ENT Residency in Canada

[RonskiSpeed]

I am a Canadian citizen currently starting my 4th year at an American allopathic medical school. I have been very interested in ENT for a long time now, however, only recently have I decided that I would like to do my residency and practice back home in Canada. I have excellent letters of recommendations from various experiences and clerkships (surgery, medicine, soon from ENT electives, my ENT research PI at Mayo), good grades and board scores (both top 20% of my class), and research experience in the field with publications (one abstract, one clinical, one basic science on the way).

 

I am well familiar with the logistics and requirements for matching into Canada as a Canadian citizen from a US school. I would only like to know my chances at matching into an ENT spot either at UBC, McGill, or anywhere in Ontario, given the fact that I have not done any away rotations at any of these places.

[Ian Wong]

ENT is a pretty competitive match year to year here in Canada, not unlike in the US. There are a few problems that you are likely to encounter.

 

1) Canadian students don't take the USMLE's, and therefore these aren't a factor in admission to residency. If you did really well on Step 1, this will take you a lot farther in the US than it will in Canada.

 

2) Most programs in Canada take anywhere from 1-3 residents a year, with a total of 23 residents taken in the CaRMS match in 2008. For that reason, it's very common for programs to take their own, since there's a good chance that they will find a strong applicant in their home medical school who they like. When I graduated in 2003, it was a particularly bad year for ENT, with a total of 13 spots in the whole country. Of those 13 spots, 11 went to home medical students.

 

3) Most programs will not know much about your medical school, unless it is a particularly known quantity. Much like US program directors don't know much about the relative strengths of Canadian programs (except that they all think McGill is the best medical school in Canada), many Canadian programs are unfamiliar with US medical schools. Therefore, you are somewhat of an unknown quantity.

 

4) At the current time, I believe that Canadian ENT residency graduates are ineligible to take the US American Board of Otolaryngology exams. If you are considering ever going back to the US to work, doing a Canadian residency could be a huge obstacle.

 

5) I know nothing about McGill, but getting into UBC or any of the Ontario programs (of which UWO and U of T are probably the strongest), is extremely tough. McMaster is a relatively new program; it didn't even exist when I was going through the 2003 match. Ottawa is a pretty small program (they were taking 1 Canadian resident and one Saudi resident a year) back in 2003. Any program that takes 1 resident a year is immensely tough to get.

 

In all, I think you might be better served seeing if a US ENT residency will get you to your destination. I think it would be significantly easier to match given your situation. You should definitely talk to the Royal College credentials committee to see if they accept US ENT residencies as equivalent. The other possible hassle is visa issues, if you are not either a US citizen or green card holder. ENT programs do not want to get involved with visas if they don't have to.

 

You also will want to take the Canadian MCCQE Part 1 and 2 exams (which are somewhat like USMLE Steps 2 and 3) at the appropriate times (at the end of Med 4, and at the beginning of your PGY-2 year).

 

Ian

[aintnogame]

thanks ian for the great post.

 

Here is a link of the current ENT residents at U of T ( a big program) - you can see which med schools they attended.

 

http://www.otolaryngology.utoronto.ca/postgrad/residency/residents.htm

[juicyprunes]

I think it was changed last year that Canadian grads CAN write the US boards in Otolaryngology.

[Ian Wong]

Hey, look at that.

 

Here's the relevant passage in the American Board of Otolaryngology website:

 

http://www.aboto.org/BOI.htm

 

Individuals who entered otolaryngologic training in Canadian programs prior to July 1, 2000 may be considered for examination.

 

Under an ABOto policy made effective on July 1, 2007, an applicant who was in otolaryngologic training in a Canadian Royal College of Surgeons (RCPS©) accredited Canadian program on July 1, 2007 and thereafter may be considered for examination if the applicant meets the following requirements:

 

1. Meets the first year ABOto training requirements.

2. Participates in the ABOto's Resident Registry from the first year of training including the annual evaluations by the Program Director.

3. Successfully completes all training in a Canadian RCPS-accredited training program. Training in non-Canadian or non-United States programs will not count towards the training requirements.

4. Is certified in otolaryngology by the RCPSC

5. An applicant certified by the RCPSC who desires sub-certification (examinations are currently available for only the sub-specialties of Neurotology and Sleep Medicine) by the ABOto must receive primary certification by the ABOto prior to applying for the sub-certification examinations.

 

 

Back when I was applying to ENT, Canadian grads were ineligible. Now, it looks that that pathway has reopened, if you comply with the above factors. Thanks for the heads up.

 

Ian

[RonskiSpeed]

Thank you very much for your replies. Taking the MCCQE exams are not really an issue and I wouldn't mind practicing in Canada in the end - I would actually prefer it, given the course and direction the US healthcare system has taken as of late.

 

I have managed to snag a 4 week away rotation at a Canadian program. Looking at the CaRMS data, 35 people ranked ENT as their primary choice of specialty for 29 available spots. If I work hard and am able to get an excellent letter from the ENT program director or chairman of the department, would this give me a greater chance of matching someplace in Canada? I already believe I am a fairly competitive applicant, but what else can I do to better my chances of matching in Canada?

[Ian Wong]

Keys to matching include:

 

1) Make them like you.

2) Make them like you.

3) Make them like you.

4) Get great letter of recommendations, especially from that Canadian elective.

5) Get some research out.

6) Keep up your good grades.

 

Ian

[juicyprunes]

Hi,

 

Just wondering how program directors feel about research experience in surgical specialties other than ENT (e.g. gen surg?) Also, how do you approach preceptors/residents about research opportunities during relatively short electives (e.g. 2 weeks)?

 

Thanks!1