Unmatched 2nd round - What now?

[entkeener]

Well,if you got accepted into med,you can access to pretty much any other grad programs...i don't suggest you abandon,you took the place of someone who REALLY wanted to enter med school and in the end,you want to quit ?That means you flushed that 4 year investment and that makes you an hypocrite.Don't leave,try to find something you really like,you can't always get what you want in life and you did the biggest part,getting accepted......

Just smell the coffee and be happy about it.FM is also good,especially if you want to help others...i don't see what's wrong at not getting matched to one specialty,theres like 34 others to choose from and their goal is the same.

 

From what I gather you are a PROSPECTIVE and NOT a CURRENT medical student. Unfortunately, I think most 'pre-meds' are quite naive about what happens in the four years after you get accepted to medical school, what life is subsequently like as a resident and ultimately a consultant/ practicing physician.

 

For your own good, I suggest you do some serious research into the residency application process before you enter medical school, if you get accepted. You will realize that things aren't as 'peachy-cream' as you think they will be once you get in. Getting is really only the beginning, especially if you are interested in competitive fields/ specialties.

 

If you in fact are applying to medical school, you've probably been coached to say your interested in family medicine. The truth is, you have no idea what any of the specialties are like until you get a chance to rotate through them. Even though you think it would be great to be a family physician, many people rotate through it and realize it just isn't for them.

 

You state that the ultimate goal of all 34 specialties is the same so you should be happy in any of them. The ultimate goal of all sports is the same- have fun, get exercise, etc... That being said, it's hard to compare soccer to hockey even though they are both sports. Would someone that calls themselves a sports enthusiast be a 'hypocrite' if they said they enjoyed playing one sport but not another?

 

In this case, despite your arrogant post (in which you call the original poster a 'hypocrite'), the unmatched student seems to be willing to do family medicine (or anything for that matter at this point). The unmatched student is looking for options so that after spending four years and $100,000+ on a medical education, the student will be employed as of July 1.

 

Your post demonstrates a serious lack of empathy, compassion and understanding. It is downright rude and unfounded. I hope that if you get into medical school and ultimately practice medicine that you treat your patients and colleagues with more respect.

[Destiny Gundam]

hahaha wow ouch. Well said. And I wonder what kind of strengths this poster DOES possess if he/she completely lacks empathy, compassion and understanding... in my opinion to properly respond to such a post, as a senior med student or a resident, is a waste of time. The old Cantonese saying goes it's like 'putting money into your pocket,' why would i do that to someone who doenst have a clue what he's talking about. But that 'the goal is the same for all 34 specialties' really made me lol. Are you sure???? hahaha

[soMuchPain]

To the OP,

Did you get a position in the scramble? I heard the positions published on carms went really fast, I hope you secured one of those. You may wonder why I care, it's because I've been through it all, and I can tell you that the whole unmatched/scramble experience was priceless and made me a better person.

 

Best luck to you in your future!

Remember - "3 years into your work, no one will ask which school you graduated from"

3 years later you can be better than all of them

[hawkeye1]

Andrew -

 

I worked in industry prior to med school (pharma and biotech). You would have a great option of working in pharma (especially in medical affairs). It is especially helpful if you have a science background with research experience, but not required. Basically med affairs takes products going to launch and makes decisions about how to "market" to MDs. MDs are extremely valuable in industry!!! Don't underestimate the value of your degree.

 

Several of the large consulting firms in the US have healthcare specific consulting and would hire an MD with business interest in a heart-beat. I think McKinsey in Canada still has a healthcare arm, but I'm not positive.

 

You can PM if you want more info. You can try looking at the webpages of some big US pharma/biotech to get a sense of the departments. Pick your favourite drug and look up the home office.

 

Your situation is terrible and I think the CaRMS system is down-right deplorable. I feel for you!

 

Hawkeye1

[Andrew]

Again thanks for all the advice.

 

In the post-match process there were only 2 schools willing to accept applications. One of them has mysteriously withdrawn (or filled). I contacted them both of them as soon as the list was released.

 

I find it incredible that medical schools would leave spots unfilled and withdraw from the match. This is referring to the 14+ other schools that had unfilled positions.

 

So I am still waiting to see whether the last school will take applications or withdraw, I'll give it my best.

[Andrew]

There were no spots offered post-match this year except for 4 in calgary.

 

Are there any other options? Somehow privately arranging ROS? Funding my own spot?

Cold calling PGME directors to see if there are any advertised spots? Or maybe calling all the places that withdrew and left themselves unfilled?

