Failed clerkship rotations and CaRMS

[haenurplaza]

Hi! So in short I failed a surgical rotation in my first year of clerkship due to a huge misunderstanding between the attending and me towards the end of the rotation (the failing eval only came 5 months after the rotation, I did not have a verbal failing evaluation prior to the final evaluation; I tried talking to him to no avail, and also tried asking the faculty for a grade review but they took his side of things despite everything). Despite justifying the red flag in my personal statement, and having quite good to excellent evals in all my other rotations, I ended up not having any single interview in any of the specialties I applied other than FM - and even then the Quebec French FM programs only invited me because they had an automatic system that invited everyone who had a complete application, so I'm not even sure any single program is going to rank me even with the interview. That said, have anyone heard of a story where someone failed a clinical rotation was still able to match (if yes, first or second iteration?) or should I start preparing for a no-match this year? And realistically, if I had a no match this year, what could I do for programs to look past my red flag for the next years to come?

Thank you very much for your input!

[Vendar]

Yes people have matched in similar situations, some in the 2nd round at the home school in whatever spots were (rural or no rural sites). The people I know only matched to FM. One person tried two years and row, and in the third accepted FM (but actually got something higher on his list rather than his home school) 

[haenurplaza]

1 hour ago, Vendar said:

Yes people have matched in similar situations, some in the 2nd round at the home school in whatever spots were (rural or no rural sites). The people I know only matched to FM. One person tried two years and row, and in the third accepted FM (but actually got something higher on his list rather than his home school) 

That's reassuring to hear! Have people like this matched in the first round at all or is the second round really the minimum to match? 

[anonymouspls]

I would be careful about assuming a single failed rotation (that im assuming you remediated) is the reason you are not getting any interviews. We had a historic number of applicants for 2 spots at my program and we are still interviewing some people with a failed rotation (it does still count as a red flag and brings down their file score though).

[bearded frog]

Yeah I wonder if bringing it up in the personal statement was not the right move. Or if there is discussion about it in your LORs.

[haenurplaza]

I felt like I had no choice but to mention it in my personal statements, because the attending went ballistic on the final eval that went on my MSPR... tons of comments that even myself am horrified of, let alone any PD, that were literally contradicted by every single other evaluation. Would you think it was still a bad move despite this fact?

[slaverymustend]

Consider suing that attending. There are success stories of residents successfully bringing about change that way.

[HoopDreams]

On 1/12/2024 at 2:07 PM, haenurplaza said:

I felt like I had no choice but to mention it in my personal statements, because the attending went ballistic on the final eval that went on my MSPR... tons of comments that even myself am horrified of, let alone any PD, that were literally contradicted by every single other evaluation. Would you think it was still a bad move despite this fact?

I would not have mentioned that in my personal statement.
It's a letter where you are expected to shine.
You have a limited amount of words and should only focus on all the positive aspects of your application.
It doesn't matter because you got the interview.
So don't worry too much about it.

A 'red flag' is a broard term and I am not sure where the spectrum starts or ends.
You simply failed a rotation.
You were allowed to continue and have not had any other issues doing so.
I know several residents that matched despite having failed exams, rotations and even repeated a year.

Learn from that experience and don't let it define you.

Best of luck on the match! 

[shikimate]

Sounds like you are a strong applicant other than that particular fail, that's quite the shame. If you have to do second round, consider apply to some of the pathology programs. Pathologists do quite well in QC and can earn more than some surgeons. I would refrain from bringing up that failed rotation unless asked.

[haenurplaza]

Update: no matched even after ranking more than 40 urban and rural FM programs combined (mostly Quebec)

I hope the post-match would somewhat work out because I don't even have any hopes for the second iteration...

[anonymouspls]

2 hours ago, haenurplaza said:

Update: no matched even after ranking more than 40 urban and rural FM programs combined (mostly Quebec)

I hope the post-match would somewhat work out because I don't even have any hopes for the second iteration...

That sucks man. I think the fact that you mentioned it in your PS did not do you any favors. All the best in second round, sounds like lots of spots are open for FM.

[hero147]

I know a few people who failed a clerkship rotation and then matched to their desired specialty the year after. With the caveat that the clerkship block they failed was on the opposite side of the medicine spectrum to their desired choices.