in their practice?

[struggling2getin]

11 hours ago, rubikscube said:

How do they feel about family medicine? Do they aim to incorporate a lot of derm in their practice?

Not close with them enough to ask

[Edict]

I think a lot of family doctors who wanted derm are able to do their derm certificates and still carry on with a derm focused FM practice.