 

I would like to start a residency. I am willing to take any location and any field.

[Mourning Cloak]

Really tough situation. Have you talked to your school? Typically schools don't like to see their residents go unmatched - your best chance of getting something rustled up for you is through your own school, in family medicine.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the programs "withdrew" their post-second round positions because they wanted to give them to their own unmatched students - the stats, when they become available, will either support or refute this assumption.

 

FIRST THING: Contact your post-grad dean if you haven't already done so and see if they can help you. It's no fun to go begging for help, but this is the time to do it.

 

I've never heard of anyone creating their own spot outside of CaRMS, but it might be possible. (The typical scenario is Dog River, SK wants a family doc, but hasn't been able to attract one in many years. They're pretty desperate. They fund a spot through CaRMS with a ROS contract so that they can - in two years' time - have a family doc to work there.) I haven't heard of this happening outside the CaRMS match, but that doesn't mean it's not possible.

 

SECOND THING: Start with your home province. Look rural/northern - very rural/northern. Contact the health regions with perennial family doctor vacancies and explain the situation. You might be able to find a community that will sponsor you, and if they in turn can find a family med training program to take you, then you're set.

[Dongzhuo]

What I say is this: find a spot. Get an ROS. Smile and be polite, but at the first second you can, buy out of the contract and go open up a cosmo spa in Mississauga. Practice exclusively cosmetic medicine and amass a large enough profit to expand your services to other centers. Make a business out of it. Aim big.

 

 

I really like how you think. If in two years time I do end up unmatched...I will take up your advice

[Mourning Cloak]

I said it before and I'll say it again: you owe nobody anything.

 

By having to scrounge for a residency position in the most barren of holes, you will live the disrespect that the system has placed upon you. Ambitions be damned! Such a system should not expect a graduate such as you to sacrifice his life to service an under-the-rug area that no other physician would service. You should not tolerate being judged negatively by other physicians for refusing to do the work that they wouldn't do.

 

Wow. ISSUES.

 

"You will live with the disrespect the system has placed upon you?"

 

Give me a break. 15 minutes after residency begins, nobody (except the OP and the PD) will know he didn't match first round at his #1.

 

He gets a residency position, trains in an adequate family med training program in a safe community (because unless you're in downtown Toronto or St. Pauls' in Vancouver, they're all adequate and safe) and then goes out to a most-likely very safe, quiet community where the people are the salt of the earth and feed him latkes at the church suppers and are very grateful for his expertise. And if he doesn't like it there, he leaves after a few years and moves onto whatever he wants to do.

 

OP - It might feel like the end of the world, but it's not nearly as bad as Brookbane makes it sound. Nobody's expecting you to "sacrifice [your] life to service an under-the-rug area that no other physician would service". Two or three years max. Ultimately, your life is your own, and your decision whether to honour your ROS contract is up to your own individual conscience.

 

And don't let the negative stereotype of rural family med practice sway you. Just because some people characterize it as "the work that they wouldn't do" - don't worry about it! If you don't like it - fine - you don't have to stay there! But if you do like rural family med, then celebrate the fact that you enjoy a specialty with higher average renumeration than urban, a safer living environment, and overall much lower living expenses / tax rates across the board.

[Mandibular]

Wow, and I was under the impression that this never happens.

 

CaRMS truly is a cruel mistress...

 

I hope you get to where you wanna be OP

[hippie]

Are you willing to spend one year in the states for a prelim surgery or research position?

[entkeener]

Careful with the US... there are great programs (many better than anything you can find here), but there are also TERRIBLE programs. You are more likely at this point to end up in a bad American program than a good one, and it will be hard to do the research necessary to know the good from the bad.

[tooty]

Andrew, have you read that Ian Wong post plugboy mentioned? It was very inspiring. Apparently, the dude studied harder than he ever did in his life for the steps during his year off (omfg).

[thebouque]

Careful with the US... there are great programs (many better than anything you can find here), but there are also TERRIBLE programs. You are more likely at this point to end up in a bad American program than a good one, and it will be hard to do the research necessary to know the good from the bad.

 

It's coming to America first, the cradle of the best, of the worst

 

LC, our next governor

[apache]

wow, this is a pretty epic shut up!

 

i would ****ing kill someone if i went unmatched, especially if I backed up w/ fm...

 

you really don't get it, medicine isn't a SINGLE profession, it's literally like 100 different professions, of which, 90 percent... I wouldn't want to do.

