backinschool Posted June 28, 2023 Report Share Posted June 28, 2023 Hi! I am wondering if the home school advantage is something to consider for someone that wants to do residency in Qc in FM specifically. I see from acrms data that people seem to match at a higher rate at the med school where they studied. Should I consider this? I am starting med school in the fall and I have 2 options right now. Option 1: USherbrooke campus on the south shore of Montreal but with only one hospital not to far from home. I have kids and a partner so I cannot move for my residency so matching to another, much farther site from usherbrooke is not an option. This is a 4 year program which is great since I am way older than traditionnal applicants. Option 2:Then there is a Umontreal where there are a lot of potential residency sites that are a resonable distance from home. 5 year program. I am super used to it since I did my undergrad and master there and could do the clinical part at a hospital 5 minutes from home (so 3 years at the university, which is 1 hour from home, and final 2 years super close.) I would like to go with option 1 for the shorter program but the tough of not matching at the hospital linked to that university and then not matching at any UMontreal site close to home is stressing me out. Should I choose option 2 since there are probably more chance to be close to home for residency with the home school advantage? So I guess that my question is, is it reasonable to think that I could match to Umontreal if I dont match to the Usherbrooke site close to home? Are there people here that had that experience of being able to match somewhere else where you did not do your md program? Is there something that can help, like doing some rotation at other university where you are interested in matching? Lets say I go with option 1 and do some rotatins in option 2, would that help? Thank you so much for your insight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bearded frog Posted June 28, 2023 Report Share Posted June 28, 2023 More people do tend to match to their home program, but it's for a couple different reasons. There is a "home school advantage" in that it's easier to do elective rotations/network etc. at your home school. You can gun for somewhere else though and do electives there. Regardless, I have no idea about competitiveness of FM sites in Quebec (it might not be competitive at all, which is great!) You should be considering a scenario where you do not match to your local programs (assuming you apply elsewhere, or not match at all if not) and what contingency plans you would do, because nothing is ever a guarantee when it comes to the match. backinschool 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambi Posted June 28, 2023 Report Share Posted June 28, 2023 My inclination considering what is involved for the very long term would be go for Option 2, n/w/s that an extra year would be involved. In effect the extra year is a virtual guarantee that you will accomplish your important goal! The cost to you is 1 year less in earnings but it is well worth it with what is at stake. BTW, for the preparatory year, you can ask for removal of some of your course load if your academic background has covered some of the material covered. backinschool 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backinschool Posted June 28, 2023 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2023 Thank you @bearded frog and @Bambi! Bearded frog, you ar so right that I need to have a plan b in case matching in a location that woud be ideal does not work... I don't think FM is very competitve in Qc in general but the spots that are left after the match are the ones very far fom the big centers, so the spots in Montreal and near are probably more competitive... Bambi, its very true that the preparatory year is probably very worth it if I want to match close to home. However, I am a bit concerned about the FM residency becoming 3 years in 2027, adding another additionnal year. I am prety sure that I would be interested in doing a plus one also... Thanks for letting me know that some course could be credited in the premed year, I will look into that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no-name Posted June 29, 2023 Report Share Posted June 29, 2023 I would personally go w Sherbrooke. I was also an older applicant and I had exactly the same dilemma. Montreal is a big city with lots of residency spots. FM sites are not that competitive. If you apply to all the sites in Mtl, that's a lot of options and if you also consider the suburbs, you will have no problem matching. Do your best during clerkship, work hard on your carms and you will match easily to your first choice. I have friends who did have some unfortunate experiences in clerkship and worried about not matching to Mtl. They all ended up somewhere in the city. If you are aiming for 1 particular GMF or site, I'd e-mail them during 4th year and ask to meet with the site director and explain how much you are interested and motivated to join their team. Definitely do an elective there if you can. backinschool 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no-name Posted June 29, 2023 Report Share Posted June 29, 2023 but as mentioned above, please check first if you really need to do the pre-med at UMontreal. If you did an undergrad in sciences, you most likely don't have to do it (depending how many years ago you finished and what you did after) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elgar Posted June 30, 2023 Report Share Posted June 30, 2023 I think that the choice of university doesn't matter that much. I matched to UdeM fam med in an urban site, while I did my MD at McGill (ranked UdeM higher). So it's probably safe to choose whatever university that you prefer! backinschool 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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