For those fortunate people who have already secured a spot..

[Guest sincerely]

I would like to say "congratulations" to people who have already received acceptance letters (from UBC, Calgary, McGill, Dalhousie, etc.). I am sure you guys all worked very hard for it. While you guys are partying, there are poor souls like me, anxiously waiting, loosing it slowly, day by day, for the final outcome on June 3rd (Ont. schools). It is very likely that you guys have also applied to Ontario schools. However, if you know for sure that you prefer the school from which you've already received acceptance over ANY Ont. school, would you please let the Ont. schools know as soon as it is convenient for you? This would free up some spots for those of us anxiously waiting.

[Guest PeterHill0501]

sincerely,

 

I hear you...I'm feeling anxious as well...albeit less so now than a month or two ago. I personally find last week went quite quickly...and with the long weekend...this week should go just as fast.

 

I appreciate what you're saying about people who have acceptances and have already made up their minds (i.e., to choose a non-Ontario meds program). Hopefully people in this situation will make their choice known as quickly as possible to help minimize the length of time others have to wait.

 

I personally would like to have a nice mellow summer without having this on my mind. In some ways it would be nice to have "flat out rejections" as part of the process...the waitlist is very much appreciated but also is the introduction for a new phase of waiting. I guess we just have to get used to this waiting thing...thankfully, once accepted, the CaRMS process is several years out!

 

Take care and good luck!

 

Peter

[Guest ThugJaan]

several...lol...try 4...and you hafta start thinking about CARMS right away if you plan on anything competative, need to rack up some electives or research...it doesn't get any easier guys on the other side

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Of course, most of the fourth years I've talked to who matched to fairly competitive spots have also suggested you should take it relatively easy once you immediately get in. First year is, after all, only the FIRST YEAR of your medical training - no sense burning out right away. While doing summer clinical and research electives will definitely improve your chances at matching to a good residency, your performance in 3rd and 4th years is much more important. While it's good to start doing some groundwork asap, stressing yourself out about the CaRMS match right from the moment you get into medical school is a great way to burn out.

 

I've talked to a couple of people who've matched to competitive specialties. On the one hand, one of the UWO meds who matched to Plastics was doing weekly electives in plastic surgery from the end of first year, as well as a fair amount of research during the summers. She was adamant though from day one that she wanted Plastics, and wouldn't have been happy with anything else. On the other hand, I've also talked to an Opthalmology resident here who didn't decide on Opthalmology until late in year 3. They just made sure they were "doing well" overall for the four years, did well in Clerkship, and then had a top notch elective in Opthalmology. And I've heard a number of stories of people who did all the groundwork (ie research, clinical electives, all honours marks, etc.) over the four years to get into the specialty of their choice but then didn't match to that specialty for unknown reasons. . . perhaps an inability to get along with peers as a result of burnout?

 

Alot also depends on your outlook. If you could only be happy with Plastics, Dermatology or Opthalmology, then by all means you need to get starting on electives and research from day one. Personally - I think getting so attached to a specific specialty isn't a great idea - no matter how great a candidate you make yourself, there's always room for disappointment. And there are so many great specialties out there. If you aren't 100% sure what you want to do, I think it's probably better to keep your options open. True, the sooner you can decide on a specialty the sooner you can do electives and research in that area. . . which WILL help a CaRMS application. . . but on the other hand, just because you haven't done a lot of groundwork doesn't mean you're screwed for the CaRMS match.

[Guest Jess]

This is really the last thing I should be worried about right now and probably under the wrong topic, but... doesn't CARMs depend on grades to some extent? Though I guess with a pass/fail system it may be a little more difficult to evaluate who's the most academically strong.

[Guest Carolyn]

My impression is that marks aren't a huge deal -- I think if your transcript shows you are exceptional it will help and if it shows you are doing quite poorly it will hinder but in between, I'm not sure it is as huge an issue...

[Guest hmm]

How competitive is cardiovascular surg.?

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Yeah, that's what I've heard as well.

 

Problem with marks in medical school is that there are so many systems of evaluation. Some schools are H/P/F, other P/F, UBC has some sytem I don't quite understand (Ian might be able to explain), and I believe Mac has a really unique system of evaluation (maybe Carolyn might be able to go into more detail about that). As a result, comparing med students' marks from different universities is kind of like comparing apples and oranges.

 

Also, when you are applying to residency programs, the # of people you are competing has SIGNIFICANTLY decreased. I think the main reason med schools use GPA to distinguish applicants is that it really is the only thing they have (other than the MCAT) that says anything about the applicants. When you're applying for residency programs, you're competing against a much more limited group of people. . . even the most competitive specialties don't get that many serious applicants (I believe Opthalmology at Western this year had 74 applications, some not that "serious" as the people didn't bother to do electives or even interview) From my understanding, it's much easier for residency programs to take an "entire look" at the applicants. Many/most of the applicants for a residency position will do a month long elective in 4th year with that program. . . giving that program the chance to get a fairly good sense of how that applicant performs clincally (not always reflected in the marks) and if they're someone they want to hang out with for the next 2-5 years. Of course having great marks definitely won't hurt your application, and it is possible some of the more competitive programs do weed applications when deciding for interviews based on marks (I can't see how they could use that for the schools that use a P/F system, though. . .)