 

If I put in 4 years of my life to school and am say passionate about doing anesthesia and didn't get to do it i wouldn't be very happy... the other dude got this totally right when he was like this is a premed response!

 

Sorry for your bad luck man

 

Well,if you got accepted into med,you can access to pretty much any other grad programs...i don't suggest you abandon,you took the place of someone who REALLY wanted to enter med school and in the end,you want to quit ?That means you flushed that 4 year investment and that makes you an hypocrite.Don't leave,try to find something you really like,you can't always get what you want in life and you did the biggest part,getting accepted......

Just smell the coffee and be happy about it.FM is also good,especially if you want to help others...i don't see what's wrong at not getting matched to one specialty,theres like 34 others to choose from and their goal is the same.

[apache]

I agree, if this happened to me I'd talk to some of the undergrad deans and see if they could talk to someone about getting me a fm spot at the school i was attending.

 

 

Really tough situation. Have you talked to your school? Typically schools don't like to see their residents go unmatched - your best chance of getting something rustled up for you is through your own school, in family medicine.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the programs "withdrew" their post-second round positions because they wanted to give them to their own unmatched students - the stats, when they become available, will either support or refute this assumption.

 

FIRST THING: Contact your post-grad dean if you haven't already done so and see if they can help you. It's no fun to go begging for help, but this is the time to do it.

 

I've never heard of anyone creating their own spot outside of CaRMS, but it might be possible. (The typical scenario is Dog River, SK wants a family doc, but hasn't been able to attract one in many years. They're pretty desperate. They fund a spot through CaRMS with a ROS contract so that they can - in two years' time - have a family doc to work there.) I haven't heard of this happening outside the CaRMS match, but that doesn't mean it's not possible.

 

SECOND THING: Start with your home province. Look rural/northern - very rural/northern. Contact the health regions with perennial family doctor vacancies and explain the situation. You might be able to find a community that will sponsor you, and if they in turn can find a family med training program to take you, then you're set.

[obamasutra]

Well,if you got accepted into med,you can access to pretty much any other grad programs...i don't suggest you abandon,you took the place of someone who REALLY wanted to enter med school and in the end,you want to quit ?That means you flushed that 4 year investment and that makes you an hypocrite.Don't leave,try to find something you really like,you can't always get what you want in life and you did the biggest part,getting accepted......

Just smell the coffee and be happy about it.FM is also good,especially if you want to help others...i don't see what's wrong at not getting matched to one specialty,theres like 34 others to choose from and their goal is the same.

 

How can you say something like this? Do you not have any compassion or tact?

 

To the OP: I can't help you, but I can give you my sympathies. If you're anything like me, you're going to be perpetually miserable for a long time, yet you'll go to work everyday with a smile on your face. The show must go on.

[KennethToronto]

How can you say something like this? Do you not have any compassion or tact?

 

To the OP: I can't help you, but I can give you my sympathies. If you're anything like me, you're going to be perpetually miserable for a long time, yet you'll go to work everyday with a smile on your face. The show must go on.

 

wow, this is a pretty epic shut up!

 

i would ****ing kill someone if i went unmatched, especially if I backed up w/ fm...

 

you really don't get it, medicine isn't a SINGLE profession, it's literally like 100 different professions, of which, 90 percent... I wouldn't want to do.

 

If I put in 4 years of my life to school and am say passionate about doing anesthesia and didn't get to do it i wouldn't be very happy... the other dude got this totally right when he was like this is a premed response!

 

Sorry for your bad luck man

 

Not that I'm defending his stupid post or anything...but hey, I'm sure we all thought like him/her before starting medschool and then realized how stupid that was after M1.

 

Best to just laugh internally and move on.

[jwp2000]

Hey, I'm so sorry to hear that this nightmare is happening to you. I agree with other posters that you should try talking to the dean's at your school. You might also try talking to the program directors of various programs and ask specifically what went wrong with your application and whether there is anything you can do at this stage. eg. If there's a red flag, perhaps you can explain it.

 

I know of great candidates that get unmatched and the unfortunate reality is that sometimes it's just a crapshoot. As carms is upcoming for me in the next year and I'm interested in 2 competitive specialties, these kinds of stories make me very nervous about my application.

 

Good luck to you and I hope things work out!

[Whatthehale]

I'm wondering what happened to you, Andrew. Did you find a position?

 

Yeah me too. I've been reading (and praying for you) for the last few months. I hope things worked out for you in the end. God bless.