Backing up with FM

[iufrrhiuwn]

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[attempt2]

I received interviews from all of the Ontario schools (did not apply elsewhere) with 2 weeks of FM electives pre-CaRMS and 4 weeks post-CaRMS. One of my friends received interviews from all across the country with no FM electives. 

[Pakoon]

Look at the stats for family medicine and you'll realize that while you may not get first preference, if you rank family, you will match (assuming no red flags).

[pyridoxal-phosphate]

Obviously we can never be certain that 1 year will predict the next (although more so for smaller specialties compared to FM) but from this past cycle seemed like most FM programs were open to interviewing people regardless of how strongly their profile demonstrated FM interest. If you can swing like  2-4 weeks of elective in FM pre CARMS that would obviously help, but like the poster above said even without electives I imagine you will be able to get interviewed/ranked somewhere. 

From what I can tell, there were people who were able to match to competitive FM locations (UBC, Toronto) with profiles veeeery geared towards other specialties (radiology included). 

[hero147]

I think the competitiveness of family med is plummeting too so some of the previous year's anecdotes may not apply. 

[Butterfly_]

I think you should do one FM elective, it’ll help your application 100%. Just make sure you don’t mention the word “I’m using FM as a backup” in your interview or application—we throw out those applications. 

Even though FM is becoming less popular, we’d rather have empty residency spots than to take someone who has no interest. 
 

However, it sounds like you do have a genuine interest, so I wouldn’t worry about it. You’ll surely get FM interviews.

[iufrrhiuwn]

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[Butterfly_]

6 hours ago, iufrrhiuwn said:

I should be able to do a fam med elective post Carms deadline but before interviews - I hope that will help!

Definitely that would be helpful. You can list the upcoming elective on your CV and then talk about your FM experience during the interviews.

Good luck :)!

[Asphalts]

You are likely going to get interviews and match to FM even without any electives, but you might not get your preferential sites that may be highly sought out by your cohort who is "gunning" for FM.

Definitely back up with FM, especially if you think you can see yourself enjoying it. If you can get an elective or two, that will boost your application a lot. I know a lot of my cohort used the line "Did not realize how interested I was about FM until later in my training and could only get limited elective space" to back up with FM. Some of them ended up at the more competitive spots too!

If you don't have any glaring red flags (which you probably won't since you got into medical school in Canada), you will do fine. Good luck! This is a stressful time for medical students so make sure to take care of yourself as well.